Benson J. Lossing, Pictorial Field Book of the Civil War. Volume 2.

[187] Colonel Kit Carson's regiment. The panic was so great that Canby ordered a return of all the forces to the fort. That night the exhausted mules of the Texans became unmanageable, on account of thirst, and scampered in every direction. The National scouts captured a large number of these, and also wagons, by which Sibley was greatly crippled in the matter of transportation.

At eight o'clock the next morning,

Feb. 21, 1862.

Canby sent Lieutenant-Colonel Roberts, with cavalry, artillery, and infantry,¹ across the Rio Grande; and at Valverde, about seven miles north of the fort, they confronted the vanguard of the Texans under Major Pyron, who were making their way toward the river. The batteries opened upon Pyron, and he recoiled. Desultory fighting, mostly with artillery, was kept up until some time past noon, when Canby came upon the field, and took command in person. In the mean time, Sibley, who was quite ill, had turned over his command to Colonel Thomas Green, of the Fifth Texas regiment. Canby, considering victory certain for his troops, was preparing to make a general advance, when a thousand or more Texans, foot and horse, under Colonel Steele, who had gathered in concealment in a thick wood and behind sand-hills, armed with carbines, revolvers, and bowie-knives, suddenly rushed

One of Sibley's Texas Rangers.2

forward and charged furiously upon the batteries of McRea and Hall. The Texas cavalry, under Major Raguet, charged upon Hall's battery, and were easily repulsed; but those on foot, who made for McRea's battery, could not be checked. His grape and canister shot made fearful lanes in their ranks, but they did not recoil. They captured the battery, but not without encountering the most desperate defenders of the guns in McRea and his artillerists, a large number of whom, with their commander, were killed. McRea actually sat upon his gun, fighting his foe with his pistol until he was shot. The remainder of the Nationals, with the exception of Kit Carson's men and a few others, panic-stricken by the fierce charge of the Texans, fled like sheep before wolves, and refused to obey the commands of officers who tried to rally them. That flight was one of the most disgraceful scenes of the war, and Canby was compelled to see victory snatched from his hand when it seemed secure. The surviving Nationals. took refuge in Fort Craig. Their loss was sixty-two killed and one hundred and forty-two wounded. The loss of the Texans was about the same.

Sibley well comprehended the situation. The fort could not be taken,