Sibley's New Mexico Campaign

by Martin Hardwick Hall

Now available only from the UNM Press, this long out-of-print and hard-to-find classic tells the story of the Texas invasion of New Mexico during the American Civil War. In early 1862, Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley marched thirty-four hundred coarse Texas farmboys, cowhands, and frontiersmen into New Mexico and up the Rio Grande Valley. Although seriously bloodied, they repulsed Union troops at the Battle of Valverde. As the poorly supplied Texans pushed northward, New Mexicans stripped the land bare of food, fodder, and livestock. East of Santa Fe at Glorieta, Union volunteers defeated Sibley's Confederates and burned their quartermaster trains, and the starving Texans retreated back down the Rio Grande to El Paso. For the UNM Press edition, Civil War historian Jerry Thompson has corrected the few factual errors in the original edition and has added a new map.

Genres: Civil War, American Civil War, History

248 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the first few sentences of this sad little book about a sad little chapter in the American Civil War, the author refers to that conflict as "The War for Southern Independence." That's probably to be expected for a piece of scholarship on the Confederacy's brief, comically unsuccessful attempt to conquer New Mexico-- for who else would invest the necessary hours of research but someone already convinced of the glory and righteousness of the southern cause?

Martin Hall's prose is as sluggish and ineffective as General Sibley's under- equipped, underfed army. It's a pale member of that genre of pro-Southern civil war narrative exemplified by Shelby Foote. And yet, the facts (notwithstanding a couple of errors) are all there, and at the end of the day, Hall's analysis is balanced. While he could probably be more critical of Sibley's lackluster leadership, he's fairly complimentary of the competence of Sibley's opponent, Colonel Canby of the United States.

There's not a ton of scholarship on the civil war fight for New Mexico and Arizona. It was after all a minor jag in a conflict that had some important, compelling drama further east. It was also over by the summer of 1862, early in the war. Hall's is probably the most rigorous of the scant literature on the subject, and, at that, is functional enough

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hall's Sibley's New Mexico Campaign, since published in 1960, has been regarded as the best book on said campaign. This book is a second edition, which corrects some minor errors of spelling and confusion over names. This volume has definitely held up to the test of time!

Hall's writing is concise, informative, and easy to read. He gives almost equal attention to the two sides (slightly more to the Confederates), and gives insightful analysis of the performance of the respective commanders in the campaign. While not bashing Sibley, or giving in to citing rumors of his being drunk, Hill doesn't spare the general where he thinks he went wrong. Sibley's unrealistic planning and absence from the major battles of the campaign are two major examples.

Sibley's counterpart, Edward R. S. Canby, is shown as almost his complete opposite. Canby was prudent, patient, and capable. These traits don't make for flashy stories of battlefield glory, but they did help save New Mexico for the Union.

Overall, I'd say you can't beat this book for coverage of this little-known Civil War campaign. The coverage of the armies and their leaders is well thought out and balanced, and the narrative is concise and easy to follow. My only complaint is that the book could have used some more maps.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very pleased to find this good account of a very obscure theater in the Civil War. I remember seeing the Glorieta Pass battlefield site back when I was working in Santa Fe in 1996-1998, but I never really knew the timeframe or background, historical figures involved, etc. It was fascinating to read that this was really for all effective purposes just a second invasion of New Mexico by Texas adventurers, albeit this time in Confederate uniforms and in 1862, 20 years after the Republic of Texas "filibuster" invasion in 1841. It had the same effect as the original invasion: the hostile landscape, challenge of the logistics and simple length of the invasion route, and lack of secured supply lines defeated the effort more so than the military challenges. It's very strange how very little discussion this campaign merits in discussions of Texas History. Can't say I even recall a mention of it in the Bob Bullock state museum, where the battles of Galveston have first billing, but I'll look more carefully next time due to this book.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

A campaign was launched during the American Civil War to capture New Mexico and possibly the American Southwest all the way to the Pacific Ocean. It started in San Antonio, Texas.