Valverde
F.M. Cantey
Francis Marion Cantey (brother of Thomas Cantey of MS) died in the only Lancer Charge of the Civil War at Valverde, New Mexico. February, 1862.
At the time of secession from the Union, William Lang (Texas Ranger) raised a company of lancers for Confederate service. This unit was mustered into the army at Camp Sibley near San Antonio on September 2, 1861, as Company B of Gen. Thomas Green‘s Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers.
Valverde significance
Confederate attempt to take New Mexico and Colorado forts and so control the western territories to California coast. Thus, giving the South open sea ports and expanded resources.
General Henry Sibley, late commander of Fort Craig, organized new regiments of Texas Mounted Volunteers and support in San Antonio in late summer of 1861. moving west during the autumn, the took Fort Bliss and were joined by scattered outfits of Arizona volunteers, making a force of about 2500 men. Their march up the Rio Grande River valley.
General Canby, Sibley’s old friend now commanding federal forces in New Mexico, was at Fort Riley reinforcing the garrison there with volunteers: Kit Carson brought in a large contingent of territorial volunteers, while —- led a group of miners from Colorado. Located about 35 miles south of Socorro, and six miles north of Fort Craig.
brief battle description … brief skirmishes near Fort Craig. Sibley thought that the seige of the fort would be too costly, and decided to manuevre around Mesa del Contadero to ford the river and encampment on the supply road from Albuquerque, thus …The Confederates halted their retirement at the Old Rio Grande riverbed, which served as an excellent position.
Union casualties at Valverde amounted to 222 men killed and wounded, while the Confederates lost 183. On the day following the battle, the Rebel dead were wrapped in blankets and buried in trenches. Federal dead were interred at Fort Craig.
The Confederates suffered 71 killed and 157 wounded (228 in total), nearly 10 percent.
Working through the night, the troops of both sides gathered tended to the wounded and gathered the dead on the battlefield. The Union dead were buried at Fort Craig. On the morning of February 22, the Confederate army buried thier fallen.
Valverde Historical Significance
Valverde was the largest Civil War battlefield west of the Mississippi River, Valverde provided the land and open vegetation for complex manuvering and classic early charges of the war. Here took place the only lancer charge of the Civil War (when Company B, 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers, charged a Union artillery unit, armed only with 10 foot wooden lances). The veterans of the battle, on both sides, judging by their war journals, considered Valverde as significant.
Valverde is considered a Confederate victory, but foreshadowed the disastrous fate of the Confederate western drive. During the battle most of their Texan’s supply wagons were captured by Union troops. Sibley’s force had routed the federal troops, but
Sibley decided to bypass Fort Riley and march north to Albuquerque and Santa Fe in order to resupply. The effort was doomed, as word spread of the approaching army, supplies were removed or hidden. Canby was now free to send reinforcements to Fort Union – Sibley’s objective, it being this major supply depot for the territory. In route from Santa Fe to Fort Union, the Confederates encountered Union troops at Glorieta Pass, where their remaIning supply wagons were captured. This ended the campaign.
Valverde Confederate Cemetery
A more significant and sensitive issue are the burial mounds of Confederate soldiers on the battlefield. Descriptions of the burial are recorded in the journals of those who participated:
They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery.
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Friends covered the corpses with blankets and coats, then sewed the bodies inside.
The important officers were buried in one trench, subaltern officers and enlisted men in the other three.
At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there. After Lieutenant Colonel McNeill performed a funeral service, the soldiers buried them. “Tearfully, tenderly, and prayerfully we laid them in their grave.” They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
Four tall burial mounds are depicted in sketches made that February morning in the journals of those who were there.
Has there ever been an effort to locate and protect this cemetery?
Valverde Battlefield Today
The battle took place on the Armendaris Land Grant, the largest in New Mexico. The site now appears under ownership of Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.
Valverde Battlefield has integrity of setting and preservation. Impacts over the past one and a half centuries have been limited to livestock grazing and periodic flooding of the Rio Grande.
Valverde Battlefield has a high degree of visual integrity – the entire viewshed from Valverde, across Mesa del Contadero, to Fort Riley – has a unique degree of timelessness, appearing now very much as it did to the 19th century combatants.
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They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery. At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there, the chaplain said the funeral service, and Bill Davidson offered up a heartfelt prayer. Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
officers in one trench
A ditch running north and south about seven feet wide was made and these brave men laid in it: Sutton in the center, Lockridge on the left, and Van Heuvel on the right, just as they fell in line. – Thompson, p.59
enlisted men in three trenches
The battle took place on the Armendaris Land Grant, the largest in New Mexico. The site now appears under ownership of Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.
Valverde Battlefield has integrity of setting and preservation. Impacts over the past one and a half centuries have been limited to livestock grazing and periodic flooding of the Rio Grande.
Valverde Battlefield has a high degree of visual integrity – the entire viewshed from Valverde, across Mesa del Contadero, to Fort Riley – has a unique degree of timelessness, appearing now very much as it did to the 19th century combatants.
Union casualties at Valverde amounted to 222 men killed and wounded, while the Confederates lost 183. On the day following the battle, the Rebel dead were wrapped in blankets and buried in trenches. Federal dead were interred at Fort Craig.
The Confederates suffered 71 killed and 157 wounded (228 in total), nearly 10 percent.
Working through the night, the troops of both sides gathered tended to the wounded and gathered the dead on the battlefield. The Union dead were buried at Fort Craig. On the morning of February 22, the Confederate army buried thier fallen.
They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery.
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Description and sketches of this are recorded in the journals of those who participated.
officers in one trench
A ditch running north and south about seven feet wide was made and these brave men laid in it: Sutton in the center, Lockridge on the left, and Van Heuvel on the right, just as they fell in line. – Thompson, p.59
enlisted men in three trenches
Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
———-
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Friends covered the corpses with blankets, then sewed the bodies inside. After Lieutenant Colonel McNeill performed a funeral service, the soldiers buried them. “Tearfully, tenderly, and prayerfully we laid them in their grave,” Davidson wrote. “Officers and men were laid side by side.” p.199
At dawn on February 22, the men of the Sibley Brigade gathered more than 30 bodies together, side-by-side. They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery. At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there, the chaplain said the funeral service, and Bill Davidson offered up a heartfelt prayer. Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
sketches of these burial trenches are preserved in journals kept by fellow soldiers.
The Confederates halted their retirement at the Old Rio Grande riverbed, which served as an excellent position.
Three federal agencies manage them: the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); the Department of the Army of the Department of Defense; and the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior.
The Federal Government first became involved in permanently marking Confederate graves in 1906. That year, Congress authorized the furnishing of headstones for Confederate soldiers who died in Federal prisons and military hospitals in the North, and were buried near their places of confinement. The act also established the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, whose job it was to ensure that the graves of Confederate soldiers in the North received markers. The design for these grave markers was to be more or less identical to that approved in 1901 for marking Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery. The headstone was the same size and material as those for Union soldiers, except the top was pointed instead of rounded, and the U.S. shield was omitted.
https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/development.html
Confederate graves are marked with the Southern Cross of Honor.
Anyone can request a burial headstone or marker if the service of the Veteran ended prior to April 6, 1917. https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/76872/preserving-legacy-veterans-buried-unmarked-graves/
The owner should have a title examination performed to determine whether there is a reservation of rights to the cemetery in the chain of title. A reservation of rights to a family cemetery in a deed is generally not considered a reservation of the fee-simple ownership of the land that constitutes the cemetery. Rather, it is akin to an easement in gross that allows family members or other beneficiaries to make burials, visit, and maintain the cemetery. If the cemetery use is discontinued and the remains relocated, the reservation is extinguished, and the beneficiaries of the reservation have no further rights to the underlying land.
The owner should also confirm that the cemetery is, in fact, abandoned. The Virginia Code specifically requires that to be considered abandoned, there can have been no human remains buried in the cemetery for a period of at least 25 years. In addition, the owner should confirm that the cemetery is in a state of disrepair and has not been maintained in any way for a substantial time period.
Family cemeteries are generally not considered “historically significant” unless a historically significant person is buried there, there is some unique architectural aspect of the cemetery, or the cemetery is directly connected to a historically significant place or event.
While not required, it is advisable to get an archeologist to perform a cemetery delineation to confirm the boundaries of the cemetery and the location of any marked and unmarked graves.
This was very early in the Civil War, and death on the battlefield was not a common sight.
Legislation passed in the 1870’s opened eligibility to all US veterans
The sobriety and stunning battle and aftermath so impressed these soldiers
Valverde significance
Confederate attempt to take New Mexico and Colorado forts and so control the western territories to California coast. Thus, giving the South open sea ports and expanded resources.
General Henry Sibley, late commander of Fort Craig, organized new regiments of Texas Mounted Volunteers and support in San Antonio in late summer of 1861. moving west during the autumn, the took Fort Bliss and were joined by scattered outfits of Arizona volunteers, making a force of about 2500 men. Their march up the Rio Grande River valley.
General Canby, Sibley’s old friend now commanding federal forces in New Mexico, was at Fort Riley reinforcing the garrison there with volunteers: Kit Carson brought in a large contingent of territorial volunteers, while —- led a group of miners from Colorado. Located about 35 miles south of Socorro, and six miles north of Fort Craig.
brief battle description … brief skirmishes near Fort Craig. Sibley thought that the seige of the fort would be too costly, and decided to manuevre around Mesa del Contadero to ford the river and encampment on the supply road from Albuquerque, thus …The Confederates halted their retirement at the Old Rio Grande riverbed, which served as an excellent position.
Union casualties at Valverde amounted to 222 men killed and wounded, while the Confederates lost 183. On the day following the battle, the Rebel dead were wrapped in blankets and buried in trenches. Federal dead were interred at Fort Craig.
The Confederates suffered 71 killed and 157 wounded (228 in total), nearly 10 percent.
Working through the night, the troops of both sides gathered tended to the wounded and gathered the dead on the battlefield. The Union dead were buried at Fort Craig. On the morning of February 22, the Confederate army buried thier fallen.
Valverde Historical Significance
Valverde was the largest Civil War battlefield west of the Mississippi River, Valverde provided the land and open vegetation for complex manuvering and classic early charges of the war. Here took place the only lancer charge of the Civil War (when Company B, 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers, charged a Union artillery unit, armed only with 10 foot wooden lances). The veterans of the battle, on both sides, judging by their war journals, considered Valverde as significant.
Valverde is considered a Confederate victory, but foreshadowed the disastrous fate of the Confederate western drive. During the battle most of their Texan’s supply wagons were captured by Union troops. Sibley’s force had routed the federal troops, but
Sibley decided to bypass Fort Riley and march north to Albuquerque and Santa Fe in order to resupply. The effort was doomed, as word spread of the approaching army, supplies were removed or hidden. Canby was now free to send reinforcements to Fort Union – Sibley’s objective, it being this major supply depot for the territory. In route from Santa Fe to Fort Union, the Confederates encountered Union troops at Glorieta Pass, where their remaIning supply wagons were captured. This ended the campaign.
Valverde Confederate Cemetery
A more significant and sensitive issue are the burial mounds of Confederate soldiers on the battlefield. Descriptions of the burial are recorded in the journals of those who participated:
They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery.
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Friends covered the corpses with blankets and coats, then sewed the bodies inside.
The important officers were buried in one trench, subaltern officers and enlisted men in the other three.
At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there. After Lieutenant Colonel McNeill performed a funeral service, the soldiers buried them. “Tearfully, tenderly, and prayerfully we laid them in their grave.” They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
Four tall burial mounds are depicted in sketches made that February morning in the journals of those who were there.
Has there ever been an effort to locate and protect this cemetery?
Valverde Battlefield Today
The battle took place on the Armendaris Land Grant, the largest in New Mexico. The site now appears under ownership of Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.
Valverde Battlefield has integrity of setting and preservation. Impacts over the past one and a half centuries have been limited to livestock grazing and periodic flooding of the Rio Grande.
Valverde Battlefield has a high degree of visual integrity – the entire viewshed from Valverde, across Mesa del Contadero, to Fort Riley – has a unique degree of timelessness, appearing now very much as it did to the 19th century combatants.
———-
They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery. At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there, the chaplain said the funeral service, and Bill Davidson offered up a heartfelt prayer. Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
officers in one trench
A ditch running north and south about seven feet wide was made and these brave men laid in it: Sutton in the center, Lockridge on the left, and Van Heuvel on the right, just as they fell in line. – Thompson, p.59
enlisted men in three trenches
The battle took place on the Armendaris Land Grant, the largest in New Mexico. The site now appears under ownership of Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.
Valverde Battlefield has integrity of setting and preservation. Impacts over the past one and a half centuries have been limited to livestock grazing and periodic flooding of the Rio Grande.
Valverde Battlefield has a high degree of visual integrity – the entire viewshed from Valverde, across Mesa del Contadero, to Fort Riley – has a unique degree of timelessness, appearing now very much as it did to the 19th century combatants.
Union casualties at Valverde amounted to 222 men killed and wounded, while the Confederates lost 183. On the day following the battle, the Rebel dead were wrapped in blankets and buried in trenches. Federal dead were interred at Fort Craig.
The Confederates suffered 71 killed and 157 wounded (228 in total), nearly 10 percent.
Working through the night, the troops of both sides gathered tended to the wounded and gathered the dead on the battlefield. The Union dead were buried at Fort Craig. On the morning of February 22, the Confederate army buried thier fallen.
They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery.
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Description and sketches of this are recorded in the journals of those who participated.
officers in one trench
A ditch running north and south about seven feet wide was made and these brave men laid in it: Sutton in the center, Lockridge on the left, and Van Heuvel on the right, just as they fell in line. – Thompson, p.59
enlisted men in three trenches
Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
———-
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Friends covered the corpses with blankets, then sewed the bodies inside. After Lieutenant Colonel McNeill performed a funeral service, the soldiers buried them. “Tearfully, tenderly, and prayerfully we laid them in their grave,” Davidson wrote. “Officers and men were laid side by side.” p.199
At dawn on February 22, the men of the Sibley Brigade gathered more than 30 bodies together, side-by-side. They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery. At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there, the chaplain said the funeral service, and Bill Davidson offered up a heartfelt prayer. Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
sketches of these burial trenches are preserved in journals kept by fellow soldiers.
The Confederates halted their retirement at the Old Rio Grande riverbed, which served as an excellent position.
Three federal agencies manage them: the National Cemetery Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA); the Department of the Army of the Department of Defense; and the National Park Service of the Department of the Interior.
The Federal Government first became involved in permanently marking Confederate graves in 1906. That year, Congress authorized the furnishing of headstones for Confederate soldiers who died in Federal prisons and military hospitals in the North, and were buried near their places of confinement. The act also established the Commission for Marking Graves of Confederate Dead, whose job it was to ensure that the graves of Confederate soldiers in the North received markers. The design for these grave markers was to be more or less identical to that approved in 1901 for marking Confederate graves at Arlington National Cemetery. The headstone was the same size and material as those for Union soldiers, except the top was pointed instead of rounded, and the U.S. shield was omitted.
https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/national_cemeteries/development.html
Confederate graves are marked with the Southern Cross of Honor.
Anyone can request a burial headstone or marker if the service of the Veteran ended prior to April 6, 1917. https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/76872/preserving-legacy-veterans-buried-unmarked-graves/
The owner should have a title examination performed to determine whether there is a reservation of rights to the cemetery in the chain of title. A reservation of rights to a family cemetery in a deed is generally not considered a reservation of the fee-simple ownership of the land that constitutes the cemetery. Rather, it is akin to an easement in gross that allows family members or other beneficiaries to make burials, visit, and maintain the cemetery. If the cemetery use is discontinued and the remains relocated, the reservation is extinguished, and the beneficiaries of the reservation have no further rights to the underlying land.
The owner should also confirm that the cemetery is, in fact, abandoned. The Virginia Code specifically requires that to be considered abandoned, there can have been no human remains buried in the cemetery for a period of at least 25 years. In addition, the owner should confirm that the cemetery is in a state of disrepair and has not been maintained in any way for a substantial time period.
Family cemeteries are generally not considered “historically significant” unless a historically significant person is buried there, there is some unique architectural aspect of the cemetery, or the cemetery is directly connected to a historically significant place or event.
While not required, it is advisable to get an archeologist to perform a cemetery delineation to confirm the boundaries of the cemetery and the location of any marked and unmarked graves.
This was very early in the Civil War, and death on the battlefield was not a common sight.
Legislation passed in the 1870’s opened eligibility to all US veterans
The sobriety and stunning battle and aftermath so impressed these soldiers
Valverde
Location
Located about 35 miles south of Socorro, and six miles north of Fort Craig.
Army of New Mexico
At the beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate Army endorsed opening a front on the western frontier in order to distract Union forces, and (if sucessful) to take New Mexico and Colorado forts, so controlling the western territories to the California coast.
The champion of this scheme was General Henry Sibley, who had been military commander in New Mexico prior to the war. To accomplish this new mission, he organized two regiments of Texas Mounted Volunteers, along with support units, in San Antonio during late summer of 1861. The army travelled west during the autumn, where they took Fort Bliss and were joined by scattered outfits of Arizona volunteers, making a force of about 2500 men. Sibley planned to continue the march north up the Rio Grande River valley to Fort Craig, and then onward to Fort Union – the major supply depot for the territory.
General Edward Canby, Sibley’s old comrade who now commanded federal forces in New Mexico, was at Fort Craig, reinforcing the garrison there with volunteers: Kit Carson brought in a large contingent of territorial volunteers, while a large led a group of miners from Colorado. Canby’s total force approached 5,000 men.
The Battle of Valverde
Sibley’s judged that the Union forces defending Fort Craig as too strong to take in battle, and the weather too cold to lay seige. After brief skirmishes bewteen the two forces, Sibley decided to near Fort Craig. Sibley thought that the seige of the fort would be too costly, and marched north along the line of sand hills flanking the east side of the river, to manoeuvre around Mesa del Contadero, and ford the river at Valverde, and then encamp on Canby’s supply road from Albuquerque.
But Canby had anticipated the Sibley’s strategy and mustered his forces along the forested river bank at the ford. While Confederates halted facing them about 1,000 feet away across open land taking shelter in an abandoned elbow of Rio Grande riverbed. Throughout the day back and forth charges were made by both armies. At the end of the day Confederate forces made an all-out charge into the direct fire of Union artillery positions. Union forces were routed, then decimated as they forded the river in retreat. In the last light of dusk, Canby asked for a truce to minister to his wounded. This ended the fighting. Working through the night, the troops of both sides tended to the wounded and gathered the dead on the battlefield.
Union casualties at Valverde amounted to 222 men killed and wounded, with the dead interred at Fort Craig. The Confederates suffered 71 killed and 157 wounded (228 in total), nearly 10 percent. Forty to fifty of these were killed outright on the battlefield, and there buried. The Confederates also lost over one thousand horses and mules.
Valverde Historical Significance
Valverde is the largest Civil War battlefield west of the Mississippi River.
The Valverde landscape provided the open room and vegetation for complex manuvering and classic early charges of the war. Here took place the only lancer charge of the Civil War (when Company B, 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers, charged a Union artillery unit, armed only with 10 foot wooden lances).
The veterans of the battle, on both sides, judging by their war journals, considered Valverde as highly significant. This was very early in the Civil War, and death on the battlefield was not a common sight. The reality and scale of this battle, along with it’s gory aftermath.stunned and impressed the sodiers and both sides. These young men had never experienced anything like this, and the event was remembered and written about with awe.
Valverde was the major battle of the Western Campaign. It was considered a Confederate victory, but one from which thery never recovered. During the battle most of the Texan’s supply wagons were captured by Union troops. Sibley’s force had routed the federal troops, but he decided to bypass Fort Riley and march north to Albuquerque and Santa Fe in order to resupply. A doomed effort – as word spread of the approaching army, local supplies were removed or hidden. Half of the Texas troops had lost their horses in battle, and were now afoot.
After Valverde, Canby was free to send reinforcements to Fort Union in order to stop Sibley’s army. As it happened, the Confederate force, in route from Santa Fe to Fort Union, encountered Union troops at Glorieta Pass, where their remaIning supply wagons were captured. This effectively ended the campaign.
Valverde Confederate Cemetery
The most significant and sensitive issue are the burial mounds of Confederate soldiers on the battlefield. The location and description of the burial are recorded in the journals of those who participated:
They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery …
A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Friends covered the corpses with blankets and coats, then sewed the bodies inside.
The important officers were buried in one trench, subaltern officers and enlisted men in the other three. These are not unknown soldiers. The names of each of these dead were recorded and can still be read in military documents from the event.
At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there. After Lieutenant Colonel McNeill performed a funeral service, the soldiers buried them. “Tearfully, tenderly, and prayerfully we laid them in their grave.” They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers.
Four tall burial mounds are depicted in sketches made that February morning in the journals of those who were there.
Has there ever been an effort to locate and protect this cemetery?
Valverde Battlefield Today
Valverde is located in the historic Armendaris Land Grant, the largest in New Mexico. The site now appears under ownership of Ted Turner’s Armendaris Ranch.
Valverde Battlefield has an unsually high state of site integrity and preservation. Impacts over the site during the past one and a half centuries have been mostly limited to livestock grazing and periodic flooding of the Rio Grande River. The positions of the various Confederate and Union units and actions can be clearly visualized in the mind’s eye.
The larger Valverde Battlefield landscape has a suprisingly high degree of visual integrity. The entire viewshed – from Valverde, across Mesa del Contadero, down to Fort Riley – has a unique degree of timelessness, appearing now very much as it would have through the eyes of 19th century combatants.
Opportunities
Partnership opp with Armendaris Ranch
Is there also an existing reservation of rights to the cemetery in the chain of title of the land?
Valverde is considered an eligible property under NPS American Battlefield Protection Program, with funding available for:
-planning and preservation grant (no match required)
-purchase of battlefield site (50% match required)
Socorro Historical Society (highly active)
very active Interpreter docent program at Fort Craig (BLM administered)
Valverde is a multi-themed property, being located at the north end of the Jornado del Muerte and an important stop along the Camino Real.
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Val Verde
Located about 35 miles south of Socorro. Take I-25 to the San Miguel Exit, then east over the Interstate, and south on old Highway 1 (about 11 miles). Then follow the signs to Ft. Craig.
… Valverde, six miles north of Fort Craig
https://peoplelegacy.com/cemetery/confederate_soldier_burial_site-2m0U01
https://westofthemississippi.angelfire.com/articles/confederate_hero_at_val_verde.html
4-part podcast
https://civilwarpodcast.org/tag/sibley
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/sibleys-brigade
nps audio tours
https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/fort-craig-exhibits-audio-description.htm
fort craig
https://archive.org/stream/fortcraigtheunit00unse/fortcraigtheunit00unse_djvu.txt
El Contadero Mesa
https://newmexicohistory.org/2012/06/27/el-contadero-mesa
Armendaris Ranch
Armendaris Land Grant
http://socorro-history.org/HISTORY/PH_History/200905_armendaris.pdf
Jornada del Muerto visitors center
Owl Cafe & Bar, San Antonio … green chile burger
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The Civil War battle of Valverde took place in 1862 on an area that is now the ranch.
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Congress authorized the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Act of 2002 tasking the American Battlefield Protection Program with producing an update to the 1993 Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields. Congress required that the update address 1)preservation activities carried out at the battlefields since 1993 2) changes in the condition of the battlefields since 1993 and 3)any other relevant developments relating to the battlefields since 1993.
The American Battlefield Protection Program produced 25 updated reports, by state. The purpose of the reports are to presents information about Civil War battlefields for use by Congress, federal, state, and local government agencies, landowners, and other interest groups to enable them to act quickly and proactively to preserve and protect nationally significant Civil War battlefields; and to create partnerships among state and local governments, regional entities, and the private sector to preserve, conserve, and enhance nationally significant Civil War battlefields.
The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC), a part of the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) of the U.S. National Park Service
The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission (CWSAC), a part of the American Battlefield Protection Program (ABPP) of the U.S. National Park Service, presents its 1993 report on the nation’s Civil War battlefields. 1999
Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation’s Civil War Battlefields 2008
Update to the Civil War Sites Advisory Commission Report on the Nation s Civil War Battlefields
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san marcial quad
At Fort Craig today, an ADA accessible, self-guided interpretive trail is open seven days a week, from 8:00 a.m. to one-hour before sunset. The visitor’s center is open Thursday through Monday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
KGC in Texas
https://scholarworks.uttyler.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=cw_newstopics
Union casualties at Valverde amounted to 222 men killed and wounded, while the Confederates lost 183. On the day following the battle, the Rebel dead were wrapped in blankets and buried in trenches. Federal dead were interred at Fort Craig.
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/valverde-battle-of
Retreating from the bosque and the east bank of the river in confusion, the Texans were able to take refuge behind a low ridge of sandhills that paralleled the east bank of the river.
Men of Company B were recruited by Lang in Falls County, TX
Falls County Civil War Veterans – Company B 5th Texas Cavalry
5th Regiment, Texas Cavalry (5th Mounted Volunteers) was formed at San Antonio, Texas, during the late summer of 1861 with about 1,000 officers and men. Most of its members were from Waco, San Antonio, Bonham, Weatherford, and Austin.
The Fifth Texas Cavalry was also known as the Fifth Texas Mounted Rifles and the Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers. On August 12, 1861, Confederate Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley arrived in San Antonio to organize a brigade for a campaign in New Mexico and Arizona. His ultimate goal was to capture the gold and silver mines of Colorado and California and to secure a Confederate pathway to the Pacific. Three regiments of cavalry or mounted riflemen, each with an attached battery of howitzers, were quickly formed for service in what would come to be known as the Sibley’s Brigade: the Fourth Texas under Col. James Reily, the Seventh Texas under Col. William Steele, and the Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers. The Fifth was recruited, for the most part, in Waco, San Antonio, Bonham, Weatherford, and Austin and was organized and mustered into Confederate service at San Antonio with 926 officers and men. The volunteers supplied their horses and their own weapons, the quality of which varied widely. The regiment was to be commanded by the famed Texas Ranger, Thomas Green, who accepted his commission as colonel on August 20, 1861. Henry C. McNeillwas elected as the regiment’s lieutenant colonel and Samuel A. Lockridge as its major.
The Fifth Texas Mounted Rifles—numbering 835 effectives by the time it left San Antonio—marched for Fort Bliss in October. There Sibley took command of what would be designated as the Army of New Mexico.
At the time of secession from the Union, Lang raised a company of lancers for Confederate service. This unit was mustered into the Army at Camp Sibley near San Antonio on September 2, 1861, as Company B of Gen. Thomas Green’s Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers. At the battle of Valverde, Lang suffered a severe wound and was left behind at the Socorro Hospital when Gen. Henry H. Sibley’s army retreated toward Fort Bliss. Suffering intense pain and conscious of the fact that recovery was impossible, Lang ordered his body servant to bring him his revolver, with which he committed suicide on March 2, 1862. A typescript of his diary is located in the Barker Texas History Center, at the University of Texas at Austin.
more…
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/fifth-texas-cavalry
Brig. Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley and his brigade of over 2,500 men, consisting mostly of Texans, marched up the valley of the Rio Grande toward the territorial capital of Santa Fe and the Federal storehouses at Fort Union. Fort Craig sat in his path on the west side of the Rio Grande, garrisoned by 3,800 Federal troops under Col. Edward Canby. Not only did the garrison pose a threat to Sibley, but he also hoped to capture the supplies therein. Rather than attack the fort head-on, Sibley instead opted to draw the garrison out and fight a pitched battle outside.
On February 21, 1862, the Union troops led by Colonel Edward Canby and the Confederate Army of New Mexico of Brigadier General Sibley first met at the Battle of Valverde, a crossing of the Rio Grande just north of the fort.
The following day, February 21, 1862, Sibley sent an advanced party of four companies of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles under Maj. Charles Pyron and the 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers under Lt. Col. William Read Scurry to scout ahead and cross Valverde Ford, six miles ahead of Fort Craig. Canby anticipated their move and sent a force of infantry, cavalry and artillery under the command of Lt. Col. Benjamin S. Roberts, 5th New Mexico Infantry, to hold it.
By late morning both sides were engaged in desultory firing across the ford, and as reinforcements began to arrive the fight grew larger and the battle swayed back and forth. Many of the Texans were, however, not properly armed for long range combat, most with only shotguns and pistols. A few companies were armed with rifles, those men being deployed as skirmishers or sharpshooters.
Two companies of the 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers were armed with nine-foot-long wooden lances tipped with twelve-inch-long and three-inch-wide steel blades. One company was raised in Marlin, Texas, by Capt. Willis L. Lang, a former planter and Texas Ranger. It was mustered into service at Camp Sibley near San Antonio on September 2, 1861, as Company B of Col. Thomas Green’s 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers. The other was raised and commanded by Capt. Jerome B. McCown in Hempstead, Texas, and became Company G of the regiment.
Canby moved most of his force to the eastern bank of the river. Sibley was sitting back with the wagons all day, thought to be either sick or drunk, so Col. Thomas Green assumed command. His 5th Texas was handed over to Maj. Samuel Lockridge.
At 2:00 p.m., Canby’s right and center were stalling in their advance but his left was moving forward. In order to disrupt the Federal movement, Col. Green ordered the two lancer companies to charge the far Federal right flank. The attack may have been countermanded at the last moment by Green; however, only McCown’s Company G heard the order and Lang’s Company B did not. Whatever the case, only Company B charged.*
A bugle sounded and the company galloped out from behind a sand embankment and headed toward the Federal line, only 300 yards away. Those Federal troops to their front were 71 men in Co. B of the 2nd Colorado Infantry who, according to one participant, were ordered into a square formation to hold off the coming charge. Capt. Theodore H. Dodd, commanding the Colorado company, steadied his “mountaineers,” pressuring them to hold their fire until the lancers were close.
At 40 yards, Capt. Dodd gave the command to fire, sending a devastating volley of buck and ball into the Texans and knocking the first rank to the ground. Some lancers may have turned back at that point, seeing their comrades fall and realizing their charge was unsupported; however, a number kept on charging. A second volley followed at almost point blank range, bringing down those who made it that far. The remnants went fleeing back and the charge was over only seconds after it began.
Alonzo F. Ickis, one of Dodd’s Coloradans, says:
“three Cos. of Mounted Lancier Rangers made a charge on our Co. which was but 71 strong in the field – the boys waited until they got within 40 yds of us when they took deliberate aim and it was fun to see the texans fall – they wavered for a few moments and then they came and fierce looking fellows they were with their long lances raised but when they got to us we were loaded again and then we gave them the buck and ball – after the second volley there were but few of them left and but one of them got away – the others were shot one bayoneted – G Simpson ran his bayonet through one and then shot the top of his head off.”
9 men in Lang’s company were killed and 11 wounded – and many, if not most of their horses were killed. Anywhere from 40 to 70 Texans had made the charge.** Capt. Lang was riddled. Not only was he struck by six bullets, but a canister shot tore away his saddle horn and wounded him severely. Lt. Demetrius M. Bass, Lang’s second in command, was also badly wounded, his arm shattered and later amputated.
Lang was in much pain the following week. Realizing that his wounds were untreatable, he sent his body servant to bring him his revolver, with which he committed suicide on March 2, 1862. Lt. Bass also later succumbed to his wounds. Lt. Benton Bell Seat of Co. F, 5th Texas, wrote that Lang “was a modest nice man, well educated, and it almost made me sick to hear the sad news. . . . I recalled the fact that only the week before he and I had ridden side by side for hours . . . and he was decidedly pessimistic as to the outcome of our expedition.”
On the other side, Dodd’s company of Coloradans had suffered no casualties repulsing the charge. After the battle, the Texans reportedly threw the lances in a pile and burned them, some men rearming themselves with firearms picked up off the field.
After 3:00 p.m., Col. Canby arrived on the battlefield and decided to advance his right and center while using his left as a pivot, thus forcing the Confederate left. Col. Green therefore decided to send in Maj. Henry R. Raguet’s cavalry to attack and slow the Federal right. Raguet advanced to within 100 yards of the Union guns before being driven off. At the same time, Green ordered Lt. Col. William Read Scurry to advance his men on the Federal center.
Scurry’s attack proved to be the decisive maneuver of the battle. Capt. Alexander McRae’s Battery, located at Canby’s left center, poured a hail of canister into the charging Texans; but by dropping to the ground at every discharge, then jumping up and running forward while shooting, they overran the guns and crew, fighting hand-to-hand. Within eight minutes the Texans had taken the Union battery; Capt. McRae and half of his men died defending their guns. With the center broken, the Union line collapsed and fled into the Rio Grande.
Before Green could pursue his forces any further, Canby requested a truce to gather the dead and wounded. Overall, Valverde was a tactical victory for Sibley’s Brigade; they were left in possession of the field, although they had failed to take Fort Craig or destroy Canby’s force. Sibley’s Brigade suffered 183 casualties and Canby’s force 432.
*One participant remembered things a bit differently. According to Lt. Phil Fulcrod, commanding a section of Teel’s Battery, Capt. Lang twice rode up to Lt. Col. William R. Scurry of the 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers and requested permission to charge, Scurry initially refusing but consenting the second time. Lang then formed his lancers in front of Teel’s Battery, made a short speech, brought them to attention, then gave the order to charge.
** The number of lancers in the company vary by source. As to the losses, the following letter was written by Capt. Lang to a friend shortly before his death:
Cecera, New Mexico, February 27, 1862
Z. Bartlett
Dear Sir:
We have met the enemy near Fort Craigg and gained a signal battle. Our victory was complete. The enemy were 3,000 strong with 7 pieces of Artillery. The loss on their side was very great, full (300) three hundred killed and sixteen wagon loads wounded. Our loss was 45 killed and about 60 wounded. We took all their Artillery. The charge upon the Artillery was terrible, and what is astonishing, but few fell—the greatest loss was on our little company—9 were killed, to wit: Andrew Bell, Isaac Marlin, Henry Persons, Joseph Curry, F. Conty, Silas Ivins, J. Dougheity, Robert Mitchell, and J. Furgeson; 11 wounded, to-wit: Lieutenant Bass, Get Forbes, J. Sanders, Ed S. Shelton, Pen Parker, Jack Davis, Hillery Persons, J. A. Lea, Wade Coleman, George Bolster, and myself. None are severely wounded but Mr. Bass, whose left arm is so completely fractured and shot to pieces that he was obliged to have it amputated this morning. He received 7 shots in all, and Jack Davis was also severely wounded. My own wound is dangerous. Those who are called to shed a tear over the fate of their relative or friend may have the consolation that it was not over a coward. The conduct of the company will elicit applause from friend and foe. Please send copies of this letter throughout the county that the friends may know who have fallen and who have been injured.
Respectfully yours,
Willis L. Lang
(The Marlin Compound: Letters of a Singular Family by Frank Calvert Oltorf, pp. 110-11)
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/charge-of-the-5th-texas-lancers.89173
February 21, 1862
This morning our picquets [pickets] drove in 164 head of the enemies mules – the enemy has gone by and are going up the E[ast] side of the Rio – we are going up on the W[est] – they will have to pass on the E side of Table Mountain – we pass up on the west side of the Rio to the upper side of TM where the enemy will have to come for water – they have not had any water for 24 hours – Plant our battery on the west bank just above the upper end of T mountain – in a short time the enemy was seen coming to the river for water – our battery opened on them they retreated – then we were ordered over the Rio. We crossed – the water was cold but we soon got over. the enemy were reinforced and then the ball opened – our Co. was on the extreme left skirmishing – A&F of the 10th next on the right of us – 5th Infty on the right of the Comd. – the enemy knew by the dress and movements of our Co. that we were not regulars and they thought us mexicans – they then thought they had a soft snap – three Cos. of Mounted Lancier Rangers made a charge on our Co. which was but 71 strong in the field – the boys waited until they got within 40 yds of us when they took deliberate aim and it was fun to see the texans fall – they wavered for a few moments and then they came and fierce looking fellows they were with their long lances raised but when they got to us we were loaded again and then we gave them the buck and ball – after the second volley there were but few of them left and but one of them got away – the others were shot one bayoneted – G Simpson ran his bayonet through one and then shot the top of his head off.
https://civilwartalk.com/threads/a-union-soldiers-account-of-the-lancer-charge-at-valverde.130820
The BOR has the burial registry from Fort Craig. Hanson said the military burials recorded are all Union soldiers, New Mexico Volunteers and California Volunteers. He said those who died after the Civil War are listed as United States Army.
Located about 35 miles south of Socorro. Take I-25 to the San Miguel Exit, then east over the Interstate, and south on old Highway 1 (about 11 miles). Then follow the signs to Ft. Craig.
Falls County, TX, roster of 5th Cavalry, Company B
Sibley’s New Mexico Campaign … online book
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015008255013&view=1up&seq=11
Blood and Treasure … book text
http://www.forttours.org/pages/valverde.asp
stops at p.179 (collecting the dead) … need p.180
Lances were a common feature of Napoleonic battlefields and were heavily used by Mexican cavalry during the conflicts of the 1830s and 1840s against the Texans. However, rifled firearms rendered the ten-foot long weapons obsolete.
After a cold, restless night, the men of Sibley’s army awoke to finish the business of war. “The battlefield was a sad sight,” wrote Pvt. William Randolph Howell. “So many poor fellows being cold in death and others biting the earth, horses dead and wounded. The whole seemed to be the abode of death itself.” A burial detail dug four long trenches, fourteen feet long, seven feet wide, and six feet deep, as others assembled the Confederate dead. Friends covered the corpses with blankets, then sewed the bodies inside. After Lieutenant Colonel McNeill performed a funeral service, the soldiers buried them. “Tearfully, tenderly, and prayerfully we laid them in their grave,” Davidson wrote. “Officers and men were laid side by side.” p.199
As the brigade buried its dead, Sibley, recovered …
The Confederates suffered 71 killed and 157 wounded (228 in total), nearly 10 percent.
Led by Captain Willis Lang, the lancers lined up in three columns, lowered their nine-foot long lances, and spurred their horses forward in what many would recall as a “gallant” rush. They assumed that they would smash through the blue-clad ranks, sending the infantry running, and then overrun McRae’s Battery, skewering the artillerymen or trampling them to death. They knew that much of the enemy force consisted of raw New Mexico volunteers who they imagined would, in the face of such a fierce charge, panic and abandon McRae’s men to their fate.[37] Dodd stood in Lang’s way. He instinctively recalled Napoleonic tactics and ordered his men into a square. Dodd could see that his men were excited, whether out of anticipation or fear, at being charged like this. “Steady there my brave mountaineers! Waste not a single shot. Do not let your passions run off with your judgment.” The Coloradans became quiet and tense, to the point that one of them claimed to have heard his own heartbeat. When the lancers were forty yards off Dodd gave the order and his Independents unleashed a devastating volley. Lancers with slain and wounded mounts got to their feet, only to be bayoneted and clubbed down by the Federal volunteers.[38] Another wave of lancers under Jerome McCown readied for a second wave, but Green wisely called off what would have been a repeat disaster.[39] One veteran grandly recalled: “The famed 600, who rode into the jaws of death at Balaclava were this day eclipsed.” Perhaps they did equal the performance of the British cavalry in undertaking an ineffectual and costly assault.[40] The charge did net one positive for the Texans. It had brought the opposing lines closer together, enabling them to use their shorter-range shotguns. Dodd’s Independents got out of range and withdrew.[41] https://rayscivilwar.wordpress.com/2021/08/16/the-new-mexico-campaign-1861-1862-part-iii-the-battle-of-valverde/
film
https://www.codypolston.com/bloody-valverde-a-short-film-about-investigating-the-paranormal-claims
Around 2:00 pm, Green authorized a lancer company to attempt a charge on what they thought was an inexperienced New Mexico company on the Union extreme right; however, the Union soldiers turned out to be a Colorado company which was able to defeat the charge without breaking. Twenty of the lancers were killed and wounded during the charge, with almost all of the horses disabled or killed as well. When it returned to the Confederate line, the lancer company rearmed itself with pistols and shotguns and continued fighting in the battle.[15]
The Fifth Texas Mounted Rifles—numbering 835 effectives by the time it left San Antonio—marched for Fort Bliss in October.
The volunteers provided their own weapons, horses, and blankets, with minimal supplies given from the government warehouses. As a result, the weapons used by the troops varied widely, including rifle muskets, squirrel guns, and double barreled shotguns.[6] After initial training in San Antonio, the regiments were sent by detachments to Fort Bliss near El Paso in October, where Sibley formally took command of the military units in the Confederate Arizona Territory. Once the command was concentrated at Fort Bliss, Sibley then sent them to Fort Thorn in New Mexico, where it remained for a month.[7]
The army began operations in the territory in mid-February 1862, when it moved north against the Union garrison at Fort Craig.
The John M. Bronaugh papers document the Civil War service of Bronaugh as he cared for the sick and wounded of his unit as regimental surgeon for the 5th Texas Cavalry. As such, the collection contains general military orders, hospital records, and correspondence related to medical operations from the war. Two hospital record books are particularly valuable as they give lists of men treated by Bronaugh, along with their unit, ailment, and date treated. Some of these treatments date from right after the 5th Texas returned from their invasion of New Mexico and Arizona, and provide a window into how the failed invasion affected the unit.
… It is unknown whether Bronaugh enlisted before or after the invasion of New Mexico, but by 1862 Bronaugh was a Confederate surgeon in the unit with the rank of major. It is possible he was in the regular army ranks as a private, or was serving as assistant surgeon during the invasion.
https://researchworks.oclc.org/archivegrid/collection/data/904017859
Camp Manassas on Salado Creek … home of the 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers
William Lott Davidson of Company A would later write a history of the brigade. … p 93
The 5th stopped first in San Antonio, where women lined the streets, waving handkerchiefs and cheering. The men received battle flags from well-wishers and stood at attention as the regiment’s commander, Colonel Tom Green, spoke to each company individually. “The Confederacy is counting on you,” he said, “and I, personally, am depending on you.”
A few miles from San Antonio, Green’s men were surprised to find Sibley sitting on his horse on a nearby hill. The general did not speak as they passed, but he lifted his hat in salute and watched as they marched out of sight over the flat blackland prairies. For the next week, Davidson and the others marched steadily westward, crossing rivers and creeks and trading with locals in small towns for butter, cheese, and milk.
One week in, however, storms gathered over the horizon and came at the 5th Texas with incomprehensible speed. They were blue northers—fast-moving cold fronts marked by rapid drops in temperature. Sleet pricked the soldiers’ skin and drenched their clothes as they shivered, no trees to protect them from the sweeping winds. Any man who had looked upon this march as a lark was disabused of his notion that night.
“We were tasting the bitter delights and mournful realities of the soldier’s life,” Davidson lamented. “We are now for the first time beginning to find out that we are engaged in no child’s play.”
After reaching Painted Cave—a rock shelter that was in Texas’ early days “a real resort for Indians, who have left upon the walls in the different compartments of the cave many of their crude paintings”—the 5th made a long, waterless haul to Howard Spring. When they arrived, they found a 12-foot-deep hole with the promise of water only at the very bottom. They pulled it up in buckets. It was a slow and wearying task.
Davidson struggled to find beauty in this parched landscape. The desert was a place of hardship and danger. They were halfway through the march and already their food supplies were dwindling. Most men had only beef and wormy crackers for meals; dying of thirst was a possibility. Worse perhaps, in the lands west of the Pecos, Mescalero and Lipan Apaches descended on every detachment that rolled past. When they raided Company A’s horses at Leon Holes, “the boys gave them a charge,” Davidson reported, “but the only result was that the boys ran their horses down.”
On February 15, 1862, Davidson and the 5th Texas marched through a howling snowstorm and halted just shy of Fort Craig in the New Mexico Territory, the winds blowing “so hard as to almost pull the face off a man.” Gathering around their campfires, they cracked jokes and sang “as merrily as if they were at home,” trying to make the best of things. They were in bad shape, however.
After a few hours, the 5th Texas was ordered forward, drawing a cheer as the men mounted their horses. By their side were two companies of cavalry under the command of Captain Willis Lang. It was a strange sight. Rather than swords, Lang’s troopers held aloft lances that Sibley had made for them back in San Antonio.
Buying firearms on the open market, Henry Sibley by late fall had his brigade equipped with “squirrel-guns, bear guns, sportsman’s guns, shot-guns, both single and double barrels[;] in fact, guns of all sorts,” according to one report. Sibley also procured 200 lances, to be carried by Captain Willis L. Lang’s company in the 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers. Nine feet long with 3- by-12-inch blades, they were topped by large red pennants with a white star in the middle: the original Texas flag. Sibley had first seen lancers in battle during the Mexican War, and the aesthetic splendor of that vision had stayed with him. It would be difficult to train the men to fight with the lances, and with their motley collection of guns. There was no help for it, however. Sibley’s men would just have to do the best they could.
During the Valverde fighting, Union Private Alonzo Ickis was among those startled to see the sudden appearance of 50 Confederate horsemen, riding at a gallop and holding long spears with gleaming metal blades and red flags affixed to them, bearing down on them.
At dawn on February 22, the men of the Sibley Brigade gathered more than 30 bodies together, side-by-side. They had selected a burial ground near the site of their greatest achievement during the battle: the capture of McRae’s battery. At 10 a.m. the entire army gathered there, the chaplain said the funeral service, and Bill Davidson offered up a heartfelt prayer. Then they buried their comrades, wrapping them tightly in blankets and coats and laying them in three long trenches. They shoveled the dirt over the piles and left no other markers. They reckoned that the cottonwood trees that clustered all around would have to do. These “grand shapely old monarchs of the plains” would stand as sentinels, protecting the Confederate dead in the deserts of New Mexico.
http://www.caminorealheritage.org/articles/1105_elcamino1.pdf
5 miles bosque south boundary to san marcial turn-off
2.5 miles ‘mesa del contadero’ historical marker to san marcial turn-off
ownership
investigations
status
Cecera, New Mexico, February 27, 1862
Z. Bartlett
Dear Sir:
We have met the enemy near Fort Craigg and gained a signal battle. Our victory was complete. The enemy were 3,000 strong with 7 pieces of Artillery. The loss on their side was very great, full (300) three hundred killed and sixteen wagon loads wounded. Our loss was 45 killed and about 60 wounded. We took all their Artillery. The charge upon the Artillery was terrible, and what is astonishing, but few fell—the greatest loss was on our little company—9 were killed, to wit: Andrew Bell, Isaac Marlin, Henry Persons, Joseph Curry, F. Conty, Silas Ivins, J. Dougheity, Robert Mitchell, and J. Furgeson; 11 wounded, to-wit: Lieutenant Bass, Get Forbes, J. Sanders, Ed S. Shelton, Pen Parker, Jack Davis, Hillery Persons, J. A. Lea, Wade Coleman, George Bolster, and myself. None are severely wounded but Mr. Bass, whose left arm is so completely fractured and shot to pieces that he was obliged to have it amputated this morning. He received 7 shots in all, and Jack Davis was also severely wounded. My own wound is dangerous. Those who are called to shed a tear over the fate of their relative or friend may have the consolation that it was not over a coward. The conduct of the company will elicit applause from friend and foe. Please send copies of this letter throughout the county that the friends may know who have fallen and who have been injured.
Respectfully yours,
Willis L. Lang
(The Marlin Compound: Letters of a Singular Family by Frank Calvert Oltorf, pp. 110-11)
——-
Around 2004, it emerged that 20 bodies had been looted from the cemetery at Fort Craig, evidently by a collector of military memorabilia. To prevent further looting, 67 more sets of remains were exhumed by Federal archaeologists for reinterment at Santa Fe National Cemetery. in 2007.[6]
https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna24022697
State officials have known about the abandoned cemetery since at least 1995, said Glenna Dean, a former state archaeologist who is now associate director of the Northern Rio Grande National Heritage Area.
Dean said the cemetery, whose exact boundaries are unknown, was likely in use from 1853 to 1875, and was probably a former Presbyterian cemetery.
Civil War buffs have kept an eye on the lot for years and have notified state officials anytime a suspected grave is disturbed — such as in the 1970s when headstones and statuary disappeared from the cemetery, and in the summer of 1995 when rock-pile grave markers and the remains of a wrought-iron fence were bulldozed.
October 22, 2008 – City workers made a startling discovery in Socorro Tuesday when they dug up a human skull and pieces of a casket — reopening a fight over what may be a Civil War cemetery.
The February 1862 Battle of Valverde brought wounded Confederate soldiers to Socorro, and some historians believe those who later died were buried under what are now a paved street and the backyard of a local family.
The most recent discovery came when two city workers digging for a gas line uncovered more than pipe. “This is the shoulder blade; right underneath about another six inches is where the rest of it is,” Dr. Heather Edgar, an anthropologist, said as she inspected the site Wednesday.
Edgar said in the hole dug only a few feet into the ground revealed a human skull, shoulder bones, leg bones and the handle to a coffin. Edgar said she believes the bones date to the 1800s but for now declined to speculate beyond that. “I don’t know if it’s male or female,” she told KRQE News 13. “I don’t know anything about the person yet.”
This isn’t the first time an unmarked grave was unearthed on the street. Across the street from Tuesday’s discovery sits a pile of rocks in a vacant lot where another set of remains was found several years ago.
Charles Mandeville, a member of the Sons of the Confederate Soldiers, said he believes the abandoned cemetery, with the remains of 27 Confederate soldiers, lies beneath the vacant lot. “In this, behind us, was found the Knight’s of Pythias button, which was the organization that Lincoln founded to watch over the graves of Union soldiers,” Mandeville said. There are no placards and no records so the only way to find out what is there is to dig, he said. “We’re trying to gain access to the property ultimately to determine who might be here,” Mandeville said.
However, the owners of the main portion of the property have already told Mandeville he cannot dig on their property.
The City of Socorro told News 13 it needs more proof that Confederate soldiers were buried there before Mandeville can get his way. “I’d probably want to find some badges that say Confederate soldier on them,” Edgar said, “I haven’t found anything like that.”
The bones and artifacts recovered in Socorro are being turned over to the University of New Mexico Maxwell Museum of Anthropology.
In 2004, when the city graded Peralta Drive — the street fronting the property containing the Confederate cemetery — at least four suspected grave sites were unearthed. Despite the discovery, the graves were paved over
https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2326706/confederate-soldier-burial-site
Maj Shropshire letter Co.A, 5th Texas Mounted Volunteers