Engagement At Valverde  "Exploding Mules"  February 21, 1862

Confederate Gen. Henry H. Sibley amassed a force of 2,600 Texans with whom he hoped to expand the territory of the Southern states. He planned to drive Union troops out of the New Mexico Territory and then capture Colorado before moving westward to California and the Pacific coast. Ultimately he hoped to annex the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, but first he had to capture Fort Craig, a Union fort on the west side of the Rio Grande River in south central New Mexico Territory. The Texans carried primarily shotguns, revolvers, and Bowie knives, but they were rugged frontiersmen. Sibley believed they were more than a match for the 3,800 untested Union militia and volunteers commanded by Col. Edward R.S. Canby at Fort Craig.

Sibley's force left Fort Bliss, TX, located near El Paso at the state's western tip, and invaded New Mexico the first week of February 1862. Moving northward alongside the Rio Grande, they approached to within a mile of Fort Craig on the 16th. Canby, "having no confidence in the militia and but little in the volunteers", resisted all temptation to come out of the fort and fight the Texans. Sibley realized the futility of assaulting the fort and decided his "only hope of success was to force the enemy to an open-field fight." To this end, on February 20, Sibley ordered one of his three regiments to move seven miles upriver and seize the ford at Valverde at dawn on the 21st. He believed Canby would be forced to vacate the fort to prevent the Rebel force from marching on into northern New Mexico.

Late on the night of the 20th, Canby's chief of scouts, James "Paddy" Graydon, and his men infiltrated the Rebel lines, lit the fuses on 24-pound artillery shells that had been loaded onto pack mules, and drove the animals toward the enemy camp. The mules, however, turned around and followed the scouts, who fled for cover. When the shells exploded, the only damage they caused was a stampede of Confederate mules and horses.

Fascinating Fact:  According to Sibley, opening operations of the campaign were conducted by his officers because "the state of my health confined me to my ambulance." He had a reputation for being a "walking whiskey keg", and one of his officers maintained that drunkenness was the cause of his "ill health".


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