Army of New Mexico The Army of New Mexico was a small Confederate army in the American Civil War . It operated in Confederate Arizona and New Mexico Territory during the New Mexico Campaign in late 1861 and early 1862 , before it was transferred to Louisiana . At first the force was tasked with securing Confederate Arizona ' s forts , most of which were still in Union hands . John R . Baylor had already established the Confederate Territory of Arizona after the Battle of Mesilla in 1861 . Now the goal was to capture the remaining U . S . held forts in Confederate Arizona and to invade New Mexico Territory . The army also hoped to capture the mines of Colorado and California , to secure gold and silver supplies to finance the Confederate war effort . Ultimately , the Confederate plans were thwarted at the Battle of Glorieta Pass . History . The army was formed by Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley during the summer of 1861 , recruiting from the eastern counties of Texas . Sibley had planned to use local militia companies in forming his regiments , but upon his arrival to Texas he found the militia to be unreliable , so he started recruiting from scratch . Two regiments were formed initially , the 4th and the 5th Mounted Rifles , both with a battery of howitzers attached , but a third regiment , designated the 7th Mounted Rifles , was formed to garrison the territory . The volunteers provided their own weapons , horses , and blankets , with minimal supplies given from the government warehouses . As a result , the weapons used by the troops varied widely , including rifle muskets , squirrel guns , and double barreled shotguns . After initial training in San Antonio , the regiments were sent by detachments to Fort Bliss near El Paso in October , where Sibley formally took command of the military units in the Confederate Arizona Territory . Once the command was concentrated at Fort Bliss , Sibley then sent them to Fort Thorn in New Mexico , where it remained for a month . The army began operations in the territory in mid - February 1862 , when it moved north against the Union garrison at Fort Craig . Arriving at the fort on February 13 , Sibley first attempted to lure the Federals out into the open ; when this plan failed , he then tried moving north of the fort to cut its supply lines . The Union commander , Colonel E . R . S . Canby , reacted by following Sibly north and attacking him at Valverde Ford . At this time , Sibley was either suffering from kidney disease or was drunk ; early in the battle he was forced to turn command over to Colonel Thomas Green of the 5th Texas . The battle developed into a stalemate , which continued until late afternoon when the Union left counterattacked following a Confederate attack . This created a gap between the Union left and center ; Green ordered a charge into the gap , driving the Union force back across the Rio Grande and capturing four cannons . Although he lost the Battle of Valverde , Canby refused to surrender as Sibley had expected , and Sibley felt that the fort was too strong to attack . Consequently he decided to contintue northward , crossing the border into New Mexico Territory and leaving Canby in his rear . Due to the number of horses lost at the battle , the 4th Texas had to be dismounted and a number of supply wagons were abandoned and burned . Sibley continued northward , capturing Albuquerque on March 2 and Santa Fe on March 13 but failed to capture the Union supplies there . This forced the Confederates to live off the land , but were only able to find a fraction of the supplies they needed ; in addition , the foraging alienated the local population . After establishing his headquarters at Albuquerque , Sibley sent an advance force under the command Major Charles Pyron to Apache Canyon to watch for Union movements from the north along the Sante Fe Trail . A second detachment moved to the south to keep watch on Canby ' s force , while the main body under Lietenant Colonel William R . Scurry moved slowly northward to unite with Pyron . A Union column from Fort Union under the command of Col . John P . Slough was moving south at this time . An advance guard from this column collided with Pyron ' s force on March 26 , with the Confederates being driven back through the pass . That evening , in response to a message from Pyron , Scurry arrived with the main force and spent the next day observing the Union force , expecting an attack . At the Battle of Glorieta Pass on March 28 , the main Confederate force under Scurry fought a Union force marching from Fort Union , driving it back through the pass . However , a Union detachment was able to march around the Confederates and burned its wagon train , destroying most of the Confederate army ' s supplies . After learning of the Union victory , Canby advanced northward in order to unite with the northern force and surround Sibley . Nearly out of ammunition and food , Sibley retreated back to Albuquerque with less than 2 , 000 men on April 8 , a few hours after Canby arrived . Following the arrival of the force from Fort Union , Sibley decided to continue the retreat due to a shortage of rations , ammunition , and forage . The only battle to take place during the retreat was a small battle at Peralta on April 15 , when Canby attempted to capture a portion of the Confederate army . After the Confederates took up positions in the adobe houses and ditches surrounding the town , Canby decided that the positions were too strong for an assault , so he tried to cut off the Confederates ' retreat . During this movement , Sibley arrived with the 5th and 7th Texas regiments and managed to stop Canby ' s attack . Both sides bombarded each other with artillery until a sandstorm blew in , during which the Confederates withdrew from the field . The Confederates were forced to abandon eight howitzers and leave dozens of wounded behind during their retreat . A small rear was left to guard at Fort Thorn in New Mexico , but this also had to retreat in early July , due to advancing Union forces from California . During the campaign , the army lost approximately a thousand men , nearly half of which were missing or captured . The army was sent eastward to Louisiana , where it fought in several skirmishes and battles , including the Red River Campaign . Sibley was relieved of command of the brigade due to drunkenness and reassigned to directing supply trains . The cannons captured at Valverde were formed into an artillery unit manned by volunteers from the 5th Texas , designated the Valverde Battery . Composition . The army was commanded by Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley and its strength was about 2 , 500 . Three regiments of mounted rifles originally formed the army , and other units already in the territory were added as the campaign progressed .