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Williams-Ford Texas A&M University Military History Series #61
The Battle of Glorieta: Union Victory in the West
The high Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico seemed an unlikely site for a desperate Civil War battle, but on March 28, 1862, the army of Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley, seeking to conquer the West for the Confederacy but dangerously short of supplies, fought a costly battle at Glorieta Pass with Federal forces.
The Rebels seemed to have won, and Union units withdrew, but as fate would have it, Federal cavalry under Col. John Chivington unexpectedly found the Confederate supply train and destroyed it, leaving the Southern soldiers isolated and defenseless.
After a few additional skirmishes, the dispirited and disorganized Rebels straggled back to Texas and abandoned their quest for expansion into the Southwest. The Battle of Glorieta marked the Confederacy's farthest advance northward in the Far West.
Combining documentary history and first-person accounts with field research and discovery of artifacts, Don E. Alberts provides clear detail on the battle, including the precise locations of events and of particular units. He marshals evidence to reach the startling, yet now inevitable, conclusion that the Battle of Glorieta was indeed a clear and significant Union victory.
The Battle of Glorieta offers a full, detailed, and accurate history of this blind, groping struggle in the smoke-filled mountain valley.
The Rebels seemed to have won, and Union units withdrew, but as fate would have it, Federal cavalry under Col. John Chivington unexpectedly found the Confederate supply train and destroyed it, leaving the Southern soldiers isolated and defenseless.
After a few additional skirmishes, the dispirited and disorganized Rebels straggled back to Texas and abandoned their quest for expansion into the Southwest. The Battle of Glorieta marked the Confederacy's farthest advance northward in the Far West.
Combining documentary history and first-person accounts with field research and discovery of artifacts, Don E. Alberts provides clear detail on the battle, including the precise locations of events and of particular units. He marshals evidence to reach the startling, yet now inevitable, conclusion that the Battle of Glorieta was indeed a clear and significant Union victory.
The Battle of Glorieta offers a full, detailed, and accurate history of this blind, groping struggle in the smoke-filled mountain valley.
248 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1998
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 29, 2023
Writing about a lesser-known Civil War battle usually involves some combination of telling the story and bringing its details to light, and making a case as to why it’s much more important than we’ve been led to believe. In this book, Alberts succeeds with the former but not as much with the latter. Before reading this book, I didn’t know much at all about the March 1862 Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico, and now I do. But I’m not convinced enough after reading this to consider myself prepared to make a spirited argument for the battle’s great significance.
Glorieta has been described by some as the “Gettysburg of the West,” which others argue is too grandiose a descriptor and an unfair comparison to the much better-known and more consequential battle back East. Alberts makes a somewhat technical argument as to why the descriptor is accurate: Glorieta marked Confederate forces’ westernmost push into Union-controlled territory, while Gettysburg marked their northernmost push, and both ended poorly for the Confederates. Fair enough.
But the two battles obviously differed in scale. And the goals of the two incursions into Union-controlled territory were quite different - Gettysburg was part of a Confederate effort to bring the fight to the enemy, while Glorieta was the first step in a grandiose Confederate plan to conquer the Southwest, which ultimately amounted to nothing.
In this short book about a short battle, Alberts doesn’t spend too much time discussing or pondering the battle’s larger significance. Instead, he offers a largely workmanlike account of how the two sides came to meet, how the battle played out, and how it ended. There are detailed maps and photos of the battlefield interspersed throughout the book, though there are often “spoilers” in the captions or on the maps, when it's pointed out where and when some officer died, before they actually die in the narrative.
In a war where one might typically picture many of the battles playing out on lush green expanses of farmland, the terrain in this westernmost theater of the war was very different. Confederate General Henry Sibley is singled out for failing to adequately supply his troops "in a frontier wilderness, where living off the land was impossible and there were no navigable waterways or extensive road systems" like there were back East. This, and the ultimate failure of the campaign itself, leads Alberts to brand Sibley as “one of the Confederacy’s worst generals.”
This is a rare flash of opinion and judgment, though, as Alberts mostly tends to stick to the facts throughout his point-by-point narrative. The book’s epilogue, where he might have pondered the significance of it all, is instead mostly a “whatever happened to” list of the battle’s major participants.
It’s actually the foreword, which was not even written by Alberts, that does the best job placing the battle in a larger context, in explaining its significance. Donald Frazier points out that the fate of the Western territories - who would control them, and whether they would be slave states or free - is what led to the Civil War to begin with. So control of the area was seen as much more important at the time than we may think today. Sibley’s dream of conquering the Southwest all the way to the California coast may seem like a harebrained scheme in retrospect, but his dream wasn’t dashed until the matter was decided on the battlefield.
Now that could have been a compelling way to frame this book. Instead, Alberts has written a serviceable account of the battle, which succeeds in informing the reader what happened, where and to whom, but could have done better in explaining the “why” - why the battle mattered, why it’s largely faded from memory, and why it’s worth reading about today.
Glorieta has been described by some as the “Gettysburg of the West,” which others argue is too grandiose a descriptor and an unfair comparison to the much better-known and more consequential battle back East. Alberts makes a somewhat technical argument as to why the descriptor is accurate: Glorieta marked Confederate forces’ westernmost push into Union-controlled territory, while Gettysburg marked their northernmost push, and both ended poorly for the Confederates. Fair enough.
But the two battles obviously differed in scale. And the goals of the two incursions into Union-controlled territory were quite different - Gettysburg was part of a Confederate effort to bring the fight to the enemy, while Glorieta was the first step in a grandiose Confederate plan to conquer the Southwest, which ultimately amounted to nothing.
In this short book about a short battle, Alberts doesn’t spend too much time discussing or pondering the battle’s larger significance. Instead, he offers a largely workmanlike account of how the two sides came to meet, how the battle played out, and how it ended. There are detailed maps and photos of the battlefield interspersed throughout the book, though there are often “spoilers” in the captions or on the maps, when it's pointed out where and when some officer died, before they actually die in the narrative.
In a war where one might typically picture many of the battles playing out on lush green expanses of farmland, the terrain in this westernmost theater of the war was very different. Confederate General Henry Sibley is singled out for failing to adequately supply his troops "in a frontier wilderness, where living off the land was impossible and there were no navigable waterways or extensive road systems" like there were back East. This, and the ultimate failure of the campaign itself, leads Alberts to brand Sibley as “one of the Confederacy’s worst generals.”
This is a rare flash of opinion and judgment, though, as Alberts mostly tends to stick to the facts throughout his point-by-point narrative. The book’s epilogue, where he might have pondered the significance of it all, is instead mostly a “whatever happened to” list of the battle’s major participants.
It’s actually the foreword, which was not even written by Alberts, that does the best job placing the battle in a larger context, in explaining its significance. Donald Frazier points out that the fate of the Western territories - who would control them, and whether they would be slave states or free - is what led to the Civil War to begin with. So control of the area was seen as much more important at the time than we may think today. Sibley’s dream of conquering the Southwest all the way to the California coast may seem like a harebrained scheme in retrospect, but his dream wasn’t dashed until the matter was decided on the battlefield.
Now that could have been a compelling way to frame this book. Instead, Alberts has written a serviceable account of the battle, which succeeds in informing the reader what happened, where and to whom, but could have done better in explaining the “why” - why the battle mattered, why it’s largely faded from memory, and why it’s worth reading about today.
October 22, 2014
Alberts' book is a fine study of this neglected Civil War battle. As the title suggests, the book is less about the campaign as-a-whole (though it does place the battle in the context of the campaign) and more about the battle itself.
The author has an excellent command of the primary sources of the battle, and the book maintains a balanced perspective throughout. The Colorado troops are covered in more detail than usual, and the author illustrates the tactical skill of the novice Colonel Slough as well as the excellent performance of the more experienced Texans under the command of Lt. Colonel Scurry. In fact, the author maintains that the Battle of Glorieta was a clear Union victory based on the Union's achievement of all of its tactical and strategic goals. The Union troops won a tactical victory in the Johnson's Ranch fight and won a tactical draw at Pigeon's Ranch. Furthermore, the Union achieved strategic success through both the destruction of the Confederate supply train and the successful defense of vital Fort Union.
The description of the tactical movements of the battle is un-equaled by any other accounts I have read, and Alberts' book may justly be considered the best book on the battle!
The author has an excellent command of the primary sources of the battle, and the book maintains a balanced perspective throughout. The Colorado troops are covered in more detail than usual, and the author illustrates the tactical skill of the novice Colonel Slough as well as the excellent performance of the more experienced Texans under the command of Lt. Colonel Scurry. In fact, the author maintains that the Battle of Glorieta was a clear Union victory based on the Union's achievement of all of its tactical and strategic goals. The Union troops won a tactical victory in the Johnson's Ranch fight and won a tactical draw at Pigeon's Ranch. Furthermore, the Union achieved strategic success through both the destruction of the Confederate supply train and the successful defense of vital Fort Union.
The description of the tactical movements of the battle is un-equaled by any other accounts I have read, and Alberts' book may justly be considered the best book on the battle!
February 13, 2017
Don Alberts is intimately familiar with the battlesites on which Glorieta and Apache Canyon were fought. He's the one who discovered the Confederates buried there and had them re-interred in the Santa Fe National Cemetery, and he spent years going over the site with metal detectors, figuring out where detritus from the battle is located, and thereby determining battle lines. His book is the definitive account of what happened on those fateful three days during the Civil War.
August 5, 2025
This book is weird. I don’t want to say that it’s bad, because it’s not. I definitely learned a lot about the battle and the context of the campaign as a whole but there are a number of problems that really bring it down.
Firstly, I balked when reading the acknowledgments, seeing that the author was thanking the United Daughters of the Confederacy for help in his research. I figured no self respecting academic would ever engage with an openly racist and revisionist organization. Hopefully he just didn’t know what the UDC was. Of course that would make him a bad researcher that failed to scrutinize his sources. The work isn’t pro-Confederate by any means; it is highly critical of the many Confederate mistakes and highlights the heroism of many Union troops that would ultimately lead to abolition. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the UDC had some influence every time he referred to slaves as servants.
Secondly, the book is missing some helpful context. The Battle of Valverde is discussed for about half a page despite being critical to understanding the entire campaign. Considering the book’s short length, I don’t think it would’ve been too much to ask for a few pages at least on the battle considering it was bloodier than the Battle of Glorieta.
Lastly, this is a perfect example of how a good historian isn’t always a good storyteller. Many are, don’t get me wrong, but this guy is no Bruce Catton. He goes on at length about a bunch of different companies and their strengths and who is leading them at any given time and it is entirely pointless. Rather than helping me understand the battle it tended to confuse me. It’s also made pointless by the very nicely detailed order of battle in the back of the book. It was frankly quite boring most of the time.
I will however give it credit. It was very informative and I enjoyed hearing small anecdotes and moments that you could only learn from a well researched book like this. His use of first hand accounts from soldiers present on both sides is frequent and commendable and the battle maps are very nicely drawn. As previously stated, there is also a nice order of battle. The chapters on Apache Canyon and Johnson’s ranch were good and this is a fine place to start if you want a good account of the Battle. If I could, I would give it 2 and a half stars. It was disappointingly fine, nothing more, nothing less.
Firstly, I balked when reading the acknowledgments, seeing that the author was thanking the United Daughters of the Confederacy for help in his research. I figured no self respecting academic would ever engage with an openly racist and revisionist organization. Hopefully he just didn’t know what the UDC was. Of course that would make him a bad researcher that failed to scrutinize his sources. The work isn’t pro-Confederate by any means; it is highly critical of the many Confederate mistakes and highlights the heroism of many Union troops that would ultimately lead to abolition. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the UDC had some influence every time he referred to slaves as servants.
Secondly, the book is missing some helpful context. The Battle of Valverde is discussed for about half a page despite being critical to understanding the entire campaign. Considering the book’s short length, I don’t think it would’ve been too much to ask for a few pages at least on the battle considering it was bloodier than the Battle of Glorieta.
Lastly, this is a perfect example of how a good historian isn’t always a good storyteller. Many are, don’t get me wrong, but this guy is no Bruce Catton. He goes on at length about a bunch of different companies and their strengths and who is leading them at any given time and it is entirely pointless. Rather than helping me understand the battle it tended to confuse me. It’s also made pointless by the very nicely detailed order of battle in the back of the book. It was frankly quite boring most of the time.
I will however give it credit. It was very informative and I enjoyed hearing small anecdotes and moments that you could only learn from a well researched book like this. His use of first hand accounts from soldiers present on both sides is frequent and commendable and the battle maps are very nicely drawn. As previously stated, there is also a nice order of battle. The chapters on Apache Canyon and Johnson’s ranch were good and this is a fine place to start if you want a good account of the Battle. If I could, I would give it 2 and a half stars. It was disappointingly fine, nothing more, nothing less.
February 10, 2017
Maybe not suited for bed-time reading; it may put you to sleep too fast. Yet I feel the book probably has an important place in the history of both New Mexico and the US Civil War.
This book is an incredibly detailed look at the most important Civil War action to take place in New Mexico. So detailed, in fact, it became a bit of a slog for stretches. Captain So-and-so took his men over there, Lieutenant Such-and-such moved over here, and so on. Almost like a playbook for re-enactors. At the same time, however, reams of information are absent. Take, for instance, the supplies the soldiers from each side carried with them: almost nothing in this book. Not even much about the weapons used, aside from artillery. Also motivation: why did these volunteers--because many were, from New Mexico, Colorado, Texas--sign up? It also felt at times like only serious Civil War historians were expected to read it, for throughout the book phrases and terms were used, military mostly, that were never defined. What exactly is a mountain howitzer? And despite the inclusion of quotations from various letters and recollections, on the whole the account felt impersonal, though that may have been on purpose. As a fact-based, play-by-play look at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, it's spot on. Just not entertaining.
This book is an incredibly detailed look at the most important Civil War action to take place in New Mexico. So detailed, in fact, it became a bit of a slog for stretches. Captain So-and-so took his men over there, Lieutenant Such-and-such moved over here, and so on. Almost like a playbook for re-enactors. At the same time, however, reams of information are absent. Take, for instance, the supplies the soldiers from each side carried with them: almost nothing in this book. Not even much about the weapons used, aside from artillery. Also motivation: why did these volunteers--because many were, from New Mexico, Colorado, Texas--sign up? It also felt at times like only serious Civil War historians were expected to read it, for throughout the book phrases and terms were used, military mostly, that were never defined. What exactly is a mountain howitzer? And despite the inclusion of quotations from various letters and recollections, on the whole the account felt impersonal, though that may have been on purpose. As a fact-based, play-by-play look at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, it's spot on. Just not entertaining.
May 11, 2025
"The Battle of Glorieta: Union Victory in the West" offers a comprehensive account of the battle, enriching the traditional narrative with overlooked personal stories and examples of humanity displayed by both sides. For instance, Union soldiers supplied tools for Confederate burial details, and a two-day truce allowed both armies to retrieve their wounded and bury their dead. The book clearly explains the strategic importance of Glorieta Pass and the tactical actions of both Union and Confederate forces. It incorporates personal anecdotes and logistical insights that go beyond standard historical accounts, adding significant depth. The author emphasizes moments of compassion, such as Union assistance with Confederate burials and the two-day ceasefire, showcasing a shared sense of humanity amidst the conflict.
November 6, 2023
I thought I would read up on this battle before traveling through the southwest and seeing the battlefield. The book is a well detailed account of the Confederate incursion into New Mexico. The author mixed in a good amount of anecdotes with an excellent narrative of the campaign and battle. The maps were on point, detailed and there were enough to give you a good feel for the action. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about this campaign.
September 27, 2021
Great book! I learned a lot about Civil War battles near me!
February 4, 2023
Very detailed account of the play-by-play battle of Glorieta. It ended nicely with the author relaying what became of the commanding officers on each side.
April 1, 2015
This is a readable presentation of the maneuvers and battles near Glorieta Pass in late March of 1862. The author's style isn't as polished as one might hope and the book may have benefited from firmer editing.
Yet for those interested in the campaign culminating near Glorieta Pass, Alberts' work is a godsend. I was surprised just how much Alberts' detailed account differs from the cursory treatments in more famous works. For example Shelby Foote describes a Union ambush (Apache Canyon?) and a subsequent slugging match devoid of maneuver (Pigeon Ranch?) complete with Foote's customary unsupported quotations. Alberts' more detailed account includes no ambush what-so-ever and a fantastic amount of maneuver, particularly in the battle around Pigeon Ranch. In many ways a mini-Chancellorsville with roles reversed as Slough divides his Union forces to send a third of his manpower on an "impossible" sweeping maneuver around the unsuspecting Rebel right.
The authors differ significantly in casualty numbers as well. Both Alberts and Foote agree that the CSA lost 500 men as prisoners. But Foote credits a full 1200 deaths to the campaign in New Mexico (over a third of the force that began the campaign) while Alberts reports a significantly smaller 200 casualties. In the Union attack on the confederate supply train at Johnson's Ranch, Foote reports 600 pack animals bayoneted, while Alberts takes pains to make the point that there's no evidence of more than a handful of wounded animals being killed (the several hundred others being released to run wild).
The net result is that I was horrified by the poor coverage of previous titles. I find Alberts account more credible, as it is exclusively focused on the campaign, has ample references, and incorporates recent scholarship. Oddly, Alberts undercuts his credibility by consistently referring to Coloradans as "Coloradoans" an error even Goodreads spellcheck can catch and particularly grating for a Coloradan like myself.
Still, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the ACW in the far West as well as history buffs interested in a solidly told tale of operational and tactical maneuver.
Yet for those interested in the campaign culminating near Glorieta Pass, Alberts' work is a godsend. I was surprised just how much Alberts' detailed account differs from the cursory treatments in more famous works. For example Shelby Foote describes a Union ambush (Apache Canyon?) and a subsequent slugging match devoid of maneuver (Pigeon Ranch?) complete with Foote's customary unsupported quotations. Alberts' more detailed account includes no ambush what-so-ever and a fantastic amount of maneuver, particularly in the battle around Pigeon Ranch. In many ways a mini-Chancellorsville with roles reversed as Slough divides his Union forces to send a third of his manpower on an "impossible" sweeping maneuver around the unsuspecting Rebel right.
The authors differ significantly in casualty numbers as well. Both Alberts and Foote agree that the CSA lost 500 men as prisoners. But Foote credits a full 1200 deaths to the campaign in New Mexico (over a third of the force that began the campaign) while Alberts reports a significantly smaller 200 casualties. In the Union attack on the confederate supply train at Johnson's Ranch, Foote reports 600 pack animals bayoneted, while Alberts takes pains to make the point that there's no evidence of more than a handful of wounded animals being killed (the several hundred others being released to run wild).
The net result is that I was horrified by the poor coverage of previous titles. I find Alberts account more credible, as it is exclusively focused on the campaign, has ample references, and incorporates recent scholarship. Oddly, Alberts undercuts his credibility by consistently referring to Coloradans as "Coloradoans" an error even Goodreads spellcheck can catch and particularly grating for a Coloradan like myself.
Still, this book is a must read for anyone interested in the ACW in the far West as well as history buffs interested in a solidly told tale of operational and tactical maneuver.
October 9, 2011
During the Civil War, Confederate forces from Texas invaded New Mexico in an attempt to conquer the Southwest all the way to the Pacific Ocean. Confederate and Union forces met in a decisive battle at Glorieta Pass in New Mexico.
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