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The war with Mexico ended
when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in 1848.
Two years later, on September 9, 1850, the United States
Congress passed an Organic Act which created the Territory
of New Mexico and authorized the establishment of a new
civil government. When James S. Calhoun arrived in New Mexico
to serve as the first civil governor of this new territory,
it marked the beginning of a decade of extraordinary change
for this newly acquired territory.
As established by Congress,
New Mexico consisted of present-day New Mexico, Arizona,
parts of southern Colorado, southern Utah, and even a portion
of southeast Nevada. New Mexico retained these boundaries
until 1861, when the northeastern portion of the territory
was attached to Colorado. The most dramatic change to New
Mexico's boundaries came in 1863, when the territory was
divided nearly in half and the western portion made a separate
Arizona Territory.
During the 1850s, a series
of military posts, extending from Fort Union north of Las
Vegas to Fort Fillmore near Mesilla in southern New Mexico,
were established to control the Indian tribes which continued
to raid throughout the territory. Various peace treaties
were made during this decade which began the process of
placing New Mexico's nomadic tribes onto reservations. The
presence of the American army encouraged expansion of settlements
along the frontier, and areas along the upper Chama Valley,
southern Colorado's San Luis Valley, as well as other regions
in central and southern New Mexico were permanently settled.
Many soldiers, merchants, farmers, and other emigrants traveling
to the gold fields of California and Colorado also decided
to make this new territory their home.
New Mexico played a small
but significant role in the Civil War. Early in the war,
the Confederacy set its sights on the gold fields of California
and Colorado as well as the important commercial route of
the Santa Fe Trail. In July, 1861, Confederate forces from
Texas captured the southern New Mexico settlement of Mesilla,
and in early February, 1862, launched an attack on Fort
Craig, south of Socorro. Their plan was to capture critical
supplies at the fort, then move north to take Albuquerque,
Santa Fe, and most importantly, the military supply depot
at Fort Union.
On February 12,1862, Union
troops, reinforced by several battalions of New Mexico militia,
engaged the Texans at Valverde, north of Fort Craig. When
the smoke cleared from the battlefield, the Union forces
had withdrawn behind the protective walls of the fort, leaving
the Confederates the apparent victors. But the southern
troops were unable to mount a siege of the fort, and instead,
continued their march north, short of supplies, and with
a strong Union force threatening their rear.
As the Confederate forces
approached Santa Fe in early March, New Mexico Governor
Henry Connelly and the Union troops at Fort Marcy evacuated
the capital and relocated the executive offices to Las Vegas.
They also moved the military supplies and equipment from
Fort Marcy to safety at Fort Union. On March 10, a scouting
party of southern troops entered the evacuated capital,
and for more than two weeks, the Confederate flag flew over
the ancient Palace of the Governors.
The pivotal battle of the
Civil War in New Mexico began on March 26, 1862, when Union
troops from Fort Union, volunteers from Colorado, and New
Mexico militia, confronted the Confederate army at Apache
Canyon east of Santa Fe. For three days, they vied for control
of this strategic pass, until a Union raiding party penetrated
to the rear of the Confederate positions and destroyed their
supply train. Desperately short of supplies, the Texans
were forced to retreat, ending the southern threat to New
Mexico.
Soon thereafter, the federal
government turned its attention to rounding up and forcing
New Mexico's Indian tribes onto reservations. The most notable
of these actions was the forced relocation of the Navajo
to Bosque Redondo in 1863, where they remained until 1868.
By 1880, most of New Mexico's Indian tribes had been relegated
to reservations.
After the Civil I War,
New Mexico underwent a period of unprecedented growth. A
significant part of this growth began with the arrival of
the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad at Raton Pass
in December, 1878. In 1880, the railroad reached New Mexico's
major cities, and within a few years, the AT&SF, the
Denver and Rio Grande, and numerous other railway companies
had built lines to every corner of the territory to serve
the agricultural, livestock, mining, and timber industries
which sprang up throughout the territory.
During this period, New
Mexico experienced many problems associated with this growth
and economic development. As New Mexico grew, much of the
vast territory remained at the periphery of effective law
enforcement. During this "wild west" period of
our history, several areas of the territory experienced
a rampant lawlessness and regional conflicts which were
often complicated by political and commercial rivalries.
This period was exemplified by the Lincoln County War, which
witnessed the rise to infamy of outlaws such as William
"Billy the Kid" Bonney. Other famous names we
associate with this turbulent period of our history include
Pat Garrett, Elfego Baca, Geronimo and many others.
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