tradicion revista fall 2012 - LPD Press & Rio Grande Books

of Los Pinos at 3:00 A.M. on April
15. Canby and his Union men could
hear the Texans celebrating their
departure from New Mexico. Lt. J.
M. Bell, a Union artillerist, recorded
the following:
The sounds of the fandango
carried into the morning
hours…[along with] the hilarious
shout of some overexcited
participant. All was
merry at a feast within the
dark outline of the town,
just growing visible in the
gloomy light of approaching
day. There we lay in the
restrained excitement of the
situation…. 11
After a night of celebrating, the
Confederate troops were caught totally
by surprise in the early morning
when the stillness was shattered
by the sounds of the Union guns.
Lieutenant Bell could “imagine the
hurrying to and fro in that little
Mexican town, the terror of the
quick transition from the hilarities
of the night to the sternness of the
day.” 12 Although his troops were
anxious for an engagement and victory,
Canby did not mount a full
attack because he felt that the position
of the Texas troops was too
strong to be easily captured. The
ditch banks and low adobe walls
that enclosed the fields around the
hacienda provided strong fortifications.
In addition, several Confederate
cannons were placed in the
maze of fields, and a battery was
positioned in the steeple of the Los
Pinos chapel as well. 13
Attention was diverted briefly
from a possible attack on the hacienda
when part of a Confederate
supply train, including a howitzer,
84
seven wagons and seventy mules,
approached Peralta from Albuquerque.
In the skirmish several men
on both sides were killed, but the
Union troops captured the wagons
and turned the howitzer on its former
owners. 14 As the Colorado Volunteers
returned from the capture
of the wagons and guns, a group of
New Mexico Volunteers dashed into
Peralta, fired a few shots, and returned
to the Union lines northeast
of Los Pinos. The Union troops then
took the offensive as described in the
following:
Canby then opened a furious
artillery fire on the
Texans around the governor’s
house. The cannonade
looked and sounded
grand, especially the firing
of a large twenty-fourpounder
howitzer; but the
soft ground and adobe walls
absorbed much of the im-
This essay is excerpted from Among the
Çottonwoods by FrancelleAkexander. The
book can be ordered from Rio Grande Books
or online at Amazon.com.
pact of shot and shells. The
Texans were not hurt, and
Green responded with a
barrage of his own, killing
two of Canby’s soldiers and
several draft animals, but
other wise accomplished
little. 15
Although Canby did not continue
the sustained direct attack, at
midday he sent a unit around to the
north and west of Peralta to prevent
reinforcements coming from Sibley.
These men came across some of
Sibley’s men, and several skirmishes
occurred. “Marching south near
present-day West Bosque Loop, they
turned back a relief column that
Sibley led, just as it was emerging
from an icy river crossing.” 16 Sibley
had been marching his troops south
from Los Lunas that day when a
courier from Peralta informed him
that Green had been attacked. Sibley
had then turned his troops around
and was returning when his troops
met some of Canby’s men. 17 After
the skirmish on the present day
West Bosque Loop, Sibley did not
make any further attempt to unite
with Green and crossed to west side
of the river, leaving the relief forces
to guard the ford over which they
had just passed.
During a lull in the firing in the
afternoon, the men on both sides
ate and slept. In the words of Private
Ovando Hollister of the Union
Colorado Volunteers, “It was the
most harmless battle on record. We
lay around on the ground in line of
the battle asleep.” 18 The battle had
reached an impasse. “Sibley’s failure
to relieve the isolated Texans
left them in a precarious position at
Los Pinos. Outnumbered and out-
TRADICIÓN October 2012