On February 16, 1862, the Confederate 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers headed south for Fort Craig, south of Socorro, which had been built eight years earlier to protect civilians from Apache raids. Union Army Colonel Edward Canby stationed a battery of artillery and the Confederates withdrew.
Three days later they returned to the north in an attempt to control the ford over the Rio Grande River at the town of Valverde. The next day, February 21, 1862, the two armies clashed along the river. (The Rio Grande River is entirely in the state of New Mexico at this spot. It does not form the boundary between the U.S. and Mexico as it dies in Texas.)
The battle ended in a tactical victory for the Confederates but they didn't capture Fort Craig. Two days later, the Confederates easily defeated the Union's 2nd New Mexico militia stationed in Socorro. The capture of Santa Fe and Albuquerque followed, but the Confederates lost steam at the Battle of Glorieta Pass southeast of Santa Fe.
Sibley and his Confederates returned to Texas.
--Old Secesh
From the February 17, 2022, El Defensor Chieftain (Socorro, New Mexico) "Valverde reenactors converge again at Escondida" by John Larson.
Most people, when they think of the Civil War, do not think of New Mexico. But, there was some action in that future state back then.
This weekend on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 19 and 20, dozens of Civil War re-enactors will turn back the hands of time as Confederate and Union forces clash.
Over 50 re-enactors are expected.
Back in 1862, at the battle, Confederates carried an assortment of weapons including hunting rifles and black powder shotguns as Gen. Sibley's troops were poorly equipped at the beginning of their New Mexico Campaign.
At the Battle of Velverde, one Confederate unit captured a Union battery of artillery and were only armed with shotguns. In 1862, Socorro County extended from Texas to California and included New Mexico and the goldfields of Colorado.
Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley gathered a force at El Paso, Texas, and had this objective with the first target the Union's Fort Craig.
--Old Secesh
