Bloody Valverde: A Civil War Battle on the Rio Grande, February 21, 1862

Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.: University of New Mexco Press, 1999. Trade Paperback. Very Good. 6" X 10. Ezzell, Emmy - Design. 184 Pages Indexed. A Two-line inscription by the author is on the half-title page. Except for a four inch crease to the back cover corner this looks to be an unread book with a nearly flawless interior text pages and illustrations. Carefully reconstructed in this book is the first full account of what happened on both sides of the line before, during, and after a day-long battle at Valverde ford between about 2,600 Texan Confederates and some 3,800 Union troops. On the Confederate side, a drunken Sibley turned over command to Colonel Tom Green early in the afternoon. Battlefield maneuvers included a disastrous lance charge by cavalry --- the only one during the entire Civil War. The Union army, under the cautious Colonel Edward R. S. Canby, fielded a superior number of troops, the majority of whom were Hispanic New Mexican volunteers. This book will benefit all readers interested in how these important events in the Rio Abajo affected New Mexico and, ultimately, the nation in 1862. This is a masterful and detailed account of the Battle of Valverde. It is afast-paced narrative of events that unfolded on 21 February 1862. John Taylor is a nuclear engineer at Sandia National Laboratories. Contents in Eleven Chapters: Introduction, Origins, Prelude to a Fight, Opening Gambits, The Battle is Joined, Apparent Victory, Change of Command, The Tide Turns, The Field is Lost, A Pyrrhic Victory, and Retrospective. Plus Llist of Illustrations, List of Maps, Foreword, Appenidx with Unit Strengths and Casualties, Notes, and Bibliography