Texans Invade New Mexico For The Second Time

Lone Star Confederates beat the dickens out of the Yankee rearguard in the New Mexico Territory on Feb. 21, 1862, and took a giant step toward winning the West for Richmond.

Twenty-one years after the Santa Fe Expedition ended in death for a few and dungeons for many more, Texans were back in New Mexico. This time their mission was not to annex the land for the Lone Star Republic but to conquer it for the Confederacy.

Never one to sit still, Col. John R. Baylor was not about to spend the Civil War patrolling the Rio Grande. Confident the comparative handful of northern soldiers stationed in Arizona would turn tail at the sight of a Rebel column, he ordered his tiny command to saddle up.

The unauthorized gamble paid off big-time. Proclaiming the Confederate Territory of Arizona in August 1861, Baylor appealed for reinforcements to repel the inevitable counterattack. After all, no one in his right mind could expect him to hold his ground with only 258 troops.

But that was exactly what Baylor