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
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