The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002 Page: 324
741 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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324 Southwestern Historcal Quarterly Uctober
the Confederate government in Richmond. As a result, Sibley's expedi-
tion passed virtually unnoticed throughout most of the South.2
In Texas though, the offensive was viewed as vitally important. Not
only was Sibley's Brigade composed almost entirely of Texans but the
fighting would occur close to the Lone Star State. Additionally, portions
of New Mexico Territory were once claimed by the Republic of Texas
and the campaign revived western ambitions within the state.
Three Texans commanded the regiments of Sibley's Brigade. Col.
James Reily, the brigade's senior colonel, commanded the Fourth Texas
Mounted Volunteers and Col. William Steele was in charge of the
Seventh Texas Mounted Volunteers.4
Sibley's most able lieutenant was Col. Thomas "Tom" Green, com-
mander of the Fifth Texas Mounted Volunteers and a man of extensive
frontier military experience. In 1835, he came to Texas, where he par-
ticipated in the Texas Revolution and fought at San Jacinto. A veteran of
many frontier campaigns against the Mexicans and Indians, he also
served as a Ranger under the legendary Capt. John C. Hays. During the
Mexican War, Green raised and commanded a company in the First Tex-
as Mounted Rifles, again serving under Hays, and saw extensive fighting
during the campaign to capture Monterrey.
Tom Green was also a competent career public servant. Among the
posts he held were Fayette County surveyor, membership in the legisla-
ture of the Republic of Texas, and clerk of the Texas Supreme Court. In
1847, he married into the politically influential Chalmers family. By
Hardwick Hall, Sibley's New Mexico Campaign (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1960). Dated, it has
been displaced by Donald S. Frazier, Blood & Treasure: Confederate Empire in the Southwest (College
Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1995). For a compact look at the campaign, see the first
three chapters of Alvin M. Josephy Jr., The Cizvl War in the American West (New York: Alfred A.
Knopf, 1992). A detailed study of the makeup and organization of the invading Confederate force
is Martin Hardwick Hall, The Confederate Army of New Mexico (Austin: Presidial Press, 1978). Fine
studies of the two most important battles that occurred during the offensive are John Taylor,
Bloody Valverde: A Civil War Battle on the Rio Grande, February 21, z862 (Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico Press, 1995); Don E. Alberts, The Battle of Gloneta: Union Vctory in the West (College
Station. Texas A&M University Press, 1998); and Edrington and Taylor, The Battle of Glonreta Pass.
Biographies of key personnel include Thompson's Confederate General of the West: Henry Hopkins Sib-
ley; Max L. Heyman, Prudent Soldier: A Biography of General E. R S. Canby (Glendale, Calif.: Arthur
H. Clark Co., 1959); and Odie Faulk, General Tom Green: "A Fzghtzn' Texan" (Waco: Texian Press,
1963). Also helpful will be Ralph A. Wooster, Lone Star Generals in Gray (Austin: Eakin Press, 200ooo),
which contains biographical sketches of Tom Green, William Scurry, and William Steele. Articles
about aspects and personalities of the campaign, as well as diaries,journals, and memoirs, too nu-
merous to mention, can be found in the bibliographies of many of the above-mentioned books.
2 Taylor, Bloody Valverde, 120o; Hall, Sibley's New Mexico Campaign, xiv.
s Hall, Sibley's New Mexico Campaign, xiv.
4James Reily was born in Ohio, raised in Kentucky, and moved to Texas in 1836 or 1837. An
excellent orator, he was a lawyer and a seasoned diplomat. His mihtary experience, however, was
very limited. Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker (eds.), The Writings of Sam Houston (8 vols.;
Austin: University of Texas Press, 1939), II, 374-375.
Wilham Steele, like Sibley, was a West Point graduate (1840) and an experienced officer in the
antebellum U.S. Army. Following the Mexican War, Steele, a New Yorker, was stationed in Texas_' 1 . -r .. e t
A
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 105, July 2001 - April, 2002, periodical, 2002; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101222/m1/354/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.