Although the New Mexico Territory was far distant from the main theaters of war, it was engulfed in the same violence and bloodshed as the rest of the nation. The Civil War in New Mexico was fought in the deserts and mountains of the huge territory, which was mostly wilderness, amid the continuing ancient wars against the wild Indian tribes waged by both sides. The armies were small, but the stakes were high: control of the Southwest. Retired lieutenant colonel and Civil War historian Dr. Walter Earl Pittman presents this concise history of New Mexico during the Civil War years from the Confederate invasion of 1861 to the Battles of Valverde and Glorieta to the end of the war.
Dr. Pittman is a retired college history professor and the author of five books—including
Richmond P. Hobson, Progressive Crusader and United States Special Operations in the Gulf War—and seventy-nine articles and papers. He is president of the Boots and Saddles Foundation, past president of Fort Stanton Inc. and on the board of directors of the Lincoln County Historical Society and the New Mexico Military History Society. He earned six college
degrees in history, chemistry-physics and geology and served in the U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force (active and reserve), retiring as a lieutenant colonel from U.S. Special Operations Command. He lives in Roswell, New Mexico, with his wife, Kathleen, in a historic restored adobe house.