A small number of Confederate troops from Texas fought a small number of Union forces across the Southwest including New Mexico and Arizona in 1862, seeking to expand their territory all the way to California including important ports in the Pacific Ocean and secure gold fields in the Rocky Mountains. The gold from Colorado would have greatly helped the bankrupt Confederate government in 1862. Soldiers from Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California fought against Federal and Confederate armies. The Federal army desired these states and territories remain in the Union but his administration did not see the Southwest as critical to the conflict and the Union cause. While the Confederacy, sought an empire from “sea to shining sea.”, an expansion of the CSA, who desired an extension of land for Southern settlers, spread of slavery and cotton in new territories, as well as their culture and routes that would favor commerce with the South.
With Jefferson Davis’s blessings, Gen. Henry Sibley led 3,000 Confederate troops across the West Texas desert, into New Mexico and up to the Rio Grande Valley. Sibley fought against Union commanding Gen. Edward Canby, Kit Carson, John Chivington. And Gabriel Paul. In the end, Sibley’s campaign was a disaster due to a lack of food, water, weapons, clothing, medicine and traveling long distances at times through deserts without sufficient troops, cavalry, and support by locals.
Patrick Kelly-Fischer and Phillip Greenwalt tell a story through one of the least-studied campaigns of the Civil War, and its consequences in the Southwest and beyond. This title delivers fresh perspective on an overlooked campaign at the battles of Valverde, Glorieta Pass or the “Gettysburg of the West, Fort Craig, Mesilla Peralta, with revisionist interpretations of events in this campaign, and proposes new areas of inquiry in Civil War scholarship. The strength of this work is the comprehensive writing, compelling analysis, and research by Kelly-Fischer and Greenwalt, in one of the strongest entries in the Emerging Civil War Series that will prove invaluable to military historians, students and buffs of the War. This is important scholarship for anyone interested in the Southwest during the conflict.
The book has many strengths, such as the rich resources researched over a three-year period, as well as in its balanced treatment of U.S. and Confederate militaries and civilians. Additionally, this volumes characterizations of the following individuals “Dirty Shirt” Scurry or Major John Chivington, along with Tom Green and Kit Carson, and there are some major personas that marched, rode, fought, and bled in New Mexico.
One of the best parts of Desert Empire is the detailed comparison between the two commanders. Henry Hopkins Sibley (1816–1886) was a Confederate Brigadier General known for leading the disastrous 1862 New Mexico Campaign. Though a West Point graduate and U.S. Army veteran, served the Confederate cause primarily in the Trans-Mississippi and ventured to Egypt after the conflict, his campaign failed due to poor logistics, a retreat from Glorieta Pass, and issues with alcoholism. Edward Richard Canby (1817–1873) was a career U.S. Army officer and Union Major General during the Civil War, known for commanding the Department of New Mexico, securing the region at the Battle of Glorieta Pass He also accepted the surrender of the final Confederate armies in the Trans-Mississippi Department.
Professor Neil Chatelain writes an excellent foreword that provides readers with some context of the battles and campaign and some major shifts going on as President Lincoln seeks to gain a victory in order to bring the Union back together – a goal of his throughout the war. Chatelain asserts that CSA President Jefferson Davis sought to conquer present-day Arizona, gain economic minerals, and control the Far West. He points out that New Mexico was one of the most diverse across the North American continent with Natives Americans, African American free and enslaved, Hispanics-Mexican, and white settlers. The New Mexico territory was smaller than that of Chicago with small cities, towns, and deserts. He argues that many settlers in the Southern half of the New Mexico territory sough to be independent form the United States, formed their own territory called Arizona, and was receptive to the CSA. Chatelain argues that the sparsely populated New Mexico territory did not necessarily provide sufficient food, forage, medicine, and soldiers to the Southern cause.
A real page turner. The text is crisp, clear, well written. Kelly-Fischer and Greenwalt succeed in answering the question of how the campaign progressed, and how the Union forces were successful in preventing the Confederates from controlling the Far West and forcing them away from this territory. They make a strong point that “to the men, on both sides, that perished, some just recently identified, their sacrifice for the cause they believed in and the ultimate sacrifice made, is no less important than their brethren in arms that fell on hallowed ground east of the Mississippi River”. The authors do an excellent job in "exploring the men, battles, and politics and terrain that shaped the course of the war in the Southwest and the future of the region." The material features an abundance of photographs and maps, both of which are hallmarks of the series. Finally, the authors include two excellent appendices; The California, and Fort Union as well as an Order of Battle, Suggested Reading and About the authors.
Desert Empire revisits the New Mexico Campaign by "exploring the men, battles, and politics that shaped the course of the war in the Southwest and the future of the region." Of course, presentation of the material features an abundance of photographs and maps, both of which are hallmarks of the series. Space availability limits the size of the appendix section to two topics; the first being a fairly detailed examination of the California Column's epic march and the second a brief look at Fort Union's role in the campaign. This title also contains suggested tour stops and locations.
