The Civil War Battle of Albuquerque

 

La Glorieta today. It was originally built sometime before 1803. John Phelan, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons The Battle of Albuquerque was one of the least significant battles of the American Civil War. It was so small that it is more appropriately called a skirmish.  General H.H. Sibley’s Army of New Mexico had begun with great intentions. Its leader had planned to take the California and Colorado goldfields at little cost to the Confederacy, fulfilling a Southern version of Manifest Destiny. But things went wrong from the start, and they soon discovered that New Mexicans were not as willing to feed and shelter an army made up of Texans as Sibley had supposed. After its supply train was destroyed while they were fighting the Battle of Glorieta Pass, Sibley’s army retreated to Santa Fe and began straggling into Albuquerque, where they commandeered La Glorieta, the already old hacienda that was owned by German entrepreneur Franz Huning.  Col. E.R.S. Canby Meanwhile, Col. Canby, whose troops had been bottled up in Fort Craig and living on half rations, moved his men north, leaving Kit Carson and his New Mexico Volunteers to defend the fort. On April 8, Canby arrived at the small farming settlement of Barelas, south of Albuquerque. Scouting reports informed him that the main Rebel force had not yet arrived from Santa Fe and only a small group of Confederates held the town. ​ Canby decided to use his four pieces of artillery  to make what he called a “noisy demonstration.” Rebel cannons returned fire from Huning's grist mill, which was located near what is now the intersection of Laguna and Central. The artillery duel lasted for several hours until a delegation of concerned citizens approached Canby under a white flag. They explained that  Sibley had refused to allow the town’s women and children to evacuate, and the Union shelling was endangering them. Rather than risk public opinion in a territory that wasn’t wholly supportive of American rule, Canby ordered his men to stop firing, ending the Battle of Albuquerque.​ The townspeople and the Confederates didn’t know it was over, however. They waited anxiously as the sunset glowed red, orange and pink. In the fading light, the yellow glow of Canyby’s campfires dotted the horizon. Union buglers, drummers and fifers played “Tattoo” marking the end of the day, then continued with more music as, gradually, the campfires died out. It wasn’t until morning that it became apparent that Canby and his troops had slipped away in the darkness, leaving the musicians and the campfires to cover their movement.  Unwilling to face Sibley’s entire army, which might reach Albuquerque at any moment, Canby had moved his men eastward into the Sandia Mountains. A few days later  in the little village of San Antonio, he met up with the Colorado volunteers now under the command of John Chivington. Now, he thought, his troops were large enough to resume the attack on Gen. Sibley.​ The howitzer replicas, Old Town Albuquerque But Sibley’s forces had left Albuquerque, ending a possible second act of the Battle of Albuquerque. The General had arrived in Albuquerque soon after the artillery exchange and  explained to his officers that, with only enough food for 15 days and no more than 40 rounds of ammunition per man,  the best course of action would be to retreat down the Rio Grande valley and return to Texas.  So that they couldn’t be used against his retreating troops, he had eight brass howitzers buried in a corral behind San Felipe Neri Church. On the morning of April 12, Sibley abandoned his wounded and proceeded south. The two armies would not encounter each other until two days later, at the Battle of Peralta. ​ Although hardly a battle,  the artillery duel is the only battle ever to be fought within the city limits of Albuquerque. The eight brass howitzers were later recovered, and two are preserved in The Albuquerque Museum and replicas of the guns stand around the edges of Albuquerque's Old Town Plaza..  ​ Jennifer Bohnhoff taught New Mexico history at Desert Ridge and Edgewood Middle Schools, in central New Mexico. She is now a full time author and lecturer. Rebels Along the Rio Grande is her trilogy of historical fiction set in New Mexico, and is suitable for middle grade through adult readers. Where Duty Calls and The Worst Enemy are already published. The third and final book in the trilogy, The Famished Country, will be released in October. The Battle of Albuquerque will be depicted in that book.

Where Have All The Soldiers Gone?

 

 

Mike, the interpreter

Yesterday I went up to Pecos National Historic Park to attend a talk commemorating the 162nd anniversary of the Battle of Glorieta Pass. 
The Battle, which took place March 26-28, 1862, is often called "The Gettysburg of the West." The man who gave the talk,a National Park employee (whose name I believe was Mike, but I didn't write it down and wasn't sure of by the time I got home) who came down from Fort Union,was in authentic Civil War dress. He gave a very nice synopsis of the battle, then a demonstration of his Springfield rifle, both of which the crowd of forty or so appreciated.

But it wasn't what I'd hoped for. 

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Union reenactors in Escondido in February, 2022.

It used to be that every year, on the weekend closest to March 26-28, the Park would sponsor a reenactment of the Battle of Glorieta. Groups of reenactors, most in meticulously researched and authentic dress, would set up camps, one for the Confederate forces and one for the Union forces. All weekend, tourists could wander among the tents asking questions and learning what life was like for the soldiers, merchants and camp women.

Ken Dusenbery and I at an Albuquerque convention for Social Studies teachers in 2014.

My connection to all this was a wonderful man named Ken Dusenbery. Ken, a veteran of the Vietnam war, was fascinated with military history. He was Corporal in the Artillery Company of New Mexico, a group of reenactors who took their jobs very seriously. Ken knew a lot about the life and times of the Civil War soldier and could tell you more about ammunition and "grub" than just about anyone alive.  He read both Where Duty Calls and The Worst Enemy for me before they were published and helped me to get the details right.

Ken has since passed away, leaving a big hole in my heart. I miss his knowledge and the kind way he corrected my errors. I regret he wasn't able to read through book 3 of the series, The Famished Country, which comes out this fall.

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The last time I saw Ken was in March of 2022, at Pecos National Historical Park. That time, there were both Confederate and Union camps, and tourists got to wander through the tents asking questions. Ken's company brought their howitzer, which was fired off to great applause. Many of the reenactors had their weapons with them and were happy to show them to interested people, but weapons were not the only things of interest.  I remember my mother asking about the tar bucket that hung from one of the wagons. Others asked about the cooking implements and the portable writing desk. And my favorite memory from the day was the youngest Union soldier, the son of a reenactor who was proudly participating for the first time. 

But there were no reenacted battles that year. Ken explained to me that the Park Service no longer wanted battles on their property. One ranger told me it was the gunsmoke that people complained of. Another said it was the glorification of war. 

This year, the commemoration was distilled into just one person: Mike. He gave a great speech and fired three volleys, plus one more for an encore. But I missed the camps filled with men and women who've immersed themselves in the everyday life of the period and were so enthusiastic to share their knowledge with the rest of us. 

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Jennifer Bohnhoff is a retired history and language arts teacher who is now writing full time. You can read more about here and her books on her website. 

Albuquerque Historical Site: La Glorieta

 

 

https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/NM-01-001-0089

La Glorieta has seen a lot of history. Albuquerque’s only surviving example of a Spanish Colonial hacienda, it was later owned by one of people who helped transform the town from a sleepy village to a railroad town.
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In 1662, a soldier from Mexico City named Diego de Trujillo established a hacienda near what would later become Albuquerque’s Old Town. The house was damaged in 1680, when the Pueblo Revolt forced its occupants to flee the territory. The owners returned after 1692, during the period called the Reconquista, and rebuilt their home. The north and east wings of the twelve room, one-story adobe building that still stands might possibly date from this period. 

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In 1861, Franz Huning, a German immigrant who had opened a mercantile in Albuquerque’s Old Town, bought the property from the Franciscans. In addition to the eight-room hacienda, which Huning named La Glorieta, Spanish for arbor, the property included 700 acres of fields on which Huning grew crops. He added south and west wings to the house, creating a fully enclosed patio at its center. He also built a sawmill and a gristmill on the property.
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Huning’s mercantile business depended on goods that he brought in along the Santa Fe Trail from Missouri. He was in St. Louis on business when, in 1862, the retreating Confederate Army of New Mexico, under the command of Major General Henry Hopkins Sibley, occupied La Glorieta. The officers lived in the home while the enlisted men camped in the nearby fields. The Confederates fired their cannons from the grounds of the gristmill during the artillery duel that became known as the Battle of Albuquerque.

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https://www.albuqhistsoc.org/programs/ahs-2014-2015-programs/postwar-transformation-albuquerque-1945-1972/erna-fergusson/

Huning returned to Albuquerque in 1864 with a new wife, Ernestine Franke. They lived in La Glorieta for nineteen years, until 1883, when he built a new mansion, Castle Huning, down the street. In 1887 he deeded La Glorieta to his eldest daughter Clara as a wedding present when she married a local attorney named Harvey Butler Fergusson. They raised four children, including author Erna Fergusson, who has an Albuquerque Public Library named after her. 

In 1940, Ruth Hanna McCormick Simms, a former Illinois congresswoman, bought 

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La Glorieta to house Manzano Day School, a private elementary school that she had started two years earlier. She had moved to Albuquerque after marrying local businessman and former New Mexico congressman, Albert Gallatin Simms, and established the school to provide an education for her daughter and the children of other prominent families.
Today, La Glorieta houses the administrative offices of the school. It is closed to the public, but tours and visits can be arranged by appointment

Jennifer Bohnhoff is an author and educator who lives in the mountains east of Albuquerque. She is presently working on The Famished Country, the third book in Rebels Along the Rio Grande, a trilogy of middle grade historical novels set in New Mexico during the Civil War. Where Duty Calls, the first book in the series, was published by Artemesia Press, and was published in May 2022. The second book, The Worst Enemy, was published in 2023. Both were finalists for Western Writers of America's spur award, and the first has also won the NM Book Award and the EVVY.

Time to Play Ball Again

 

 

My husband at a game (because I take the pictures and am bad at selfies!)

March is here, and that means wind and freakish weather and the promise of baseball. Before we know it, spring training will be over and my husband will be glued to the tube watching his favorite teams. 

And I do mean teams, with an s. Instead of rooting for just one team, my husband roots for the entire National League Central Division. The son of a strong St. Louis fan, he will cheer for the Pirates or the Cubs (and the Twins, even though they're American League. Me? I pick a few good looking young kids with funny batting stances to cheer for each year. Often, I cheer for the catchers on whatever team's playing.

And if you asked me to name a player, you'd get a mix of current players from a lot of different teams and players from long ago. I can't remember who plays for the Dodgers now versus who played for them when they were still in Brooklyn. Really, I'm just there for the beer and the crowd.

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So it should come as no surprise that I love books that combine baseball and historical fiction. Last spring I wrote a whole list of baseball books for middle grade readers, many of which were set in the past. Recently I've found two new additions to add to my list. They'll delight the baseball fan, and they'll give a glimpse into the past at the same time. That's a win-win to me, especially since both books feature teams from the National League's Central Division! 

Both books were recently published by Kinkajou Press, an imprint of Artemesia Publishing, LLC that was created in 2007 to publish early reader, mid-grade, and young adult fiction. Artemesia also publishes titles for adults, including some really interesting baseball fiction, nonfiction and biography.

Click the titles below to find the books on Bookshop.org.

Walter Steps Up To The Plate

It's 1927, and all twelve-year-old Walter wants is to hang out with his friends and go to Wrigley Field to watch his beloved Cubs play. Unfortunately, his mother develops tuberculosis, and he must accompany her west, where the air is drier and thinner and she has a hope of recovery. Walter finds himself boarding with his aunt, uncle, and a spoiled cousin who's not happy to share his room. The cost of caring for his mother is steep, but Walter steps up to the plate and takes on a job delivering newspapers. He encounters Al Capone, who just might be the answer to his family's financial straits, but at the price of Walter's integrity. This is a sweet story that will immerse readers into Albuquerque when it was still a small and dusty town. They'll also learn a lot about the Great Depression. And while the times were different, young readers will understand and root for this scrappy young protagonist.

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The Batboy and the Unbreakable Record

It's 1938, and 12 year old Richie Goodwin' is facing an awful summer because his dad has broken his leg and Richie has to get a job to help support the family. But when he gets his dream job -- batboy for the Cincinnati Reds -- his life goes from miserable to fantastic. Richie's smart mouth and unwillingness to follow rules gets him in trouble, and he has to deal with bullies, but he learns his lessons and is able to stick around to see Johnny Vander Meer make history -- and set a record that might never be broken! If you don't know (I didn't!) both Johnny Vander Meer and his unbreakable record are real, not fiction. This is a great book for baseball loving boys, middle grade readers of historical fiction, and anyone who wants to see a boy make good in a difficult situation.

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I've got one copy of each book, and now that I've read and enjoyed them, I'd like to pass them on. If you'd like either book, leave a comment. Tell me which one and why, and I may choose you!

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Jennifer Bohnhoff is a former educator who enjoys eating hotdogs and crackerjack and sitting next to her husband in ballparks. She is the author of a number of middle grade and adult books, many of them historical fiction. Kinkajou Press published two of the middle grade novels in her Rebels on the Rio Grande Trilogy: Where Duty Calls and The Worst Enemy. The third novel, The Famished Country, will come out this fall. A novel set in New Mexico 11,000 years ago, In the Shadow of Sunrise, is scheduled for release by Kinkajou next spring.