The Civil War in the Southwest

The Battle of Glorieta Pass and the Violent Sacrifice in the Foothills of Christ’s Blood

This is the eighth episode in the series over the Civil War in the American Southwest.

This soldier, I realized, must have had friends at home and in his regiment; yet he lay there deserted by all except his dog. I looked on, unmoved, at battles which decided the future of nations. Tearless, I had given orders which brought death to thousands. Yet here I was stirred, profoundly stirred, stirred to tears. And by what? By the grief of one dog.

Napoleon Bonaparte, on finding a distraught howling dog licking the face of his dead master on a moonlit night after the battle of Bassano del Grappa.

Nestled at the foot of the southernmost range of the Rocky Mountains, a chain known as the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, which translates to the Blood of Christ or Christ’s Blood Mountains, at the foot of these mountains, lies an ancient thoroughfare known as Glorietta Pass. The Spanish called it La Glorieta on account of its beautiful and dense forests of Cottonwoods and Pine trees and its wonderful vistas. The views that surround you are of either the Sangre de Cristos to the north or the steep green Glorietta Mesa to the south. The ancient ones had been using the pass since the time of the Playground of Giants. The Ancestral Puebloans set up the mighty trade hub of Pecos Pueblo there. The plains Indians would bring their bison pelts and the puebloans would trade corn and ceramics for them. The apache used it as a gateway to the mountains where they could raid the puebloans. The western end of Glorietta Pass is actually called Apache Pass.

To the east of the pass is Las Vegas, Fort Union, and the ocean of grass that is the great plains. To the west of the pass is the American southwest with her deserts, mountains, basins, and wilderness.

The Santa Fe Trail actually cuts through Glorietta Pass on its way to, well, Santa Fe, and the greater west. It was an important highway and it had been for close to 20,000 years before the deciding battle of the Southwest took place during the American Civil War. This battle would become known as the Gettysburg of the West and it was here where two decisive battles took place. First, the Battle at Apache Canyon, and then the Battle of Glorietta Pass.

In October of 2024, despite this being my fourth visit to Pecos National Historical Park, I finally drove the few miles down the highway to the battlefield of Glorietta Pass for the first time. I was with my very dear Russian friend and my wife and I had no idea what to expect. There’s a nice trail through the woods that, combined with the little book you can purchase at the Pecos gift shop, allows you to retrace and recreate the battle in your mind. When we were on the trail, reading aloud the passages that describe this part of the battle, I had assumed the battlefield must have looked very different at that time in 1862 than it did now. It was all trees and gullies and rocks and boulders… you certainly can’t have a large-scale Gettysburg of the West at a place like this. When the Rebels and the Yankees squared off, it had to have been cleared and more amenable to fighting, right? That’s what I was thinking at the time. But in reality, the only real difference is that a few fields have become overgrown and most of the buildings strewn across the battlefield have crumbled and disappeared. The fighting really did take place in this New Mexican wilderness just as it looks today. Sure, there wasn’t I-25 only feet from the trail with its roaring traffic and semis, but other than that, the battlefield now is pretty much the same as it was then.

Unfortunately, at the time of the hike, I had only a passing knowledge of anything that occurred during the battle but once I began studying and reading in earnest, I was able to place myself back on the wooded trail and amongst the boulders and ravines. When we were there, we had looked for shell or bullet markings on the many rocks and boulders but we found nothing convincing… a traveller could pass through there today and if they had no knowledge of what took place at this spot, they would have no way to ascertain that the deciding battle of the west occurred there at all. So I am here to keep the memory of the Battle of Glorietta Pass and the men who fought and died there alive for as long as this show is floating around the world.

Donald Frazier in his Blood and Treasure, a great resource for this series, he comments on how by the end of March, 1862, the Confederate Empire had reached its zenith. He writes in this lengthy excerpt, quote, In the last week of March, the Confederate Empire was at its greatest expanse. In the north, Confederate troops occupied Santa Fe, strengthening the Southern claim to New Mexico, and Majors Pyron and Shropshire maintained their post in Apache Canyon, guarding against a Union move through Glorieta Pass against the territorial capital. The territory's other major town, Albuquerque, served as Sibley's headquarters as well as the Rebel supply depot, and housed 150 veterans. To the south, Colonel Green and his four hundred horsemen protected the Rebel depot from Canby's advance. Halfway between these two towns, Lieutenant Colonel Scurry led the largest Confederate element, one thousand men, in an easy march toward the north. Sibley's plan was in motion and his forces-the Army of New Mexico-were scattered, no longer able to converge quickly on Fort Union. Distance and momentum prevented any sudden changes. Instead, outside of the original mission, the Confederates were limited to reacting to Federal initiatives. End quote.

By the end of March, the Confederates had won the costly victory at Valverde before marching north to take ABQ and then Santa Fe. Sibley, had then… squandered his advantage and had his men linger at Albuquerque, in the Manzanos, Sandias, and at Santa Fe for far too long. Disease spread. The troops were tired and cold. The weather had sucked. All the while, the Rebels were severely lacking in mounts. Their horses and mules had been shot to pieces at Valverde and they still hadn’t recovered. When the order was finally given to advance to Fort Union, it was too late. As Donald Frazier writes, quote:

the lumbering progress of Sibley's army had aided the Federals immensely, furnishing them with ample time to recover, react and save the territory for the United States. Colonel Canby remained at Fort Craig with 1,800 regulars and New Mexico volunteers, but he had rallied his beaten army, rebuilding the confidence lost at Val Verde. Meanwhile, the few regulars at Fort Union, northeast of Santa Fe, erected a star-shaped earthwork complete with bombproofs, making the post virtually impregnable to Rebel attack. The Texans' slow progress had also allowed Union reinforcements, 900 miners of Col. John P. Slough's First Colorado Volunteers, to arrive on March 10, after a grueling march that covered four hundred miles in thirteen days. Their arrival raised the number of Federal troops in the Fort Union garrison to more than 1,342. While Sibley's combined force outnumbered either element of the opposing army, Canby's or Slough's, it would be hard-pressed to continue garrisoning both Albuquerque and Santa Fe, while defeating the enemy in detail. If the Northern armies united, the Confederate invaders faced disaster. End quote.

At Fort Union, Col Slough arrived with over 900 Coloradan Volunteers. They were the ones who had marched through the snow at the end of the previous episode. Once he’d arrived, Slough immediately took command from Col Gabriel Rene Paul which, Paul was not too thrilled about. Paul would even write to headquarters at Fort Leavenworth and ask to be promoted. But on account of the coming battle, it wouldn’t really matter. Slough took command and read the instructions that had made it to Paul’s hands. Canby, was going to attempt to meet up with Fort Union and the two armies would overtake the Confederates together. Canby had written, quote, Harass the enemy by partisan operations; obstruct his movements and remove any supplies that might fall into his hands. End quote. But he also emphasized, quote, Do not move from Fort Union to meet me until I advise you of the route and point of junction. End quote.

So harass the enemy as best you can but keep your main force at Fort Union until I tell you when to leave. Canby knew keeping these two forts, Craig, and Union, were crucial to keeping New Mexico, but he also knew he couldn’t stay at Craig forever. He would eventually need to leave and confront the Rebels. He would write of this importance and say, quote, the question is not of saving [Fort Craig], but of saving New Mexico and defeating the Confederates in such a way that an invasion of this Territory will never again be attempted. End quote.

When Canby learned that the Coloradans had arrived, he wrote another note and told the Yankees to stay put until he told them when and where to meet up with his advancing force. He wrote, quote, Keep your command prepared to make a junction with this force, I will indicate time and route. End quote. But he would add, quote, if you ... act independently against the enemy, advise me of your plans and movements, that I may cooperate. In this you must be governed by your own judgment but nothing must be left to chance. End quote.

That was all Col. Slough needed to read. Governed by your own judgement… Slough and his antsy Coloradans were itching for a fight. After they had recovered from their incredible and fast march, they began to get bored and drunk. Fights broke out, officers were shot in the face, the men were frontiersmen and although they were drilling daily, their more wild mountain men nature could not be suppressed.

Slough of the First Colorado is described as being a short tempered and hot headed man and he had even been suspected of being a Southern sympathizer. He was ready to prove those doubters wrong. John P Slough was from Ohio and he had practiced law before he was elected to the Ohio Legislature. While there, he struck another member and was expelled but, his constituents reelected him anyways. He participated in bleeding Kansas before he moved to Denver where he was instrumental in setting up the courts in that new territory. Now, he was at the head of the rugged Pike’s Peakers and they were ready to harass the enemy in any way they could.

On March 22nd, despite Paul’s protest, the Union soldiers under Slough began marching west towards Santa Fe with 1,342 men from Colorado and New Mexico. Although 75% of these men were from Colorado.

On that same day though, without hearing any news from his soldiers up at Union, Canby began sending patrols north from Socorro. He was scheming a grand plan to take back Albuquerque and eventually team up with his forces at Fort Craig. As Frazier in his Blood and Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest puts it, quote, While unwary Rebel troops tramped up mountain by-ways and roamed the streets of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, bold and formidable blue columns snaked up the Rio Grande and down the Santa Fe Trail. End quote. The Rebels were beginning to be surrounded.

The news of these two movements by the enemy, the one up the Rio Grande and the other on the Santa Fe trail, they stirred the often drunk Brigadier General Sibley, down in Albuquerque, to finally move his men into combat position. The time had long since passed but it was better late than never. He immediately told Green to head down the road towards Fort Craig and get a look at what Canby was up to. Afterwards, he was to march to Fort Union. Sibley also ordered Shropshire and Pyron in Santa Fe to get a move on to the east and link up with Dirty Shirt Scurry on the Santa Fe Trail. But Scurry, Shrop, and Pyron were already on the move.

By March 25th, Shropshire and Pyron were at a stage stop known as Johnson’s Ranch in Apache Pass where they had spent a cold and sleepless night. The oft quoted Pvt. Bill Davidson would write of these times, quote, The weather was so cold, and our covering so light, that we could not sleep much at night, end quote. The men were tired and weary and they knew a fight was coming as they wandered the dangerous and enchanting land of northern New Mexico. The other oft quoted Pvt Peticolas whose Journal I have, he also wrote of this time and said, quote, there is a sort of gloom resting on the company. End quote. He was with Scurry to the south, in the Galisteo Basin, but the whole of Rebel forces in the north mountains of New Mexico could feel something in the air.

That evening, Pyron would send 50 scouts on up ahead of the trail to scout for the Fedral’s movements.

The following day, the 26th, deep in the steep and rocky Apache Pass, Pyron, knowing his troops had not slept, allowed all but those 50 scouts to nap in the warmest part of the day in whatever spots of sun they could find. There was still snow in all the shaded parts and the coolness of the canyon walls radiated a dreariness that lulled the tired Rebels to sleep by afternoon.

But around 4pm… as Pvt Davidson would later write in his journal, quote, We were rudely awaked by a volley of gunfire fired into camp, In a moment, every fellow was on his feet, gun in hand. End quote.

The day before, the 25th, at 3pm, one of Slough’s men, Major John Chivington, with 418 infantry and cavalrymen marched 35 miles west until midnight when he and his men arrived at a place known as Kozlowski’s Ranch where they planned to camp for the evening.

Quick note on Chivington, Chivington was six feet and five inches tall and was described as being, quote unquote, as strong as a bull elephant. His nickname, as Colton puts it in his The Civil War in the Western Territories, his nickname was the Fightin’ Preacher quote, against whom the devil had mighty poor odds. End quote. He had a loud booming voice and he was a commanding presence everywhere he went.

But at 2am, Chivington was awoken with the news that there were Rebel scouts in the area and they’d been to this very same Kozlowski’s Ranch earlier that afternoon. So, he sent Lt. George Nelson and 20 of his men out to find and apprehend these Rebels. Which they did, while the Rebels were playing cards at a place known as Pigeon’s Ranch. Pigeon’s Ranch was another stage stop along the Santa Fe Trail. It was also an Inn that could house hundreds of animals and dozens of people. It had stables, wells, tanks, corrals… it was a major spot on the trail and will play an important role in the coming battle of Glorietta Pass.

After bringing the captured Confederates back to Chivington, he interrogated the prisoners and learned that the Rebel Forces were at that moment at the far end of the pass and would soon be marching for Fort Union in strength.

A few hours later at 8am, Chivington decided to press his advantage and he moved all 400 of his men from the Ranch and marched through Glorietta Pass in an attempt to fend off the Rebels. But on the way, they captured the other 30 Rebels, Pyron had sent out. He captured them too without firing a shot.

The story goes, during the dark of night, these Rebels were heading west when they encountered a large group of men on horseback. They assumed, since they were heading west that these men were their own comrades. Earlier in the night, a group of Fedrals and these group of Confederates had passed by each other in the pass without knowing it and each were heading back to their own lines. When the Rebels, led by a McIntyre, asked these Coloradans if they were there to relieve them, the Fedrals replied, quote, yes! We came to relieve you of your arms! End quote. They then raised their rifles. Surprised, the Rebels threw down their arms and were marched off as prisoners.

By 2pm, Chivington and his Coloradans were at the summit of the pass.

He could see no signs of the Confederates yet, but he knew they were just at the far end of the pass. Or at least that’s what the captured Texans had told him. So, he and his men marched for two more hours until they came upon the sleeping and drowsy Rebels. They then opened fire on their enemy. For most of these Coloradans, it was their first taste of battle and they were ready.

The Rebs, awoke from their slumber and hastily jumped to the defense. The Yankees were less than a mile away and firing rapidly on their spread out position. Colton writes, quote, The Texas Column unfurled in defiance its red flag with the lone star and set up in the road two howitzers supported by mounted infantry. End quote. The Confederates immediately opened fire with their cannons, sending shells and grapeshot towards the Pikes Peakers. The problem was, the three men loading and firing these cannons were not artillerymen, they were just privates with little knowledge of how to work the guns, so these shells sailed mostly harmlessly towards and over the heads of the Unionists. But it still had the desired effect of disrupting the charge.

Chivington had no artillery and his men, frightened and not wanting to get Swiss cheesed, hurried in a crowd to a spot just out of reach of the guns.

This halted the Yankee advance which allowed the Rebels to regroup at Pyron’s calm and collected commands. They then began an offensive retreat.

Chivington, on the Colorado side, quickly set about gaining some order amongst his men. His first order was to send three companies of infantry into the evergreen trees to the left of the Union line. He then sent one mounted and one foot infantry to the Union’s right, up a steep slope. The remainder of the men stayed in the center. The three companies on the left and the two on the right eventually closed in on the Confederates who retreated a mile and a half down the canyon where the walls were steeper. All the while, the two sides were shooting at close range and occasionally even in hand to hand combat.

The men in the middle of the Union line though, they were supposed to charge the Confederate artillery as they retreated but they failed to do so since the cannons never ceased their firing during the retreat. This was despite the cannons being quite ineffective at this range and in this terrain. And despite the fact that one of the wheels nearly came off of one of the cannons and the Rebels took some time to fix the wheel before retreating. The Yanks had missed a perfect opportunity to seize the cannons. The other 5 companies of Coloradans continued to pursue the Rebels which resulted in individual gun battles that saw quite a few Rebs fall. The Coloradans, these Pikes Peakers were slowly enveloping the Texans on both sides. And then, they completely dissolved the Confederate Ranks.

The Rebels began to be cut off from one another as the Coloradans, both on foot and on horseback continued to swarm through the narrow canyon.

Pyron, realizing the urgency of the situation and realizing he was outnumbered five to one, sent a runner down to find and hurry along Dirty Shirt Scurry. He needed their help… yesterday.

During the beginning of this battle, it was really only Pyron’s men that were being enveloped. Shrop and his men were back at Johnson’s Ranch, that is until they heard the report of cannons and rifles. They quickly, without being ordered, mustered their strength and their weapons and rushed to save their comrades. Eventually, they ran into the retreating cannons and began to reinforce the rest of the Rebs.

During the disorienting battle, the Pvt Davidson I often quote, he and his men got completely cut off from the rest of the Rebel forces and the Coloradans were surrounding them. I’ll let Frazier’s great storytelling recount how they were saved, quote:

Major Shropshire, who had originally commanded the unit, he means Davidsons, galloped through Union fire to rescue his friends and neighbors. Now quoting Davidson, Like an avalanche he came to us ... in his eyes ... there gleamed the fierce light of battle. The storm cloud of war rested dark upon his brow. End quote. Reining in his mount, Shropshire ordered the beleaguered troops to draw their Bowie knives and follow him to the new line. The Federals yelled "shoot ... the man on the white horse," Davidson recalled. "This may account for why they were overshooting us." The men of Company A eventually reached the third, and final, Confederate line. Over twenty, though, were missing. Davidson again, Shropshire was a noble man, but on that particular day and at that particular time he was grand, mighty and magnificent. End all quotes.

Many of the Texans remarked that they owed their life to Shropshire’s charge since he drew many of the Fedral guns towards his own person. But even with this daring rescue, some 30 of his soldiers were captured.

One of his soldiers that was captured was a certain Doc Walker who had been cut off and surrounded during the battle. At one point, realizing he was in deep water, he crawled into a small cave or hole in some rocks where he remained undiscovered… that is until one of his comrades also discovered the hiding place and attempted to crawl in with him. This man, a Sgt. Tooke, he was shimmying his way in when the two were found and pulled out of the rocks. When the Fedrals realized Tooke only carried a little double barreled shotgun they teased the Confederates and asked them if they were on some wild goose hunt. The leader of these Coloradans then took the man’s gun and smashed it against a rock to destroy it, but unfortunately for him, upon striking the boulder, both barrels discharged into the First Colorado Lt. William Marshall, and killed him.

On the other side, Chivington, mounted and dressed in full regimental uniform with a pistol in each hand, had also seemed impervious to bullets, much like Shropshire. The owner of Pigeon’s Ranch, an Alexander Valle, would later write about the man during the battle and say, quote, zat Chivington, he put ‘is head down, and fight like mad bull. End quote.

So the Rebels had retreated twice and on this last retreat, Colton wrote that they had destroyed a 16 foot log bridge over a twenty foot deep arroyo which made Yankee pursuit very difficult and it kept the horses to the main dusty road, where they were perfect targets. Colton wrote quote, Near the bridge site, the canyon turned abruptly to the left, with a steep, rocky bluff arising like a bastion directly in front, providing a natural defense. The confederate battery was placed on a mound at the base of the bluff and a large number of riflemen were posted around the artillery and among the rocks and trees along the canyon slopes around it. End quote.

The Coloradans still pursued though, which saw some of the cavalrymen, 98 out of 99, according to Chivington, leap their horses over the wide ravine. The Rebels, on foot, were just too quick and wily to pursue on horseback, although some skirmishes still occurred. And the fact that most Coloradan cavalrymen had to stay on the road, meant they and their horses were picked off. Many men, and some officers, were wounded and many found themselves without horses. In Thomas Edrington and John Taylor’s The Battle of Glorietta Pass, they remark that at this point, quote, several of the riderless horses took the opportunity to desert the army, and it was said that a number of their erstwhile riders bid them good riddance. End quote.

The leaping of the horses over the ravine may be a… fictional glorification of the battle that Chivington wrote about some twenty years later. In reality, one Coloradan would write a letter to his father after the battle and say of the pursuit of the Rebels, quote, the texans were behind rocks, trees, and there was so much smoke and dust I could not often get sight of one. Seeing that we were in advance of the rest of the company, and there was no battery in sight, we thought it would be foolish to go further through such murderous fire, so we turned to the right and ran up the hills. End quote.

Quite a few of the sources cite the leaping of the horses as fact but in reality, it’s fiction… we made it up. The cavalrymen in this battle proved at first, useless when they didn’t pursue the retreating cannons as ordered, and then they proved ineffective in the tight confines of the steep Apache Canyon walls. But the remainder of Chivington’s forces were quite effective.

Eventually with night approaching, the Rebels hastened a full retreat back to Johnson’s Ranch. Davidson would write, quote, All I have to say, is that I was leading the retreating. That is the only time I could lead Company A the Yankee bullets were playing “Yankee Doodle” behind me, but did not travel quite fast enough to overtake me. End quote.

Chivington wisely decided not to pursue the Rebels any further. But, he had… unbeknownst to him, just inflicted the first real defeat of the Confederates in the war for the Southwest thus far. Before and during the battle he had captured around 75 Rebel men and during the skirmish, he had killed four Rebs and wounded 20. The Yankees suffered 5 killed and fourteen wounded. The Colroadans celebrated what they thought was a major and marvelous victory, while the Rebels admitted that they had been quote unquote, outflanked, outnumbered, and outgeneraled.

One Confederate soldier would write a letter after the battle and say of the Coloradans, quote, how some of these men who charged us ever escaped death will ever be a wonder to me. Our men who were fighting them in the road were soon obliged to retreat and the fight was over. End quote.

After the battle, Pyron and Chivington agreed to a cease fire until 8am the next day in order to bury their dead. Chivington returned to Pigeon’s Ranch but left a small group of soldiers at the eastern end of Apache Pass. While Pyron and Shropshire retreated to the western edge of Apache Pass to Johnson’s Ranch. There, they entrenched themselves and waited for both another attack, and for Scurry’s 600 man reinforcements.

Towards the end of the battle, Pvt Davidson, who had so enjoyed the sun’s warmth earlier before he was rudely awoken by the Fedral’s gunfire, he wrote in his journal about that day and how by the end of it, he was wondering if the sun would ever set. He wrote quote, the sun seemed to hang in the heavens and would not go down. End quote. He wondered if quote, Joshua had reissued his order to the sun. End quote.

In the Bible’s book of Joshua, the commander of the army of Israel apparently asked God to stop the sun so that he could continue fighting. Joshua 10: 12 reads, quote, then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel and he said in the sight of Israel, sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon… 13 reads, and the sun stood still. End quote. Davidson was wondering if the Yankees had successfully asked the Lord to stall the sun so they could seek their revenge upon the Rebels. Davidson also wrote, quote, I almost believe that evening made my hair turn gray. End quote.

During the only three hour battle, Dirty Shirt Scurry had received the frantic message from Pyron and he waisted no time in rallying his tired men. He arranged them into a column on the road and they marched north towards their beleaguered comrades. Peticolas would write of this march, quote, We started off at a brisk gait and made the first six miles of our journey in a very little time, but footsore and weary we did not travel from that point so fast as we had been doing, but there was no murmuring at our suffering.... Every man marched bravely along and did not complain at the length of the road, the coldness of the weather or the necessity that compelled the march. End quote.

By 330am, they had arrived to their entrenched fellow Confederates and Davidson would write, quote, I was glad to see them. I thought they were the finest looking men I ever saw in my life. End quote.

In reality, many of Scurry’s men were barefoot. They were all hungry since their dinner had been cut short, and they were freezing cold. The fifteen mile march had been through a pass filled with snow and ice. The last two miles took two hours. But they had finally arrived.

Immediately, Pyron and Scurry began discussing their next move. They just knew a Fedral offense was coming strong and fast so they figured a further entrenchment would be the right move… for now.

By the morning sun’s light, the Rebels had gained an incredible defensive advantage. They’d dug rifle pits, they’d aligned their four cannons to point at the mouth of the canyon, they’d deployed sharpshooters on the rocky slopes, and they dug in. All the while, their supplies were loaded into a train of wagon by the teamsters, just out of sight of the Unionists. These 80 wagons held all over their belongings. All of their food. All of their extra weapons, medicine, clothing, journals, extra ammunition… it would be devastating if this wagon train were to be destroyed in a surprise flank.

This Confederate entrenchment was a perfect setup. A perfectly defensible place to hold off the Fedrals. Fedrals who were itchin’ to fight under Slough. They were in a perfect place to hold off and wait until Green arrived to further reinforce their numbers. Green had over 300 mounted soldiers and more supplies. With he and his men, they could probably beat the Yanks in open battle. But… like Slough, the Coloradan, The Confederate Col. Dirty Shirt Scurry, was in a hurry to defeat the enemy in battle… Frazier sums up the winds of war at this moment nicely, quote:

Scurry understood Sibley's intentions. He, Pyron, and Shropshire would block Glorieta Pass. There, the army would wait for Green to pass over the Sandia Mountains to the south with his three hundred horsemen and arrive behind Slough, cutting off his retreat. Then, the northern division of the Union army in New Mexico could be surrounded and destroyed in the field. Scurry, however, like his Union antagonist, was not a patient man. End quote.

By March 27th, Dirty Shirt Scurry, who’d missed the retreating action at Apache Pass was eager to be on the move and hunt down the Fedrals. Scurry had assumed the cease-fire was until noon, so when he learned that it ended at eight, he began to think entrenching was the wrong move. He knew Green wasn’t far behind and he wanted to go through the pass and cut off the Yankees before they could retreat to Fort Union. He’d wait one more day before pursuit.

On the 28th, after another restless and cold night, Scurry was on the move. He left one six pound howitzer and a detachment of men at the mouth of Apache Pass at Johnson’s Ranch to guard the wagons… the 80 wagons which again, held everything of importance and everything of strategic value for the Confederates. Everything they would need to continue the fight in northern New Mexico. Scurry then took over a thousand Rebels and he marched them all down the Santa Fe Trail. They were out for revenge.

As they marched, Pvt Davidson recorded the terrain in his journal and compared it to the famous battle at Thermopolae where the 300 Spartans fought off the Persians until they were all killed… a fitting analogy. He wrote, quote, this was a rugged pass between the mountains, Thermopolae was nothing compared to it: steep cliffs of rocks lined thick with cedar brush on each side of the road, cliffs so steep that a man had absolutely to get down and crawl up them. End quote.

At 11am, Pvt Peticolas recorded in his journal that they were startled by a volley of shots and the quote, sharp report of a gun, and the sharper whistle of a minnie ball. End quote. The oft quoted Davidson, who was riding in the front of the column, went down wounded in this initial volley from the Fedrals, who were only 250 yards down the trail, just past the summit of Glorietta Pass at Pigeon’s Ranch. This put the Rebels to the east of the Summit, a high ground they could now retreat to if needed.

A group of men known as the Brigands or the Santa Fe Gamblers were at this time led by William Kirk and he was at the head of the column when they finally encountered the Fedrals. A rather cocky Coloradan as Frazier puts it, noticed the Rebels and yelled, Get out of our way you damned sons of bitches, we are going to take our dinner in Santa Fe!

Kirk the mercenary responded with, You'll take dinner in hell!

With that, the battle was on. The Rebs rode to their rear, dismounted, joined the infantry and artillery, and advanced towards Pigeon’s Ranch.

As previously mentioned, Slough, much like Scurry, was also itchin’ for a fight. He had assumed that the Confederates would be reinforced with around 400 more Rebels, which would still make them outnumbered. He was not expecting over 600 hundred. So that same morning, on the 28th, he had left the eastern edge of the Pass which he had arrived to the day before, and he’d stopped at Pigeon’s Ranch to reconnoiter. At the same time, Chivington was making his way around the pass, near Glorietta Mesa to the south, and he was heading for Johnson’s Ranch. This was to be a perfectly executed Napoleonic flanking maneuver. A maneuver that would have been common knowledge to any military learned men at the time. Unfortunately for Slough, this is also a very difficult maneuver to accomplish with inexperienced leaders and in such difficult New Mexican terrain.

Slough led 500 men under Lt. Col. Samual Tappan, a Denver newspaper man, along with 8 cannons of various sizes. As well as 100 wagons with all of their supplies that followed in the rear. This, despite the quartermaster’s pleading him not to bring everything with them.

Once at Pigeon’s Ranch, Slough ordered his men to drink some water and he sent Captain Chapin, who had fled Santa Fe. But he sent Chapin \ down the trail, through the pass with some Coloradans until they ran straight into the Rebel’s advanced guard. Maybe it was Chapin himself who had yelled at the Rebs before opening fire…

Slough’s initial plan was to surround the Confederates to the west at Johnson’s Ranch and envelope the entrenched enemy, forcing them to surrender. He was not expecting them to be at the summit of Glorietta Pass.

When the fighting erupted, the Coloradans at the ranch were not prepared. One Coloradan Commander noted, quote, the men were scattered about promiscuously, unconscious of danger, unprepared for an attack, all believing our pickets far in advance; the officers lounging about, the men gaily laughing, singing, and chatting of the past, when, like the terrible storms of the tropics, there burst upon our startled ears, no more than four hundred yards in advance, the defining roar of artillery. End quote.

After hearing the initial volley, Slough quote, having by now recovered part of his equilibrium, end quote, immediately sent one flank to the left and one to the right using quote, language anything but courteous. End quote. I can imagine… Slough kept the rest of his mounted and foot infantry near the guns and supply wagons on the trail.

Scurry, although surprised to have already met the Fedrals, also recovered from the initial attack and he sent his men into the rocks and pines of the pass to hide from fire and where they could return it with an advantage. Pyron and Shrop were sent to the Rebel right where they pushed some Yankees back onto a second small hill. They then placed three cannons on top of the first hill they just captured. It was a hill, yes, but there were trees, boulders, rock outcroppings… pretty much the same as it is today. It wasn’t exactly a clear line of sight on the enemy. But Scurry commanded them to shoot and where to shoot nonetheless. Peticolas would write, quote, We could not see anything in the world to shoot at but Scurry must have seen them. End quote.

Regardless, the Coloradans continued their advance, albeit behind cover. So Scurry, in attempt to flush out more soldiers from cover, he devised a ruse. Frazier describes it well:

He turned to the company directly supporting the artillery and issued some perplexing orders. "We were instructed to run like we were scared to death when our cannon fired," reported Corporal Sharp Whitley of the Seventh Texas. The troops, following his unusual wishes, feigned a rout. The opposing Coloradans could not believe their fortune and rushed from behind cover to capture the Rebels guns before they reloaded. "They came within twenty steps ... when a lot of men that Scurry had concealed ... rose up and began peppering them, and they began getting away as fast as their legs could take them.... This is the only time in a annals of history that anybody ever tricked a Yankee. End all quotes.

Slough, over at the Union side had consolidated his men on this second hill and dared the Rebels to further advance. Below the hill, there was a now overgrown, but at the time fenced and plowed field. Runnin’ through that field would expose the Confederates to Union fire so the Rebel advancement stalled. But all the while, hand to hand and pistol engagements were continuing throughout the wild battlefield. Slough wrote of this quote, The character of the country, was such as to make the engagement of the bushwhacking kind. End quote.

Is was at this time that more of Scurry’s men joined the battle from the west. They found the wounded Davidson on the side of the road, quote, his pipe in his mouth, cursing the world and the Yankees. He ... was tearing up his shirt and tying it around his leg. End quote. When this unnamed soldier I just quoted asked Davidson how he was gettin’ along, Davidson replied that the quote, Yankees had ruined his breeches-tore two big holes in them. End quote.

On the Rebel’s left, where the cannons were located, a brutal battle erupted when a mostly German group of Coloradans, Company I, they had snuck through and behind the Rebel line in a ravine and had planned on charging the Rebel cannons. But they were discovered and the Texans, after running two hundred YARDS through an open field, poured down into the ravine upon them with a piercing Rebel Yell, their double barreled shotguns, bowie knives, and pistols. One of the Rebels later wrote later of that ferocious fighting, quote, we reckon they thought an earthquake had struck them. We charged the gully and they skedaddled. But we think that old Ben White’s swie-barrel gun did the balance. End quote. The swie-barrel gun, as far as I can tell is the swivel barrel musket that acts like a shotgun. This Ben White’s double barreled swie, it seems, tore the men to pieces. Many of the German Coloradans, 15 it seems, died in the half hour melee including two being stabbed to death by a 38 year old Texan lawyer after he ran out of bullets. Five of the Germans surrendered, and the rest fled into the hills back to the Fedral side.

Slough now realized he was outnumbered and soon, he himself would be enveloped. He needed a new plan. So he rode with his mounted reserve men to the top of a high point and they surveyed the battlefield. He could see that most of the fighting was in the ravines that laid beneath those two original hills that the fighting had began on. He then noticed that to the Union left, towards Glorietta Mesa, there was a nice level field with two of its own hills that rested near the all important Pigeon’s Ranch. With horror, one of his men pointed out that if the Rebs sent men through that level plain, they could surround the Fedrals and they’d be forced to flee or surrender. So, Slough sent Lt. Col. Samuel Tappan of the First Colorado with just 25 men to go and take that hill before the Confederates could notice it.

Slough had been correct, too. The Rebel numbers were finally pressing their advantage. They had now, temporarily, stabilized the lines among the trees and the rocks and they would fire, reload, advance, take cover, and fire again. And then repeat. All the while, their artillery, led by a man named Bradford and his battery, were reigning fire down upon the Yankees. The Confederates were slowly encroaching. And then, a cheer went forth on the Rebel’s right when Shrop and Pyron’s men had successfully forced the Coloradans to retreat after they’d nearly surrounded them. Edrington and Taylor’s The Battle of Glorietta Pass sum up this counterattack nicely and quotes a few Yankee soldiers. Quote:

Initially they were able to harass Bradford’s battery support forces, but shortly the batteries redirected their fire toward the Union skirmishers in the woods and, quote, the whistling of grape, the falling of limbs, the low cry of some brave fellow, for some time was all that was heard. End quote. The quote, pleasant amusement of shooting rebels, end quote, had turned into serious business as the Texans began to counterattack. End all quotes.

Slough, still at the hill, saw the dissolving Union lines and ordered his troops to the slopes of those third set of hills, the ones near Pigeon’s Ranch. The Rebels, noticing the retreat, pressed their advantage and continued their advance. But the Rebel lines also became less cohesive as each small unit of soldiers fought their own private battles with the retreating Yankees. For example, Pvt Peticolas, whose journal I quote from a lot, he followed his commanders, Shrop and Pyron to the right of the Rebel line while the rest of the company headed to the extreme left to tackle some Fedrals who were enveloping a group of Texans in that direction. Noticing this, Major Pyron, galloped off towards Scurry to warn him of the dissolving Left Confederate flank. But on his way, a Union cannon completely tore off the head of his horse which sent Pyron flying into the New Mexican dirt. Unscathed and unshaken, the Major grabbed his guns from the heap of mangled horse, and continued running towards Scurry.

Upon seeing their major unhurt and still with the zeal of battle, the group of the Fourth Texans who were struggling with an encroaching Fedral force, they rallied and stormed a hill the Union soldiers were occupying. Under heavy fire, many Rebels were struck and killed but they continued the charge until the Unionists fled the hill and retreated.

When the lines began to settle, the Yankees began concentrating their cannon fire on what groups they could make out in the trees. But especially at the Rebel guns. One Rebel artilleryman, the aforementioned Bradford fell over the barrel of his gun wounded once the Yankees began aiming at the cannons. And then finally, the Union left flank had reached their target and they too began pouring bullets into the Rebel line. Now the Rebs were losing infantry, artillerymen, and horses. This was too much for the artilleryman and so the wounded Confederate commander, Bradford, ordered his men to retreat back down from the top of the hill. But Scurry would have no part of this, he needed those cannons in operation! So he ordered them to be dragged back up the hill. Only the Brigands responded to the call for action and under heavy Union fire, they dragged them back to the top.

But for a brief moment, when the cannons were cut loose from the dead horses and rolled down the hill, the fighting slowed to a lull as both sides attempted to regroup.

The entire battle up to this point, had been a disorienting mess of skirmishes in thick trees and clumps of rocks. One Corp. Whitley of the Seventh Texas would later write of the battlefield, quote, We could see no distance along our line and only knew that we were advancing from the fact that the firing was going back all the time, end quote. He’d also write that the officers would, quote, pass along by us once in a while and encourage us, and tell us how it was going at other points. There was and could be no regular order in that place and where the firing became most rapid we would work our way to help our side. End quote.

On the Rebels left, Scurry saw that the Yankees were holed up behind boulders on the high north slope of this part of the pass. It was the spot Slough had been commanding from. On Scurry’s right, were the two hills that Slough had sent 25 men with Lt Col Tappan to occupy, and in the middle of the battlefield was a low area with Pigeon’s Ranch and its forest of Cottonwoods sittin’ in the middle. Running on either end of the ranch were the Santa Fe trail with its centuries of ruts and a creek. And there at the ranch were four of Slough’s cannons. Every high place that laid in front of Scurry was occupied by Fedrals. And on those high places were enough boulders and trees to hide behind and shoot from safely. He knew it would be a tough battle to dislodge the troops but he knew it had to be done. He did have the superior numbers, after all.

Thinking fast, Dirty Shirt Scurry organized his men into three columns.

First, he sent Major Shropshire and his men to the right to take the hills. They were to move among the natural cover of the trees and rocks until they snuck up on the Unionists.

Second, a Major I haven’t mentioned, but Major Raguet, had the same orders but he was sent to the Rebel’s left. He was joined by Pyron. There were four cannons up on them rocks that they’d need to take out. Cannons and a bunch of snipers. This high rocky ridge would become known as Sharpshooters Ridge.

Third, Scurry himself, would lead a full on assault of Pigeon’s Ranch and the four Fedral cannons there.

But first, he needed his own cannons to draw the Fedral’s fire. Once he could find exactly where the Union guns were, he could assault and take them… just like at Valverde.

On the high ground to the Rebel’s left, Slough was surveying the same battlefield but from the opposite side. He knew that while he held a very strong position, he knew he’d eventually be overrun by the Rebel’s numbers. He figured it would only be a matter of time before they would have to retreat, so he sent a runner to the south to find Chivington and his men and order them to turn around and come up behind Scurry. The Fedrals would then have the Rebels surrounded in a classic Napoleonic style form of encirclement. The courier galloped away as fast as he could… but he wouldn’t make it to Chivington in time. Chivington, unbeknownst to Slough, would later that evening burn any and all hopes of a Rebel Empire in the Southwest to ashes.

On the two hills, Tappan and his 25 men knew they were inadequate to hold them, so he ran back down to Pigeon’s ranch and grabbed about 75 men who were standing by the wagons, apparently guarding them. He then rushed them back up towards the two hills and according to Frazier quote, deployed them as skirmishers in a great arc, three-quarters of a mile long. Now quoting Tappan, This position commanded the valley in part," he wrote. "The irregularities of the surface afforded excellent protection for the men from the fire of the enemy. End all quotes.

With his plan in motion, at around 3pm, after an hour lull, Scurry resumed the battle by having two bait cannons dragged down the Santa Fe Trail by the Brigands, aiming their muzzles at Pigeon’s Ranch, and opening fire.

Immediately, the eight Fedral guns answered and one of their shells hit the muzzle of the cannon, dismounting it and smashing its carriage. The shell then went to explode the other’s limber box which is the wood that supports and holds up the cannon. Kirk, one of the Brigands, then took a bullet to the leg and fell. Upon seeing this, the Rebel artillery commander ordered the cannons and the brigands and artilleryman to retreat. But… Scurry had located the eight Fedral’s guns.

After the battle commenced again, Shropshire and Pvt Peticolas with the other Confederates on the Rebel’s right flank, began ascending the hills. These hills are where the trail is located at Pecos National Historical Park and the booklet you can purchase, which I have since lost… very frustratingly, gives a good description of this time of the battle. Anyways, as they ascended, the going got more tough, the trees got more dense, the arroyos deeper, and the boulders more numerous. As they reached the top, the Rebels began to separate into smaller and smaller units. And a lot of these men, on account of the lack of Confederate supplies which I have highlighted the whole series, but since they were cold and lacking supplies, a lot of the Rebels were in Yankee jackets and uniforms they had confiscated. So when the two enemies began to intermingle, at first, the Fedrals assumed these men entering the hillside were some of those 75 men that Tappan had tapped to join him. Or maybe they were even Chivington, come to reinforce them! Tappan writes this of the initial confusion, quote, A party approached my line, dressed in the uniform of the Colorado Volunteers, They were allowed to come within a few paces of us when ... recognizing them as Texans, my men were ordered to fire. End quote.

The Rebels, after being fired upon, immediately fell back and many began running down the hill. Many of them ran past Shrop and his nearly 50 men and when he saw them running he yelled, quote, come on and take that position, or stay back and look at men who would. End quote. Many of the frightened men joined Shropshire and over 60 of them progressed up the hill and on the Yankee position. But the Fedrals stayed behind cover until the Rebels were only 30 feet away, they then sprang from behind their cover and fired upon the Southerners. Shropshire, in an effort to rally his men, raised his hand to yell but as one fifteen year old Private J. H. Richardson of the Seventh Texas remembered, quote, by the time his hand was even with his head, the fatal bullet went crashing through his scull. I was looking at him when the minie ball cut his hat band. End quote. The gallant and brave Major Shropshire, as well as four other Rebels including a captain, were cut down in this volley. The Texans immediately retreated a ways before finding cover and waiting for the pursuing Coloradans. The 15 year old Richardson wrote of the men who came to loot the bodies of his dead comrades.

I took two shots at four Yanks who came down to Shropshire to take his pair of ivory handled six-shooters and his watch. I shot with my double barrel shot gun with buck and ball-you ought to have seen them git when I opened on them. End quote.

The two sides then hunkered down behind cover and took what shots were afforded them.

Before this burst of fire that had killed the Major, Pvt Peticolas had gotten separated from the main force in the thickness of the terrain. When he heard the gunfire to his left though, he headed towards its sound… while wearing the coat of a Yankee Coloradan.

I read this story in the brochure I have since misplaced and thought it was great but I had not yet read or even knew that you could read the journal of Peticolas. After studying the battle and the war in general the story became all the more exciting… and frightful. I will let Frazier and Peticolas tell of what happened next in the life of the exciting private.

To the left of Shropshire's advance, Peticolas had heard the volley that killed the major, and had inadvertently moved through the Union lines figuring incorrectly that it was his comrades that were driving the Federals back. He remained ignorant of his mistake as he found himself alone on the edge of the hill, overlooking the enemy artillery in the valley below. "I began to take part in the battle again by ... firing at every opportunity down at the enemy." While reloading after his sixth shot, Peticolas turned to his right to find a blood-chilling sight. "I ... to my astonishment, saw that I was in two feet of a line of 100 men, all strangers to me." He had stumbled onto some of the Colorado volunteers, positioned in the woods to support the artillery. "I thought, well, I'm a prisoner after all." The Federals, however, mistook the Texan for one of their own. "The major of the enemy ... said, looking straight into my face, `you had better watch out ... or those fellows will shoot you."' The Northerner was motioning to some approaching Confederates. "Who will?," Peticolas nervously asked. "Why those fellows over yonder, there are two or three of them shooting at us." Peticolas saw his chance to escape. "Is there?’ said I. `Then I'll go over that way and take a shot at them.' I started off with my gun at charge bayonets ... as if advancing on a real foe.... In a dozen steps further I was out of sight and over in our own lines once more ... thanking an overriding Providence for my escape. End all quotes.

The major that told him to watch out for the enemy’s fire, his own comrade’s fire, was Major Tappan himself.

Over in the center of the battlefield, Scurry had gotten grazed by a bullet in the face and his countenance was one of a fierce bloodied warrior. But he urged his forces forward through the field and directly towards the Union’s battery which opened fire and cut down many a Rebel. The remainder of them fled for cover behind buildings, trees, rocks, whatever they could find. A back and forth of rifle and shotgun fire ensued. But just as they Confederates had done earlier, they fired, advanced, reloaded behind cover, fired again, and advanced. Not just in the center, but all over the battlefield. The Union dead and wounded were beginning to pile up.

On the Rebel left with Raguet and Pyron, they too were advancing through the thick trees and boulders towards the elevated Union position known as Sharpshooter’s Ridge. The strongest position the Fedrals had. Although they were fired upon by the entire group of Union soldiers atop the ridge in front of them, the Rebels continued their advance. Scurry would later write quote, The intrepid Raguet and the cool, calm, courageous Pyron had pushed forward among the rocks, until the muzzles of the guns of the opposing forces passed each other. Inch by inch was the ground disputed. End quote. Eventually, the Yankees had no choice but to flee their strong high ground.

With the all important Sharpshooter’s Ridge to the Rebel’s left taken, the Rebel soldiers began firing upon Pigeon’s Ranch where the Unionists were hunkered down. With the covering fire from their left, Scurry and his men again began advancing in force on Pigeon’s Ranch and the middle ground of the battlefield. A Captain Downing of the First Colorado would sum up this portion of the battle and what he witnessed when the Rebel Yells and Texans came charging forward. Quote:

Then came the grandeur of battle, the test of bravery, the madness of despair. With wild, fierce yells that reached far above the roar of artillery, in solid column, while six and twelve pound howitzers hurled their double charges of grape and canister among them with a precision which proved most terrible; but unchecked, this mass of excited humanity rushed fearlessly on. End quote.

But the Fedrals weren’t giving up without a fight. Downing would continue his narration of the Rebel’s charge. He wrote that as soon as the Rebs were within reach of the cannons, his men sprang up, quote:

Like tigers from their lairs and sent their mini messengers among the Texans, which made them halt before the flashing bayonet, turn and run, when such shouts from the Colorado boys rang along the canyon as were never heard before. End quote.

Scurry, during the charge took another grazing bullet to the face. They Rebels had to fall back to cover… one last time.

Meanwhile, Raguet and Pyron noticed some of the retreating Yankees had taken yet another high ground to their east as they were retreating so Raguet led a group to pursue them as well.

In Edrington and Taylor’s The Battle of Glorieta Pass, they recount this charge and they quote Raguet’s brother in law as well as a young Yankee Private. The story reads, quote:

Major Henry Raguet was pushing forward on the extreme left. As recounted by his brother-in-law, Frank Starr, a private in the Fourth Texas: now quoting Starr, Henry took a party of the men to drive them from the rocks. The enemy's fire was so terrible that our boys faltered. Henry rushed on, cheering the boys to follow him. He took a direction around the left of the rocks, calling the boys on, saying that we could get around them and cut off their retreat. All this time Henry was within 20 steps of the rocks and his uniform, words, and actions attracting the attention of the enemy—many of them were shooting at him with their pistols but until that moment he had escaped with a ball through his coat sleeves. But then he fell—a ball passing through his body.... Henry lived about one hour and a half-Captain Ford from Angelina was with him from the time he fell until he expired. End quote.

This tragedy for the Texans had its counterpart on the Colorado side. According to Whitford, the young private who shot Raguet had had a premonition the night before and had told Captain Downing, "I dreamed last night that I was shot through my heart in battle today.” Downing downplayed the dream; but sure enough, a Texas sharpshooter fired back at the muzzle flash of the round that killed Raguet. The bullet hit the young man's rifle and ricocheted into his chest, piercing his heart.

His last words were, "I told you something would happen!” End all quotes.

After the Rebels witnessed Raguet’s fatal shot, they rallied, charged the heavily fortified position, and overtook the Fedrals, who fled down from the high ground and eastward on the Santa Fe Trail.

Noticing their right had been taken, the commander of the Fedral guns cut them loose of their dead horses, tied them to fresh ones, and tore off down the road to the east with Slough in tow. At that, Scurry was ecstatic. The Rebels charged one last time at Pigeon’s Ranch and the retreating guns but the Ranch was now in Confederate hands. The Ranch, Sharpshooter’s ridge, and the entire left flank. Now only Tappan and his two hills and their right flank remained in play.

But Tappan knew he was surrounded as the Confederates never ceased their advance. He would later write quote, Considering it extremely hazardous to remain longer ... l ordered my men to fall back and close in the rear of the retiring column. End quote. Frazier sums up the frantic retreat with a story right out of film:

Confederates, sensing victory, followed closely, at times mingling with the retreating Federals. Private Whitley recalled one Rebel officer who found himself in personal combat with a heroic Coloradan. "In crawling through the brush, Lieutenant Phil Clough and a Pike's Peaker came suddenly upon each other, and both fired and Clough missed him." The Southerner, however, had been grazed. "Here was done some of the fastest loading that was done that day, but Clough got loaded first and the Pike's Peaker threw in the sponge. He had to. End all quotes.

About a mile down the road, where the walls of the pass get narrower, once Tappan and his men had caught up, Slough decided on one last stand. He couldn’t let the Rebels capture their supply train… capturing the all important supply train after all, would certainly spell defeat for whomever that unfortunate circumstance fell upon… So Slough turned his eight guns around and entrenched his remaining men. When Scurry and the Rebels advanced, he opened fire, sending the Rebels to scatter. By now, the sun was setting behind the Mesa Glorietta’s walls and darkness was settling on the smoke filled battlefield. After one last charge before nightfall found the Rebels repelled again, they allowed Slough and the Yankees to retreat their ten miles east to Kozwalski’s Ranch.

After having won the battle and forcing the Yankees retreat, Scurry sent a rider to Kozwalksi’s ranch with a flag of truce and an invitation to bury their dead and collect their wounded. Not long afterwards, the rider returned with a few dozen Fedrals who brought shovels and medicine. Medicine they shared with their Rebel enemies.

All told, 46 Rebels were dead or dying and sixty were wounded while 25 were missing. The Fedrals also had 46 dead with 64 wounded. They were all placed in graves near Pigeon’s Ranch. As the men got to work burying their comrades and enemies, snow began to fall. It was going to be yet another cold night. Many of the Rebels had not had a meal in 36 hours. And despite their victory on the battlefield, the Confederates felt a sense of doom and foreboding that trickled through their tired ranks. Rumors of their wagons being confiscated back at Johnson’s ranch also began to swirl among the victorious confederates. But this was no rumor…

Earlier in the day, before the battle even commenced, Chivington and his 400 Colorado Regulars and New Mexican Volunteers had been ordered to meet up with Slough towards the end of the pass so they could assault the Confederates… but Slough had never appeared at the intended rendezvous. So, they waited. At least they waited until one of the New Mexicans, a scout under Lt. Col. Manuel Chavez, reported that, well… I’ll let Pvt. Charles Gardiner of the First Colorado tell you:

While we were waiting for the [Texans] to be drove to us, our scouts bro't in information that their entire train with a two-gun battery and three hundred men, were two miles below us in the mouth of the pass. End quote.

Chivington immediately ordered his men to as silently and stealthily as they could, approach the encampment at Johnson’s Ranch in preparation for assaulting the three hundred sleeping and wounded men, two guns, and all 80 wagons filled with every single important military item the Rebels would need to assault Fort Union and continue their capture of the Union’s Western Territories.

After sneaking into position in the early afternoon, the Fedrals sat and waited for the command to descend. They would wait for nearly an hour, all the while, the afternoon shadows crept eastward.

I’ll let Frazier and the previously quoted Pvt Charles Gardiner of the First Colorado describe what happened next as the Coloradans were ordered to rain hell down upon the unsuspecting Confederates at Johnson’s Ranch:

"We were ordered in rather an unmilitary style, `go fur em,' at which we all raised the `Injun' yell and commenced pitching down the hill, some on their heads, some on their feet," Gardiner wrote. The Texans, now fully aware of the enemy presence, scrambled to their weapons. A Colorado officer, in an act of bravado, yelled from the mountain "who are you down there?" which brought a response of "Texans, god damn you." The officer continued with "We want you!" The Southerners obliged. "Come and get us, god damn you, if you can!" The surprised Rebel wagon guard fired only two rounds from their six-pounders, which burst harmlessly along the slope. Panic gripped the Texans as they watched hundreds of Federals scramble down what had been considered an impossible slope. End all quotes.

Surprised and outnumbered, most of the Rebels broke for cover without putting up much of a fight, if any at all. Many of them hopped on horses and rode hard eastward towards Glorietta. Those that didn’t sped off to Santa Fe. Once down on level ground, the Yankees overpowered those that remained while their snipers took shots from the ridge above.

During the melee, the chaplain of the fourth Texas emerged from a tent with a white flag signaling surrender, but he was shot in the crossfire. The battle lasted only a few minutes.

After a cheer erupted from the Fedrals, they stared in awe at their luck. There sat 80 Rebel wagons filled with all of their supplies, food, weapons, blankets… everything they could think of. Chivington gave permission to ransack and loot as much as the Fedrals wanted but eventually they realized there was no way they could scale back up that steep mesa with an armful of Mexican blankets, brandy, revolvers, and officer’s uniforms so… fatefully, they decided to burn them. All of them. All 80 wagons and nearly everything in them. Chivington ordered trees to be chopped and wood to be brought from the surrounding forest. Gunpowder was poured on the wagons which they maneuvered in a way that each of them touched… and then the Yankees burned all the food, whiskey, boots, and personal belongings of the Rebels. What wasn’t destroyed by fire, was taken by locals before the Rebels could return. The Yankees also destroyed 300 guns. They spiked the cannons, broke their wheels, and tossed em in to ravines. They killed or set free 500 horses and mules. They set fire to the ammo boxes which began to explode one after another. They also freed the Union prisoners who were kept there and that’s when Chivington was told, quote, You had better get away from here quick, the damn Texians are whipping our men in the canyon like hell. End quote.

With that, Chivington ordered his loot heavy men back up the mountain cause they had a bunch of walking east to do. Up at the top of the steep ridge though, Chivington finally received the message that he was needed on the battlefield. Obviously, it was too late. Even though his absence from Glorietta Pass had cost the Union their victory, Chivington’s actions at Johnson’s Ranch would cost the Confederates the war in the Southwest.

Over at Pigeon’s Ranch, Scurry gathered a few tired and battle weary men to head to Johnson’s Ranch. It is reported by Peticolas and others that during the battle, those that had fled on horseback from Apache Pass during Chivington’s assault, during the battle, they had arrived with the bad news of the burning of the wagons. Scurry needed to make sure it was true. Maybe there was something that could be saved.

Obviously, when those soldiers sent by Scurry arrived, they found the smoldering ruins of their hopes and dreams for furthering the Imperial Confederate cause being ransacked by the locals. At least what shards and charred shreds remained. Peticolas simply wrote, quote, I didn't mind losing anything save my watch and my journal. End quote. But Dirty Shirt Scurry sure did mind. It weighed heavy on his mind that cold and snowy evening.

With his men strung out along the Santa Fe Trail for 12 miles, his injured, cold, starving, low on ammunition, and gloomy soldiers, when confirmation of the burned supplies reached Scurry, he knew there was no possibility of pursuing the Fedrals to Fort Union. Not a prayer or hope in heaven could allow the Rebels to overtake Slough and then the Fort which was still some 70 miles away. He only had one option. Despite the victory, he had to retreat. Retreat all the way back to Santa Fe.

When the injured Bill Davidson arrived to the smoldering heap of their war’s hopes, he remarked, quote, those men sent in our rear were a set of miscreants. They are certainly no part or parcel of the brave men we have been confronting and fighting for the past six weeks. Oh! Wouldn’t I have liked to have come on that crowd with Company A! End quote.

After surveying the carnage of the wagons and men, Bill Davidson noticed that the many wounded men scattered around the Ranch were now helpless. He wrote, quote, Several of our wounded froze to death. We took off our coats and piled them upon them; we built the best fires we could build for them; we rubbed their limbs and bodies but all to no avail. They died in spite of all we could do. End quote.

And then, the men Scurry had sent began to trickle in to the ranch and spread the news of yet another hollow victory. And then Davidson was told of his commander, Shropshire’s death. The cold, injured private broke down in tears. He wrote, quote, we were his old company, his boys, upon whom his whole affections centered. I was a wild, wayward boy, and he was my friend. I see him now around the campfire, his smile, his dark blue eyes beaming in love upon us. End quote.

After Scurry and the rest of the Rebels arrived to Johnson’s ranch they surveyed the rubble of their future. And then Scurry gave the order to march back to Santa Fe.

Davidson, his leg still wounded and still not attended to, began the slow and cold march to the ancient city which had seen its fair share of warriors, battle, and icy death. Along the way he wrote, quote, 1,000 miles from home, not a wagon nor a dust of flour, not a pound of meat. End quote.

Before he passed out near one of the many roadside fires that had been lit to keep the soldiers warm, one of his Rebel comrades whispered to Davidson, quote, we’re in a hell of a fix. End quote.

In the next episode, the Confederates will retreat from Santa Fe, all the way to Mesilla. But along the way, skirmishes, the Battle of Peralta, and incredibly difficult 100 mile flank through the San Mateo Mountains will test the strength of the fleeing Rebels.