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and suspended from duty for six months. Thus, at one sweep, nearly one-half of the
Government troops in
New Mexico were lost to its service.
The prisoners were paroled, and then permitted to go on to
Albuquerque.
Their sufferings from thirst on that march were terrible; some of them seeking to quench it by opening veins and drinking their own blood!
It was now thought that
New Mexico would be an easy prey to the
Texas insurgents.
Miguel A. Otero, its delegate in the National Congress, had endeavored, by a published address,
to incite the inhabitants of
New Mexico to rebellion, while
Governor Abraham Rencher, of
North Carolina, took measures to defend the
Territory against the insurgents.
His successor,
Henry Connolly, was equally loyal.
So also
were the people; and when, at this juncture of affairs,
Colonel Canby arrived as
Commander of the Department, he was met with almost universal sympathy.
He successfully appealed for a regiment of volunteers to the
Governor of the neighboring
Territory of Colorado, and these, with his few regular troops and
New Mexico levies, made quite a respectable force in numbers, when
Canby was informed that
Colonel Henry H. Sibley, a major by brevet in the
National army, and a Louisianian, who had abandoned his flag and put himself at the head of a band of insurgents known as Texas Rangers, some of them of the worst sort, was invading the
Territory.
His force was formidable in numbers (twenty-three hundred) and in experience, many of them having been in successive expedition s against the Indians.
Sibley issued a proclamation to the people of
New Mexico, in which he denounced the
National Government and demanded from the inhabitants aid for and allegiance to his marauders.
Confident of success, he moved slowly, by way of
Fort Thorn, and found
Canby at
Fort Craig, on the
Rio Grande,
prepared to meet him. A reconnaissance satisfied him that, with his light field-pieces, an assault on the fort would be foolish.
He could not retreat or remain with safety, and his military knowledge warned him that it would be very hazardous to leave a well-garrisoned fort behind him. So he forded the
Rio Grande at a point below
Fort Craig, and out of reach of its guns, for the purpose of drawing
Canby out. In this he was successful.
Canby at once threw a force across the river,
1 to occupy a position on an eminence commanding the fort, which it was thought
Sibley might attempt to gain.
In the afternoon of the following day, some cavalry, under
Captain Duncan, and a battery were sent across, and drew a heavy cannonade from the
Texans.
The infantry were nearly all thrown into confusion, excepting
