The Civil War in the West


  • Battle of Glorieta Pass, NM The Battle of Glorieta was a Union victory. The battle lasted for three days because the Confederates were able to control the pass. The Union army was victorious on the third day. Lieutenant-Colonel Chaves led Chivington�s group over rugged terrain behind the Confederates in the pass. Discovering the enemy�s supply train poorly guarded, the Colorado Volunteers burned the supplies and killed 1,100 mules.
  • The Battle of Picacho Pass On April 15, 1862, the western-most "battle" of the American Civil War was fought on the flanks of Picacho Peak, a rocky volcanic spire situated 50 miles northwest of a small Sonoran town named Tucson.
  • Brazos Santiago, Texas. May 12-13, 1865: This was the last battle in the Civil War. Native, African, and Hispanic Americans were all involved in the fighting. Many combatants reported that firing came from the Mexican shore and that some Imperial Mexican forces crossed the Rio Grande but did not take part in the battle.
  • California in the Civil War The State of California is credited with providing 15,725 volunteers to the Union Armies during the Civil War.
  • The California Cavalry The equipping, arming, clothing and transportation of the California Column, in their March from Southern California, to Fort Yuma, thence to Tucson and onward to Mesilla, New Mexico.
  • The California Column From January to August, 1862, volunteers were gathered at Fort Yuma, 2,350 rank and file, and marched from Yuma to the Rio Grande and into Texas, a distance of over 1,000 miles, establishing and manning depots, forts and other points, under the harshest of conditions.
  • The Civil War Archives Regimental Index for all the states.
  • The Civil War Homepage A very extensive, well organized, listing of links all about the Civil War. Includes music, maps, images of wartime, flags, biographies, documents, bibliographies, diaries, rosters, and much more!
  • Civil War in New Mexico Many people do not know that the Civil War was fought as far west as New Mexico, but in fact there was a vigorous campaign conducted there. Confederate forces, led by Lt. Col John R. Baylor succeeded in capturing the major city of Albuquerque and the capital city of Santa Fe. The Confederates attempted to reshape the destiny of this region, briefly establishing a new territory capital at Mesilla, but their reign lasted only one year.
  • Civil War in New Mexico Letters from the Front, and Other Writings
  • Civil War in New Mexico Soldiers and Weapons. A Photo Archive.
  • Civil War Soldier The 1864 daily diary of Corporal Bushnell, Co. K, 2nd Infantry, California Volunteer. Stationed at the Presidio, San Francisco, traveled to Fort Goodwin, Arizona Territory, over much of the old Butterfield Trail. Diary covers from 1864-1866. This realistic look at military life on the frontier, in an era when half the enlisted men were illiterate, William Bushnell brings an educated humor to an otherwise bleak existence. His poetry and prose accounts, certainly the exception to an enlisted soldier's view of his daily life, show a sensitivity and optimism in what must have been unbearable conditions.
  • Confederate Invasion of Arizona All of the area south of the 34th parallel, the Colorado River to the west, the Rio Grande River to the east, constituted the new Confederate Territory of Arizona, the capitol being designated as Mesilla.
  • Confederate Territory of Arizona The story of the Confederate Territory of Arizona can be said to have begun in 1854, when representatives of the United States and Mexico signed the Gadsden Purchase Treaty, by which the U.S. acquired disputed territories west of the Rio Grande and south of the Gila River, territories that comprise almost half of present-day Arizona and part of present-day New Mexico as well.
  • Confederates on the Colorado The Confederate Arizona Campaign, Spring 1862. A tiny Confederate force (consisting of less than 100 men), liberated what is now the state of Arizona from the rule of the United States, carried the Confederate flag to the banks of the Colorado River (the farthest west penetration of the Confederate army), delayed by more than a month the invasion of Arizona by a 2,000-man Union army from California, and fought and won the westernmost battle of the War Between the States (Picacho Pass, April 15, 1862).
  • Fort Craig, New Mexico Fort Craig, one of the largest forts in the West, played a crucial role in the Civil War. The Battle of Valverde occurred along the Rio Grande River in February, 1862.
  • Glorieta Pass, New Mexico March 26-28, 1862: Glorieta Pass, the turning point of the war in the New Mexico Territory, was a strategic location, situated at the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, southeast of Santa Fe, and on the Santa Fe Trail.
  • The Gray and the Red Fighting the Apache in Confederate Arizona. During the first year of the War Between the States, the Confederate States Army was the primary defense of the white population of what is now the States of Arizona and New Mexico against the depredations of the dreaded Apache Indians. The Confederates fought, and lost, the first battles of the Apache Indian War. The Union troops who conquered the Confederate Territory of Arizona would continue the struggle, and it would finally be ended in the 1880s by the United States Army.
  • Index of Civil War Information Available on the Internet Look here first! At last count this site had over 7000 links to Civil War information.
  • Marching Up The Gila River Excerpts from Union Sergeant George Hand's Diary of Military Service in the Southwest, 1861 - 1864. Mr. Hand's diary reveals the abundance of wildlife this desert riparian area used to support.
  • Myths and Fallacies of the Fight at Picacho Pass This article attempts to bring out the incorrect stories of the fight at Picacho Pass and presents the known facts, so that one may come to a sensible understanding of what happened 138 years ago in the deserts of Arizona.
  • New Mexico in the Civil War Civil War battles occurred in New Mexico that were little noted in the "States" (New Mexico was then a Territory). In the view of many historians, however, these battles were important in preserving the Union because they ended the attempt by the Confederacy to capture the West (New Mexico, Arizona, California, Colorado), its people, and its vast resources.
  • Old Butch, Mascot, Indian Fighter, Marcher During the Battle at Apache Pass, Old Butch was wounded, losing a toe. Now for sure he was a true veteran, having marched about 750 miles from Yuma to Apache Pass and now had his first combat under his collar.
  • Oregon and the Civil War Oregon became involved in the Civil War even before it was a State.
  • Researching People of the Civil War Era Good information and lots of links to sites helpful in researching a Civil War ancestor.
  • San Diego and the Civil War When the last gun was fired at Fort Sumter, S. C., April 13, 1861, two-thirds of the United States Army was garrisoning the frontier posts scattered over the country west of the Mississippi River. One-fourth was on the Pacific slope, including in San Diego.
  • The Sand Creek Massacre On November 29, 1864, Col. John Chivington, who advocated Indian extermination, arrived near the Black Kettle's camp at Sand Creek, Colorado, having marched there from Fort Lyon. In spite of the American flag and a white flag flying over the camp, the troops attacked, killing and mutilating about 200 of the Indians, two-thirds of whom were women and children.
  • Soldier's Vocabulary Find the meanings of "bummer" and "housewife."
  • Texas in the Civil War Dedicated to Texans who served the Confederacy.
  • Valverde, New Mexico February, 1862: Sibley�s New Mexico Campaign
  • Westernmost Campaign of the Civil War: New Mexico Territory, 1861-1862 Many hardships were endured by men on both sides of the Civil War in New Mexico. Sibley's campaign covered 2000 miles and his men originally equiped as cavalry walked more than half the route. The Colorado Volunteers on their march from Colorado City to Ft. Union set the standard for endurance by troops anywhere. Starvation, thirst, cold, heat and disease killed more men on both sides than did bullets. The battles of Val Verde and Glorieta though tiny by eastern standards were as viciously and brutally contested as Gettysburg.
  • Joseph Patterson Wier Elected captain of Company A, Twelfth Texas Cavalry, Confederate Army, Wier participated in several battles. On May 18, 1864, at the battle of Yellow Bayou, Wier led his regiment in a charge upon the Union army, where he was killed. Joseph Wier was the great-grandfather of Bob Wier, keeper of the Overland-Trails mailing list and the USA GPS Waypoint server

    See Also Links To:
  • The Military in the West
  • Military Roads in the West
  • Other Links


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