The Battle of Valverde

The Battle of Valverde. . You may be surprised to learn that a bloody confrontation of the Civil War was fought only a few miles from Fort Craig., The main Battle of Valverde was fought in the winter on February 21, 1862. Colonel Edward Richard Sprigg Canby's Union troops and Colonel Henry Hopkins Sibley's Confederate forces fought in the arroyos and gullies of a dry riverbed below Valverde. Control of the battlefield constantly moved back and forth between the two forces., The battle was also fraught with internal problems. Both sides found their regiments physically cut off from one another, and frequently unable to communicate with their leaders. For Union troops, the language barrier between the Anglo regulars and Hispanic New Mexico volunteers caused serious communication problems and a fundamental lack of trust., Casualties ran high. The Valverde engagement finally ended with the Confederate forces holding the field, but at the end of a tumultuous day's fighting, the losses on both sides were comparable. Union forces reported around 68 soldiers killed, 160 wounded, and 25 missing or captured. Confederate forces reported 36 dead, 150 wounded, and one missing., The next day, Sibley demanded the surrender of the fort and its supplies to the Confederates. Canby adamantly refused. The Confederates, who had lost so many of their wagons, supplies, and equipment that they could no longer contemplate launching an attack on the fort, were forced to press onward, leaving the badly needed supplies of the fort in the hands of Canby and his troops. Although the Confederates had "held the field," their objective failed. Modern military reviews of the battle do not call Valverde a Confederate victory.