Glorieta Pass Battlefield

The Glorieta Pass Battlefield is on the main route from Pecos River valley to the Santa Fe and Galisteo areas. This route was used as a major Indian trade route; the exploration route for Francisco Vasquez de Coronado expedition of 1540-1541; the fray Agustin Rodriguez-Francisco Sanchez Chamuscado expedition of 1581-1582; the Antonio de Espejo expedition of 1582-1583; the Gaspar Castano de Sosa expedition in 1590-1591; the main Spanish colonial route from Santa Fe to Pecos and the Great Plains from 1598 to 1821; the route of the Santa Fe Trail established through the area in 1821; and the route of the first railroad from St. Louis to Santa Fe, replacing the Santa Fe Trail in 1878. The Battle of Glorieta Pass, March 26-28, 1862, ended the Confederate invasion of New Mexico, the first step in a grand design for detaching the West from the Union and extending the Confederation to the Pacific. Critical parts of the battle of Glorieta Pass happened at Canoncito/Johnson's Ranch and Pigeon's Ranch, and the Pigeon's Ranch house was used as a field hospital after the conflict. Several of the dead of the Confederate forces were buried a few hundred feet to the southeast, and other bodies may remain to be found in the area. President Davis commissioned Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley to lead the invasion of New Mexico. With a brigade of 2,500 Texans, he marched up the Rio Grande from Fort Bliss in February 1862. A Union army under Colonel Edward R. S. Canby concentrated at Fort Craig to meet the Southerners. At the battle of Valverde on February 21, Sibley defeated Canby and, while the Federals remained at Craig, drove on to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. The next objective was Fort Union, with its depot containing $300,000 in stores, the only obstacles between Santa Fe and Denver. Appreciating the danger to Colorado posed by Sibley, Governor William Gilpin had hurriedly raised a regiment of volunteers and sent them by forced marches through winter snows to reinforce the weak garrison of Fort Union. They arrived at the Fort March 11-13. Under Colonel John B. Slough, 1,300 infantry, cavalry, and artillery set forth to meet the Confederates advancing from Santa Fe. As Sibley was in Santa Fe (reportedly drunk during the battle), Lieutenant Colonel W. R. Scurry commanded the 1,100 Texans. The two armies, both brigade size, met in Glorieta Pass, a defile in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains by which the Santa Fe Trail reached its destination. The battle began in the pass on March 26 when the Union advance guard, 418 men under Major John B. Chivington, encountered a Southern advance guard under Major C. S. Pyron near the Pigeon's ranch house. In several hours of hard fighting, Chivington succeeded in pushing the Texans back to Johnson's Ranch, at the western end of the pass near present-day Canoncito. The approach of night, however, caused him to break contact and fall back to Pigeon's ranch house; then, because of insufficient water, farther east to Kozlowski's ranch house. On the 27th Lieutenant Colonel S. Scurry and the main Texan force reached Johnson's Ranch, and the next day Slough joined Chivington at Kozlowski's Ranch with the rest of the Coloradoans. On the morning of the 28th, Union forces advanced to Pigeon's Ranch where troops stopped at the well for water. Scurry advanced his Confederate troops at the same time and at 8:30 a.m. began firing on Union men at the Pigeon's ranch house. The two sides fought indecisively all day. Eventually Slough left the field to the Confederates, who established themselves at the Pigeon's ranch house. Meanwhile Major Chivington worked a stratagem that won the battle for Slough. With seven companies, Chivington made his way through mountainous terrain around the Confederate flank with the objective of attacking the enemy rear. From a bluff overlooking Johnson's Ranch, at the western entrance to the pass, he discovered the Confederate supply depot, 73 wagons and 500-600 mules and horses, guarded by a small detachment. The Federals charged, destroyed the wagons, killed the animals, and then withdrew to Kozlowski's Ranch. Loss of his supplies forced Scurry to turn back, leaving the field to Slough. Joined by Sibley, the army retreated down the Rio Grande, avoiding Canby, and returned to Texas. Compared to the great conflicts in the East, Glorieta Pass, in numbers engaged and losses (150 Federal, 400 Confederate), was a small skirmish. Yet the issues were large, and the battle decisive in resolving them. The Confederates very likely would have taken Fort Union and Denver had not the Colorado Volunteers stopped them at Glorieta, although their gains probably could not have been held. As one of the Texans later put it, "if it had not been for those devils from Pike's Peak, this country would have been ours."