Battle of Valverde

Battle of Valverde
Part of the American Civil War
DateFebruary 20–21, 1862
Location
Socorro County, New Mexico
33°38′00″N 107°00′41″W / 33.63333°N 107.01139°W / 33.63333; -107.01139
Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States United States Confederate States of America Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
United States Edward Canby
United States Alexander McRae †		 Confederate States of America Henry Hopkins Sibley
Confederate States of America Thomas Green
Units involved
1st and 3rd U.S. Cavalry
5th, 7th and 10th
U.S. Infantry
McRae's Battery (Artillery)
2nd Colorado Infantry
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th New Mexico Infantry
Graydon's Independent Cavalry Company
1st and 2nd New
Mexico Militia		 2nd, 4th, 5th and 7th
Texas Cavalry
Strength
Department of New Mexico: 3,000[1] Army of New Mexico: 2,590[2]
Casualties and losses
68 killed
160 wounded
204 captured or missing (mostly deserters)
6 artillery pieces captured
Total: 432[3]		 36 killed
150 wounded
1 missing
Total: 187[4]
Map of Valverde Battlefield core and study areas by the American Battlefield Protection Program

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[5] at a ford of the Rio Grande in Union-held New Mexico Territory, in what is today the state of New Mexico. It is considered a major Confederate success in the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War, despite the invading force abandoning the field. 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.

  1. ^ Taylor 1995, p. 127.
  2. ^ Taylor 1995, p. 124.
  3. ^ Taylor 1995, p. 142.
  4. ^ Taylor 1995, p. 136.
  5. ^ The region and the town of Valverde was actually named Val Verde (Green Valley) in Spanish. It was subsequently Americanized into Valverde by non-Spanish speakers who wrote the history of the battle.