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

Description

Author: Taylor, John

Publisher: University of New Mexico Press

Pub Date: 2010  (Third printing)

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Fair.  Ex-library.  Binding tight.  No tears, bends or folds.  Inscribed by the author (Taylor perfected his author scrawl) to a previous owner (presumably the person who donated this copy to the library).  The library has covered the front and rear covers with clear adhesive mylar.  Library tag on lower spine.  Library “Discard” stamps on front and rear endpapers, and library check-out bar code on rear endpaper.  Library stamp on title page.  Library stamp on all three text blocks. The library really, really wanted you to know who the book belonged to, but nobody ever checked it out.  Appears unused (?!?), untouched by anyone but library staff.

Notes: While this battle does not get as much attention as the Battle of Glorieta Pass (which occurred 5 weeks after this) (see https://joethebookguy.com/shop/new-mexico/the-battle-of-glorieta-pass-a-gettysburg-in-the-west-march-26-28-1862/ ), this battle may have had a more lasting effect.  If the Union Colonel Edward Canby had not fought the Confederate General H.H. Sibley (Henry Hopkins) at Valverde, those nearly 2600 Texans of the Confederacy would have been better armed and better equipped to fight at Glorieta.  As it was, Valverde was both a Confederate victory and defeat–the Union forces were in fact defeated on the Valverde battlefield, but they cut the Confederate supply lines, decimated them logistically, maintained control of their own forts and supply lines, and remained at Sibley’s front and rear.  Valverde was the beginning of the end for the Confederate dreams in the West.