History of Company A, 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers During the New Mexico Campaign -- 1861-62

Company (Co) A was raised in Caldwell and Guadalupe Counties and was the first company of troops to enlist in the 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers. Co A participated in the battle of Valverde (2/21/1862) and the skirmishes of Albuquerque (4/9/1862) and Peralta (4/15/1862). Co A was posted in Albuquerque while the remainder of the 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers marched to and fought the battle of Glorieta Pass (3/28/1862). Of the 106 Co A soldiers who enlisted "For the war" -- no more than 71 soldiers were fit for duty upon returning to San Antonio, TX.

All of the Sibley Brigade -- 4th, 5th, 7th Mounted Volunteers and elements of the 2nd Texas Mounted Rifles -- had to endure the hellish 700-mile return march from Franklin (now El Paso) to San Antonio during May-June 1862 when it was brutally hot. When news arrived in San Antonio that the Sibley Brigade was returning and that the soldiers were in poor condition with little or no supplies for the return march -- citizens of the counties where the soldiers enlisted immediately began to collect food, clothing & money to rescue the soldiers -- this included Caldwell County where part of Co A was raised. Below are four pages taken from the Plum Creek Almanac that describes supplies collected and citizens involved with rescuing Co A. At the time of the retreat the Confederate Territory of Arizona was in existence and included what is now the states of New Mexico and Arizona south of 34° north latitude. Please note that the first sentence of the first page includes "soldiers stranded in Arizona" -- this refers to the Confederate Territory of Arizona -- not the current state of Arizona -- in fact the 4th Texas Mounted Volunteers was located near present-day El Paso, TX just prior to departing for San Antonio. The below four pages provided via courtesy of Robert Heard of Florida.