New Mexico and the Central Great Plains in the Civil War

This chapter investigates campaigns of the American Civil War in New Mexico Territory and the Great Plains. It contends that the U.S. federal government fought a multifront war during the 1860s that spanned the Confederate South and the American states and territories of the Far West. The war in the Far West aimed to establish U.S. territorial sovereignty and political authority over the nation’s vast North American empire. Across the 1860s, federal officials sought to defend the West against Confederate invaders, compel Native Americans to submit to U.S. rule, force Spanish Mexican citizens to give up systems of Indian slavery and peonage, and rein in rogue White Americans living in federal territories. Federal officials, however, often lacked the political clout or military force to achieve these goals. The Civil War in the Far West reveals the unevenness and weakness of the American state in the mid-nineteenth century.

The Limits of Manifest Destiny

This chapter examines the politics of American expansion into the Southwest, focusing on how some racist politicians promoted manifest destiny while others opposed expansion. The chapter first takes a look at Mexico's land policy and its attempt to design its settlement policies in a way that copied the United States. It shows how Mexico struggled to assert national authority over its states and territories, promoting a federated structure that empowered the states to control their own land policies. Many of those territories, in turn, committed themselves to land policies that were at odds with those of the central government. The chapter proceeds by discussing U.S. efforts to acquire territory from Latin America, including Cuba and the Dominican Republic, before concluding with an analysis of the politics of the battle to incorporate New Mexico Territory as a state.

Introduction

The Confederate states of Arkansas, Texas, and Missouri, the parishes of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, the Indian Territory, and the New Mexico Territory constituted what Richmond editor Edward Alfred Pollard called “the distant and obscure theatre of the Trans-Mississippi.” But “distant and obscure” as it might have seemed to a citizen of Richmond in 1862, the trans-Mississippi was an area of tremendous potential significance. For one thing, at 600,000 square miles, the trans-Mississippi Confederacy comprised more than one-half of the entire Confederate landmass, and the area was as variable as it was vast. In addition, manpower reserves were substantial. In 1860, Arkansas had a white population of more than 324,000; Louisiana, 375,000; Texas, 420,000; and Missouri, in excess of 1,000,000. The black populations of these states were also significant, with Louisiana’s slave population nearly equaling that of its free citizens. Texas had a slave population of more than 180,000, and Arkansas and Missouri each had more than 100,000 enslaved black people. With the coming of emancipation and the enlistment of former slaves into the Union army, many of these men flocked to the colors and played significant roles in the campaigns of 1863 and 1864. Of Louisiana’s black men of military age, 24,052, or 31 percent, joined the army, and in Arkansas, that number was 5,526, or 24 percent. From Texas, however, a state that largely avoided Federal invasion and occupation and therefore held its slaves until the war was ended, only 47 black men enlisted, a mere .001 percent of its prewar slave population....

Charge ’em! Damn ’em, Charge, Charge, Charge!

Examines the Confederate effort to open a path to the Pacific Ocean and the gold fields of Colorado, the formation of a brigade of Texas cavalry to occupy New Mexico Territory for the Confederacy, the 1862 campaign on the Rio Grande from El Paso to Gloriette Pass, and the Confederate withdrawal to San Antonio.

A Cowboy in Love: 1909– 1912

Twenty-two-year-old Aldo Leopold arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory, in July 1909, burning with the “fervor of a sawdust evangelist.” The Forest Service had sent him to his first choice—District 3, encompassing the twenty-one forests of the South and Southwest. His duties were outlined in his manual: preserve a perpetual supply of timber for home industries, prevent destruction of forest cover (which regulates the flow of streams), and protect local industries from unfair competition in the use of forest and range. The district chief was Arthur Ringland, a stocky, energetic Yale graduate only a few years older than Leopold. Ringland sensed the new graduate’s enthusiasm and assigned him to the wildest lands in the district—the Apache National Forest in Arizona Territory. The land had originally belonged to the Apache Nation, but in 1886, the US Army forced most of the members onto a nearby reservation. This left but a few ranchers, farmers, and miners in the region. The forest headquarters rested in Springerville, Arizona, a two-day stagecoach ride from the last railroad stop. No automobiles carved tire treads over these plateaus and canyons. Travel was by foot, horse, or mule. Forest Assistant Leopold, the newest greenhorn among many, wasted no time in purchasing a feisty gray stallion called Jiminy Hicks, a saddle, a rope, and a few good roping lessons. Within the month, he also acquired pistols and a “rubber butt plate” for those long days in the saddle. The rubber plate came in handy since Aldo put in a good deal of time astride Jiminy Hicks. Throughout July and the beginning of August, Leopold inspected trees, marked them for cutting, planted seed plots, fixed fences, and met the other rangers. Working under Supervisor John D. Guthrie, Aldo contributed his two bits on policy decisions about grazing permits, water rights, and timber sales. Guthrie’s long hours and dedicated stance inspired the young ranger. The simplicity of life on the range, where one had to live out of a pack, made Leopold feel tough and free. On his own time, he hunted, mapped out the forest for himself, climbed mountains, and tested trout streams.