Battle of Valverde Re-enactment This Weekend-- Part 2

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

Palmito Ranch, Texas

From the American Battlefield Trust 2021 Calendar, May

PALMITO RANCH, Texas

3 acres saved.

Palmito Ranch battlefield National Historic Landmark, Brownsville, Texas.

On the banks of the Rio Grande River, near Brownsville, Texas, Palmito Ranch looks much as it did  at the time of the battle 156 years ago.

On May 11, 1865, 300 men of the 62nd Regiment United States Colored Troops and the 2nd Texas Cavalry set out on an expedition to attack reported rebel outposts and camps, leading to what many historians consider the final land battle of the Civil War, which began the next day.

The trust's three-acre acquisition there in 2001 remains our lone victory in the Lone Star State.

--Old Secesh

29th USCT-- Part 2

In November, the 29th USCT were based at Bermuda Hundred with Butler's Army.    They evidently did not accompany the troops from here  who participated in the attacks on Fort Fisher.

From March 28th to April 9th, they were in the Appomattox Campaign which led to Lee's surrender.

They were then transferred to the Rio Grande River in Texas.  Mustering out came November 5, 1865.

--Old Secesh