Describe the actions of General Sibley during the Civil War.

Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley envisioned that he would invade New Mexico with his army, defeat Union forces, capture the capital city of Santa Fe and then march westward to conquer California and add it to the territory of the Confederacy. Sibley's first step was to gather an army in El Paso, Texas and lead it north along the Rio Grande with the objective of capturing Fort Craig and the supplies in the fort and defeating the Federal army under Colonel Edward Canby. The southwest campaign came to a head in the Battle of Glorietta Pass which occurred just to the east / southeast of Santa Fe New Mexico. The Confederates wanted to both capture this strategic pass to the southwest and also raid the gold and silver mines further north in Colorado. Henry Sibley was defeated at Glorietta Pass by Union forces along with the Colorado Militia which came 400 miles south to meet them under the partial command of the controversial leader Major John Chivington. Had Sibley's effort succeeded he would have joined forces with Confederate Lt. John R. Baylor who had pretty much secured the southern portion of the New Mexico Territory and was operating out of Tucson