Department of New Mexico

The Department of New Mexico was a department of the United States Army during the mid-19th century. At first a part of the Department of the West, it was created as an independent department following the breakup of that Division into various departments during the Civil War. It had to contend with an invading Confederate force during the New Mexico Campaign from mid-1861 to early 1862, then with Apache tribes during the remainder of the American Civil War

History

Formation

The Department of New Mexico was first organized as a subordinate department under the Department of the West on October 31, 1853. It became an independent Department on November 9, 1861; the bounderies of the department were coextent with the New Mexico Territory. When the Civil War started, the commander of the department, Colonel William W. Loring, resigned on June 11 to join the Confederate army and was succeded by Colonel Edward R.S. Canby of the 10th U.S. Infantry.^[1] Canby was ordered to send all of his regular infantry to Kansas and raise two New Mexico regiments as replacements; however, Canby was reluctant to do so, both because he feared a Confederate invasion from Texas and also he didn't trust the local population, which he suspected of disloyalty.^[2]

Confederate invasion

The first Confederates to invade the department did so in July 1861. Lieutenant Colonel John Baylor, commander of a battalion of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles, moved into the territory on July 23rd and by the next evening had arrived outside of Fort Filmore, near the settlement of Mesilla. He planned to take the fort by surprise attack, but two Confederate deserters alerted the Union garrison to his plans; instead, the next morning Baylor moved into Mesilla. In the afternoon, the Union commander, Major Isaac Lynde attempted to drive out the Confederates but failed; feeling that his position was hopeless, Lynde then tried to retreat northward to Fort Stanton. However, the Union column quickly lost its cohesiveness during the hot daylight hours, so that when it reached San Augustine Springs Lynde reported that not "more than 100 men of the infantry battalion"^[3] could offer effective resistance. When Baylor arrived at the springs near midday, Lynde surrendered his command without further fighting. Lynde would be cashiered from the army in November for this surrender.^[4]

No further Confederate reinforcements arrived that year, and Baylor's battalion was tied down fighting Apache bands. Canby spent the remainder of the year trying to raise five regiments of infantry, and wrote to the governor of Colorado, William Gilpin, asking him for Colorad volunteer troops to help defend New Mexico. Henry Sibley raised a brigade of Texas cavalry over the summer and it arrived in New Mexico in January and early February 1862. Intending to invade Colorado to seize the gold and silver mines located there, Sibley arrived outside Fort Craig on February 15.

Reorganized out of existence

On July 27, 1865 the Military Division of the Pacific was created under Major General Henry W. Halleck, replacing the Department of the Pacific, consisting of the Department of the Columbia that now consisted of the State of Oregon and the Territories of Washington and Idaho and the expanded Department of California that now consisted of the States of California and Nevada and the Territory of New Mexico and Territory of Arizona.^[5]

Organization

Commanders

• Colonel Edward R. S. Canby June 16, 1861 - June 22, 1862
• Brigadier General James H. Carleton September 18, 1862 - June 27, 1865^[6]

Districts

There was a total of ten districts in the department at various times; most were merged together after the Confederate invasion. A list of districts include the following:^[7]

• District of Arizona

Posts in the Department of New Mexico

The following is a list of posts occupied by the Union Army in the department at various times during the war:^[8]

• Post of Albuquerque (1846–1867)
• Fort Marcy (1846–1867)
• Post of Taos (1847–1852, 1860–1861)
• Camp Tecolate (1850–1860)
• Fort Fillmore (1851–1862)
• Fort Union (1851–1894)
• Fort Burgwin (1852–1860)
• Camp Los Lunas (1852, 1859–1860, 1862)
• Fort Thorn (1853–1863)
• Fort Craig (1854–1885)
• Fort Stanton (1855–1896)
• Gila Depot (1857, 1863)
• Camp Loring (1858–1861)
• Camp at (Alexander) Hatch's Ranch (1859–1864)
• Post at Beck's Ranch (1859–1860)
• Camp Ojo Caliente (1859–1861)
• Fort Butler (1860)
• Camp Cogswell (1860)
• Fort Fauntleroy (1860–1861), Fort Lyon (1861–1862)
• Fort McLane (1860–1864)
• Post at Abó Pass (1861)
• Camp at Alamosa (1861)
• Mesilla Post (1861–1864)
• Camp Robledo (1861–1863)
• Fort Webster (1861)
• Camp Connelly (1862)
• Post at Cubero (1862)
• Las Cruces Post (1862)
• Camp Johnson (1862)
• Camp Lewis (1862)
• Camp at Pigeon's Ranch (1862)
• Paraje Post (1862)
• Los Pinos Depot/Station, Camp at Peralta, or Camp Peralta (1862–1866)
• Post of Socorro (1862–1863)
• Fort Sumner (1862–1869)
• Fort Wingate, or Fort El Gallo. (1862–1868)
• Camp Anton Chico (1863–1864)
• Fort Bascom (1863–1870)
• Camp in Cañon Largo (1863)
• Fort Cummings (1863–1873)
• Camp Magoffin (1863–1865)
• Fort McRae (1863–1876)
• Camp Mimbres (1863–1864)
• Camp Pinos Altos (1863–1864)
• Camp San Pedro (1863–1864)
• Fort West (1863–1864)
• Camp La Hoya (1864)
• Camp Valverde (1864)
• Fort Selden (1865–1877)

See also

• New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War
• Arizona in the Civil War
• California in the American Civil War

References

1. ^ Welcher, pp. 107&ndash108.
2. ^ Whitlock, pp. 47–49.
3. ^ Colton, p. 16.
4. ^ Colton, pp. 14–18.
5. ^ Military Division of the United States After The Civil War, GENERAL ORDERS No. 118.
6. ^ Eicher, p. 836]
7. ^ Welcher, pp. 109–111.
8. ^ Welcher, p. 120.

Sources

• Colton, Ray C. The Civil War in the Western Territories: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1959.
• Eicher, David J. Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press, 2001.
• Welcher, Frank J. The Union Army 1861-1865 Organization and Operations Volume II: The Western Theater. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993. ISBN 0-253-36454-X.
• Whitlock, Flint. Distant Bugles, Distant Drums: The Union Response to the Confederate Invasion of New Mexico. Boulder, Colorado: University Press of Colorado, 2006. ISBN 978-0-87081-835-6.
• David Stephen HeidlerEncyclopedia of the American Civil War
• United States War Dept, Oliver Diefendorf, Thomas M. O'Brien, General orders of the War department, embracing the years 1861, 1862 & 1863, Derby & Miller, 1864