In the summer of 1862 the Civil War was going badly for the North. The distant New Mexico Territory, however, presented a different situation. After an invading army of zealous Texas Confederates won the field at Valverde near Fort Craig, Colorado Volunteers fell on the Rebels at Glorieta Pass and crushed Confederate dreams of conquering New Mexico and the Far West. The Texans, hungry and disheartened, retreated, leaving uncertainty and social unrest in their wake.By the late summer of 1862, Gen. James Henry Carleton arrived from California, determined to impose federal control on the territory. Major Henry Davies Wallen and Captain Andrew Wallace Evans were appointed inspector general and assistant inspector general, respectively. Fearing a second Confederate invasion, Carleton had Wallen and Evans examine various routes the Rebels might use to invade the territory as well as a variety of logistical and operational issues. Tellingly, their reports repeatedly mention troop drunkenness and poor relations with the locals as primary problems. These inspection reports, edited by award-winning Civil War historl War years.ian Thompson, provide unique insight into the military, cultural, and social life of a territory struggling to maintain law and order.

Excerpt from The California Column: Its Campaigns and Services in New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, During the Civil War, With Sketches of Brigadier General James H. Carleton, Its Commander, and Other Officers and Soldiers Immediately after the first battle of Bull Run, July 24th, 1861. Governor John G. Downey, of California, received from the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, a communication which said: "The War Department accepts, for three years, one regiment of infantry and five companies of cavalry, to guard the Overland Mail Route, from Carson Valley to Salt Lake City and Fort Laramie." This was the first official action towards organizing troops in California, and it required but a short time to raise the required number of men, and as fast as the companies were mustered in, at the Presidio, near San Francisco, they were transported across the bay, to Camp Downey, near where are now located the railroad shops, eastward of the Mole. In the meantime the government at Washington had an insane idea of preparing an army, on the Pacific, to be composed principally of regulars, then stationed on the coast, and under the command of General E. V. Sumner, who was in command of the Department of California, then ship them down the coast, to Mazatlan, where they were to disembark, and proceed overland, "to western Texas, and regain the public property in that state, and draw off insurgent troops from Arkansas, Missouri, etc." This movement was not to General Sumner's taste, although the governor had been directed to organize four more regiments of infantry, and one of cavalry, to take the place of the regular troops that were to go on the Texas raid. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.