page_title: Battle of Valverde
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Valverde / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Six brass field guns taken by Lt. Joseph D. Sayers' Company in Civil War Battle of Val Verde, N. Mex., 1862, and brought back to Texas with incredible difficulty, armed a new unit of hand-picked men. Sound of the Val Verde guns in action set pace for other outfits, helped secure such victories as the recapture of Galveston, 1863. At Mansfield, La., April 1864, captured new, longer-range guns. Unwilling to lose their guns when the war ended, the men buried four. The last commander, T.D. Nettles, brought this one home to Freestone County.
context_page_description: The Battle of Valverde, also known as the Battle of Valverde Ford, was fought from February 20 to 21, 1862, near the town of Val Verde at a ford of the Rio Grande in Union held New Mexico Territory, in what is today the state of New Mexico. It was a major Confederate success in the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War. The belligerents were Confederate cavalry from Texas and several companies of Arizona militia versus U.S. Army regulars and Union volunteers from northern New Mexico Territory and the Colorado Territory.
context_section_description: Left in possession of the battlefield, the Confederates gained the victory but had suffered substantial casualties, reporting 36 killed, 150 wounded, and one missing out of 2,590 men. Due to the strength of the fort's walls, Sibley decided to abandon his attempt to capture the fort and instead continued northwards towards Albuquerque and Santa Fe, where he hoped to capture much needed supplies. However, he was severely hampered by the losses in horses and mules from the battle, which forced him to dismount the 4th Texas as infantry and to destroy some supplies and wagons.
  Canby reported that his forces had 3 officers and 65 men killed/3 officers and 157 men wounded/1 officer and 35 men missing for a total of 264. He also had additional missing and deserters, mostly deserters, thus suffering a 16 percent casualty rate, including deserters, of about 432 men out of 2,800 men engaged. Considering himself to be outnumbered, he chose not to pursue Sibley, instead sending mounted detachments of New Mexico volunteers against the Confederates' rear for harassment. He would remain with the main body at Fort Craig to cut off the Confederates' supply line and to intercept reinforcements for Sibley, eventually hoping to pin the main Confederate body between himself and Union reinforcements from Fort Union.
  Neither Sibley nor Canby received high marks for their generalship during the battle.  Sibley was indisposed by alcohol and illness and spent most of the day riding in an ambulance. Col. Green was the de facto commander and it was his aggressive attack on Canby's center and left that won the battle.  Canby blamed the New Mexican volunteers, mostly Hispanics, for his loss—but his decision to reinforce his right while weakening his center and left was the real cause of the Union defeat.  On Canby's right wing, Kit Carson's regiment of New Mexican volunteers saw only limited action but comported itself well.  The volunteers were advancing and thought they were winning the battle.  They were incredulous when Canby gave the order to retreat.
  The battle represented Canby's low point in his military career and Sibley's high point. Both men would go opposite directions to the terms of reputation after the battle. It was rumored following the battle that the two commanders of these battles, Canby and Sibley, who had been allies and trained together earlier, might have actually been brothers-in-law. However, research showed that there is little if any evidence that they were related by marriage.
caption: Val Verde Battery, CSA cannon
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