When the Texans Came: Missing Records from the Civil War in the Southwest, 1861-1862.By John P. Wilson. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press The University of New Mexico Press, founded in 1929, is a university press that is part of the University of New Mexico. External link
abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 0-8263-2290-5.) It was not until the last half of the twentieth century that any serious scholarship appeared on the disastrous 1861-62 Confederate attempt to create an empire in the far Southwest. On the centennial of the war, a number of good studies of General Henry Hopkins Sibley's ill-fated attempt to actualize a Confederate version of Manifest Destiny manifest destiny, belief held by many Americans in the 1840s that the United States was destined to expand across the continent, by force, as used against Native Americans, if necessary. appeared in print. The best of these was Martin H. Hall's Sibley's New Mexico Campaign The New Mexico Campaign was a military operation of the American Civil War in February-March 1862 in which the Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley invaded the northern New Mexico Territory in an attempt to gain control of the Southwest, including the gold fields of (Austin, Tex., 1960). Over the next forty years, other well-researched tomes appeared that were soundly rooted in Union and Confederate records not utilized by earlier historians, including Hall. With the publication of When the Texans Came, John P. Wilson has taken all the fun and effort out of researching the Civil War in the New Mexico territory The New Mexico Territory became an organized territory of the United States on September 9, 1850, and it existed until New Mexico became the 47th state on January 6, 1912. . Included in this comprehensive book are 282 documents taken from a variety of sources, mostly archival. Neatly arranged in sixteen chapters, the documents are presented chronologically and topically, mostly by theater of operation. Many are real treasures that offer rich detail on the conflict. There are accounts of the initial fighting at Mesilla in the summer of 1861, and also of the Union evacuation of Fort Fillmore Fort Fillmore was a fortification established by the United States in September of 1851 near Mesilla in what is now New Mexico, primarily to protect settlers and traders travelling to California. and the disgraceful surrender of Major Isaac Lynde at San Augustine Springs in the Organ Mountains The Organ Mountains are a rugged mountain range in southern New Mexico in the southwestern United States. They lie 10 miles (16 km) east of the city of Las Cruces, in Doña Ana County. . Included in this section is a map that Wilson redrew of Sergeant Peyton Graves Jr.'s untitled sketch of the skirmish at Mesilla, the original of which Wilson found several years ago at the University of Texas at Austin's Center for American History. Wilson also includes Captain Isaiah N. Moore's valuable account of the Federal retreat from Arizona in July and August 1861. Another jewel is Father Manuel Chavez's letter detailing a Navajo riot at Fort Fauntleroy in September 1861. There is even a chapter containing some documents relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc activities in the Rio Bonito-Manzano theater, some of which are presented both in their original Spanish and in English translation. What is perhaps most enlightening about Wilson's book is not only his inclusion of items omitted from the Official Records of the war, but the intelligence dispatches he presents that reveal the sophisticated espionage engaged in by Union and Confederate forces, especially in the months prior to the bloody battle of Valverde The Battle of Valverde (February 20–February 21, 1862), fought in and around the town of Valverde in the New Mexico Territory, was a major Confederate success in the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War, despite having to retreat later after the Battle of Glorieta in February 1862. Wilson also carefully situates events in the context of the ongoing Indian wars waged simultaneously by both sides against the Mimbres, Mescalero Apaches, and Navajos. The volume is all-encompassing, containing everything from casualty lists from the two major battles of Valverde and Glorieta to newspaper accounts and transcripts of eyewitness testimonies relating to various events and skirmishes. This collection of documents is indispensable for those seriously interested in the Civil War in New Mexico or researching the conflict in the Southwest. JERRY THOMPSON Texas A&M International University |
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