Glorieta Pass Battlefield

The battle's plainest evidence turned up under a house lot. In June 1987 a man digging a foundation along NM 50, across from the site of Pigeon's Ranch, uncovered two graves of Texas Mounted Volunteers: one man alone and thirty together. The lone burial was Major John Shropshire, 28, killed leading an attack on Artillery Hill; he went home to Kentucky in 1990. Three of the dead were identified, and the rest were reburied at Santa Fe National Cemetery in 1993. The battlefield joined Pecos National Historical Park in 1990.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Glorieta Pass Battlefield The Civil War battle fought in this pass is often referred to as the "Gettysburg of the West." Union forces dashed the Confederacy's strategy to seize the Southwest's major supply base at Fort Union. Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley's plan envisioned gaining control of the gold fields of Colorado, mineral-rich Nevada, the ports of California, as well as the northern Mexican states of Chihuahua, Sonora, and Baja California. Their defeat at the Battle of Glorieta Pass ended the Confederate's incursion into the Southwest. See other side Official Scenic Historic Marker Continued The Texas vanguard captured Santa Fe on March 10, 1862. On March 28, after two days of battle at the Glorieta Pass, Union troops, including Colorado and New Mexico volunteers, burned a poorly guarded Confederate supplies camp, spiked cannons, and slaughtered or freed hundreds of horses and mules. Within two weeks of their defeat here, Confederate troops were forced to withdraw to Texas. This battlefield was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 5, 1961.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Pecos National Historical Park — 4.4 mi
  The red walls of a 1717 mission church inside the foundations of a far larger one, beside the kiva Pecos people dug in front of the old church during the revolt of 1680.
• Palace of the Governors — 13 mi
  The long adobe on the north side of the Santa Fe plaza, called the oldest public building in continuous use in the country, though its own founding date is in dispute.

More markers nearby

• Cañoncito at Apache Canyon — 4.3 mi
• Hispano New Mexicans in the US Civil War — 4.3 mi
• Pecos National Historical Park — 4.5 mi
• San Antonio de Padua Catholic Church — 4.7 mi