Customer Reviews

The Battle of Glorieta Pass: A Gettysburg in the West, March 26-28, 1862

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This was a pleasant suprise about a battle that I knew little about. I don't know if I would call it the "Gettysburg" in the West. The Battle of Shiloh is the only battle that comes close to Gettysburg when it comes to mass of troops and casualties. However, this little known battle was strategically important for the Confederacy as they tried to spread their power west and their ultimate goal of obtaining the gold of California and Nevada and also obtaining official recognition by Mexico. The author does a good job explain the background of the Confederate troops (Texans) and the expidition they were on, as well as the Union troops (mostly Colorado volunteers) meant to stop them in their tracks. The Battle of Glorietta Pass did have significant casualties on both sides, however the ultimate key factor for Union victory was the destruction of the Confederate's supply train. I recommend this book to any Civil War enthusiast who wants to read about a different, little known but significant battle of the Civil War.

The Southwest theater of the Civil War is often overlooked--many people do not even know that there was such a theater. The Confederacy hoped to seize the Southwest, with an eye toward gaining an outlet on the Pacific coast.

The action in this theater began at Valverde, well south of Albuquerque, where the Confederates won in February 1862. This drove the Union forces northward, but the Confederates did not capture the critical Fort Craig, which came back to haunt them.

The Union troops, mostly from Colorado, met the Confederate troops, mostly Texans, in present-day northern New Mexico at the Battle of Glorieta Pass in late March. The authors do a masterful job of covering the battle in great detail. The Confederates won this battle as well, but were forced to retreat southward when Union troops captured their supply train. The Confederates retreated to Albuquerque, and eventually were forced to retreat back to Texas.

The Southwest was saved for the Union.

The book also has detailed appendices and is a great read for anyone unfamiliar with this far-flung engagement of the Civil War.

This book was a "gotta-have-it" buy at the Pecos National Historic Landmark bookstore. Pecos NHL is the site of the Gloriata Pass Battlefield (at least the Pigeon Ranch section); one of the newer Civil War battlefields added to the national park system.

This is a good and detailed account of the battle. Probably best suited for Civil War buffs, the book gives a good background to the joining of a small band of Union and Confederate soldiers twenty-five miles east of Santa Fe, NM in 1862. The book lists troop movements down to the company and section level, gives brief sketches of commanders and illustrates the movements through a series of maps that clearly show the relative positions of soldiers as the battle progressed.

For those uninitiated with the details of the battle, this book will give you a good understanding of why it was fought at Glorieta Pass and how positions and tactical moves developed during this largest of Civil War battles in New Mexico.

This was the third book I bought on the subject matter of the American Civil War in the Southwest. I choose it over the Don Albert's version since I already had the Bloody Valverde title from John Taylor. Generally speaking that was a good choice, as the format of the book remained the same and I knew what I was getting into.

While more significant a fight than Valverde, the Glorietta fight is more difficult to follow and not as exciting. They did the usual good job of sketches and photos to help the readers follow along. I recommend it as the most straight forward work to get a person more knowledge on the suject. Perhaps even after a visit to the Pecos National Historic Park's new Battlefield Trail.

I do feel that overall the Don Albert's book is the best on the subject matter. But for Wargamers and people with a cursory interest, this book will get you the direct results you want the fastest.

If you are doing a research project on this topic, and need to know who died where and what time they were at what place, this book will be very useful. I had just a casual interest (drove though the area on a recent vacation) so I found it was way more than I wanted to know. Writing is somewhat dry. But, now I know all about it!