John P . Slough John Potts Slough ( February 1 , 1829 – December 17 , 1867 ; last name pronounced like " cow " ) was an American politician , lawyer , Union general during the American Civil War , and Chief Justice of New Mexico . He commanded the Union forces at the Battle of Glorieta Pass . Early life and career . Slough was born in Cincinnati , Ohio . He became a lawyer and practiced law in Cincinnati before being elected to the Ohio General Assembly . While serving there , he struck a fellow assemblyman and was expelled . He moved to Denver , Colorado , in 1860 and continued to practice law , becoming one of the city ' s more distinguished lawyers . Civil War service . In 1861 the Civil War began and Slough joined the Union forces as a captain in the 1st Colorado " Pike ' s Peakers " Volunteer Regiment . Members of his regiment were initially skeptical of his loyalty to the Union due to his association with the Democratic Party . In August 1861 , Slough was commissioned colonel of the regiment . In 1862 a Confederate army was invading the New Mexico Territory . Coming to the aid of the Union forces in New Mexico , Slough marched his regiment to Fort Union and , as the senior ranking officer , assumed command of the post . Slough received orders from Col . Edward R . S . Canby , commanding the Department of New Mexico , to remain at Fort Union . A Confederate force under William Read Scurry was moving to capture Fort Union . Disobeying orders , Slough took the garrison and marched toward Glorieta Pass to intercept Scurry . Slough and Scurry fought an initially indecisive action at the Battle of Glorieta Pass , but the battle was turned to a complete victory for the Union after Slough had sent Major John M . Chivington on a flank attack , which destroyed the Confederate ' s supply train . Following the battle , Canby sent orders to Slough to return to Fort Union immediately . Worried that he had already disobeyed orders by leaving Fort Union in the first place , he resigned his commission . Slough went to Washington , D . C . , where he was given command of a brigade in the Shenandoah Valley during Stonewall Jackson ' s Valley Campaign of 1862 . His forces were stationed at Harpers Ferry and saw little action . He was appointed brigadier general of volunteers of August 25 , 1862 , and became the military governor of Alexandria , Virginia . For the rest of the war , he commanded the District of Alexandria . In December 1862 , he sat on the court - martial that convicted Maj . Gen . Fitz John Porter of cowardice and disobedience . Postbellum career . When the Civil War ended in 1865 , Slough was appointed Chief Justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court by President Andrew Johnson . Sharp - tongued with a fiery temper , he was appointed to fight corruption , but observers thought he was too heavy - handed about it . He was trying to break down the system of patronage that was characteristic of the New Mexico courts . Many sought his removal , especially after a decision in February 1867 attacking the system of peonage in New Mexico , which he thought was akin to the slavery he had fought in the Civil War to defeat . In 1867 William Logan Rynerson , a member of the Territorial Legislative Council , took part in a campaign to remove the judge , leading Slough to slander Rynerson publicly . The next day , Rynerson drew a gun on the judge in Santa Fe and said , " Take it back . " Slough exclaimed , " Shoot and be damned ! " and Rynerson fired . Mortally wounded , Slough drew a derringer but was unable to fire . He died a day later . At his trial , Rynerson was found not guilty ( by reason of self - defense ) , but many thought the court proceedings were corrupt . No federal officials tried to intervene in the trial , however . The historian Richard Henry Brown says that the murder of Slough " helped affirm the position of New Mexico as ' apparently the only place where assassination became an integral part of the political system . ' "