Battle of Canada Alamosa The Battle of Canada Alamosa was a skirmish of the American Civil War on the late evening and morning of September 24 and 25 , 1861 . Several small battles occurred in Confederate Arizona near the border with Union New Mexico Territory , this one being the largest . Background . The battle occurred about forty miles south of Fort Craig at the village of Canada Alamosa , near the Rio Grande . Lieutenant Colonel John R . Baylor , who had led the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles into New Mexico Territory one month earlier , defeated the Union garrison at the Battle of Mesilla , proclaimed the area to be Confederate Arizona , and appointed himself its governor , sent patrols up the Rio Grande to keep watch on the Union post at Fort Craig near the 34th parallel , the proposed northern border of the new territory . The Union Army , specifically the 3d Cavalry Regiment , had launched a reconnaissance mission and stopped at Canada Alamosa to build a camp next to the village . The camp consisted of a corral and breastworks , to subdue a possible and immediate Confederate counterattack . Battle . Before the corral and breastworks were finished on September 24 , at about 5 : 00 pm , the Union force of around 100 and under Captain John H . Minks , received information that mounted rebels had been seen in a southern direction from the camp . A six men cavalry troop with a Mexican scout was dispatched who returned saying the sighted men were Union deserters who evaded capture . Later that night , Union troops at the Canada Alamosa camp reported another sighting of armed men . Some said the unknown men in the dark fired into the town but this has never been confirmed . In response , Captain Morris put his troops on high alert . At this same time a few horses escaped the corral , about ten men were ordered to bring them back but some thirty ended up in the chase before Minks could prevent it , most of the thirty men deserted into the desert . A terrible native American yell was heard , which had the Union troops thinking they were under attack by Indians . Then came the sound of cavalry and the shout " Heres their camp ; give them hell ! " At that moment the Union force knew they were not being attacked by Apaches but by twelve to fifteen Confederate troops , commanded by Captain Bethel Coopwood , from Mesilla . The firing commenced , the rebel cavalry first attacked the Union Army ' s main line . After this attack was repulsed , the rebels fell back to the town . The dozen Confederate cavalrymen had attempted to rout the Union army with the cover of nightfall but failed due to the lack of firepower . Shooting stopped for a short while , this made the Captain and his men think the rebels had retreated or were playing a ruse to lure Minks ' men into a more effective range . So Captain Minks and a number of his men slowly advanced into town on foot , leaving his main body at camp . Not seeing anything , the force withdrew to find that even more Union troops had deserted . Lieutenant Sanches , of the Union , was ordered to bring the deserters back , then Minks attacked . The attack was made to drive the rebels out of town or to set fire to the perimeter houses which provided cover for the Confederates . The United States cavalry advanced , with wood and matches . Unfortunately for the Union , the Confederate force was larger than Minks had anticipated , 112 strong , they had also taken the houses Minks intended to burn . The advance was stopped by volleys of musket fire and after ten minutes the Union force had retreated back near camp at which they started from . By this time the Confederates had taken a hill next to the road which led to Fort Craig . Fighting continued for a long while , at almost daybreak . Captain John Minks had found his men reduced to the number ten . The ten and the Captain fought off the Confederates at long range for a few hours more while trying to communicate with the main force in camp , once again , the main body had deserted or withdrew thinking Minks and his assault party had been massacred . The Captain realized this and decided to fight as long as possible in order to prevent the pursuit and capture of his retreating main body . Looking through his spy - glass , Minks witnessed about sixty mounted rebels , ready to attack . Typical in colonial age warfare , Minks surrendered between 7 : 00 and 8 : 00 am , in order to prevent further casualties to his remaining ten men . The retreating main body made its way back to their fort and then followed up their defeat with another patrol farther south of Canada Alamosa . Minks reported that only one of the remaining ten men was wounded . Confederate reports say four other men were killed and six wounded . The ten men and Captain Minks were taken to Mesilla as prisoners , twelve other troops , deserters or not , were also captured by the rebel cavalry . At least three Confederates were wounded , none were reported killed . The rebels also captured a good size amount of supplies and a few horses and wagons . Notes . The next day on August 26 , 1861 , after the battle of Canada Alamosa was over , the Union cavalry patrol under Captain Robert M . Morris , skirmished successfully with Confederates involved in the Alamosa engagement . This thirty miles south of the town at the north end of Mesilla Valley near Fort Thorn . Interestingly , Union Colonel Edward Canby , in his report of the engagement , said ten Confederates were killed and over thirty wounded in a fight that lasted one hour and forty - two minutes long . The rebel commander Coopwood in his report to LtCol Baylor reported two of the men were killed and seven others wounded . Captain Minks confirmed this with his report of the two skirmishes , written in captivity and allowed to be sent to his superiors . Union casualties were reported to be six wounded , this was one of the several other small battles in the region . Two days before the engagement at Canada Alamosa , on the 23rd of 1861 , Confederate troops captured nine men from the New Mexico Volunteers , after a brief skirmish due north of Fort Craig . The force was questioned and the Confederates learned that 350 men garrison ed the fort with no artillery .