Category: Santa Fe and New Mexico

Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Three

August 23, 2022

Part Three: The Monument Col. John Slough, who had led the Union forces at the Battle of Glorieta, resigned his commission shortly thereafter due to “an unfortunate difference between him and Gen. Canby concerning the conduct of the New Mexico campaign…”[1] However, he was subsequently commissioned Brigadier-General and assigned to serve as the military governor … More Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Three

Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Four

August 22, 2022

Part Four: The Three-Cornered War The original intent of the Soldiers’ Monument was to honor the soldiers and volunteers who died fighting the Confederacy in New Mexico. When the territorial legislature of 1867-68 added the infamous text that memorializes those “who have fallen in the various battles with the savage Indians of the Territory of … More Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Four

Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Five

August 21, 2022

Part Five: Controversies and Interventions The first controversy that engulfed the Soldiers’ Monument arose not from the reference to “savage Indians,” but rather from the word “rebels.” In 1909 a resolution was introduced in the New Mexico territorial legislature to replace the words “rebels” with the terms “confederates,” on the basis that “the time has … More Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Five

Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Six

August 20, 2022

Part Six: What next for the Obelisk? What then should be done with remains of Santa Fe’s half-destroyed obelisk, hidden behind a plywood box in the center of the plaza? Should it be restored, or should it be removed altogether, once and for all? Answering this question should not depend on what any individual, or … More Making Sense of Santa Fe’s Soldiers’ Monument: Part Six

The Lost Cause Finds a Home at the Glorieta Battlefield

July 9, 2022

There are few examples of right triumphing over wrong more unambiguous than the Union Army’s defeat of the Confederate Army of the West in the first year of the Civil War. The Confederate Army invaded the Territory of New Mexico in February of 1862 to extend slavery through the Rocky Mountains and to the Pacific … More The Lost Cause Finds a Home at the Glorieta Battlefield