U.S. Army Occupation. New Mexico becomes a U.S. Territory in 1850. 1861 Civil War reaches New Mexico . Confederate troops from Texas advance from the South . 1862 Battles of Valverde and Glorieta Pass.
Confederates retreat .
Personal and cultural conflicts escalated into gang wars, range wars and Indian wars. The scorched earth policy that followed resulted in forced marches to internment camps for the Navajos, and military campaigns against those tribes that resisted. Freed from the threat of attack, Anglo and Spanish settlements, and some Pueblo villages achieved a new permanence. The military outposts required provisioning, and services on a new magnitude of order. In a land of sheep, the army demanded a daily ration of 1 pound 4 ounces of fresh beef, and 12 ounces of pork or bacon for every soldier stationed here.