April 13, 1862

April 13, 1862: In New Mexico, Gen. Henry H. Sibley, commanding the Confederates’ Army of New Mexico, evaluates his position. His army has been weakened by their retreat from Glorieta Pass, and their wagon train was destroyed at that battle. His troops arrive in Santa Fe, and fall back further to Albuquerque. Sibley is concerned that he will be squeezed between the Union force from Ft. Union, now under Col. Gabriel Paul, and the other up from Ft. Craig, under Col. Canby. Canby approaches close enough to lob shells into Albuquerque, and then pulls away, fearing that the rest of the Rebel troops will arrive on their retreat. Canby moves east into Tijera Canyon, where, after a forced march, the 1,100 Federals under Col. Paul join him. Now, with over 2,200 troops, Canby is a tangible threat to the Rebels, who are facing the real possibility of starvation. The Rebels begin the long retreat south to El Paso. The New Mexico Campaign is over.

---Peninsula Campaign: On the Virginia Peninsula, McClellan’s army has grown to over 101,000, and is poised seemingly to strike a blow at Yorktown. Gen. Joseph Johnston, in command of the Confederate troops, decides to abandon his new defenses at the Rappahannock, and puts his army on the road to the Peninsula to confront McClellan there.

---Kate Cumming, a nurse with the army hospital in the Army of Tennessee (recently the Army of the Mississippi) at Corinth, writes in her diary:

I have conversed with some of the wounded prisoners. One of them, quite a young man, named Nott, is very talkative. He says that he dislikes Lincoln and abolitionism as much as we do; declares that he is fighting to save the Union, and nothing more. All of them say the same thing. What a glorious Union it would be!