Skirmish near Fort Thorn, New Mexico Territory facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Skirmish near Fort Thorn, New Mexico Territory |
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| Part of the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Confederate States |
 United States |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Bethel Coopwood | Robert M. Morris | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 112 cavalry | 101 cavalry | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 2 killed 8 wounded |
3 wounded | ||||||
The Skirmish near Fort Thorn was a small fight during the American Civil War. It happened on the morning of September 26, 1861, in what was then New Mexico Territory. This event is also known as the Fight at E Company Grove. It was part of a series of small battles that took place near the border between Confederate Arizona and Union New Mexico.
This particular skirmish happened when Union soldiers tried to chase a group of Confederate cavalry. The Confederates, led by Captain Bethel Coopwood, were heading back to their base after winning a battle at Canada Alamosa.
What Happened Before the Fight
After his win at Alamosa, Captain Coopwood let most of the captured Union soldiers go. He only kept a few officers and wounded men as prisoners. Coopwood and his soldiers marched along a river road with the captured supplies. They stopped for the night at a place called E Company Grove.
Meanwhile, two Union riders had rushed from Canada Alamosa to Fort Craig the night before. They told Captain Robert M. Morris that Union soldiers were under attack. So, at 9 a.m., Captain Morris left Fort Craig with about 100 cavalry soldiers. Their mission was to help the Union volunteers at Canada Alamosa. They left in a hurry and only had the ammunition in their cartridge boxes.
Morris's group reached Canada Alamosa at 4:30 p.m. Some of their horses were too tired to go on. Morris left a sick lieutenant in charge of the camp. He then continued his march with 101 men, following Coopwood's trail. They marched until 3 a.m., rested, and then started again at daylight.
The Battle Begins
First Lieutenant Corydon E. Cooley, who was helping Captain Morris, rode ahead. He found the Texan (Confederate) camp at E Company Grove. Morris wanted to charge, but he saw that the Confederates were in a strong position. They were protected by a barricade of fallen trees.
To test the Confederate strength, Morris ordered Lieutenant Treacy to attack their right side. At the same time, Morris moved to attack the front and left.
Back at the Confederate camp, Captain Coopwood was eating breakfast. He was told that his lookouts were running back to camp. He saw Morris's men chasing them. In less than ten minutes, the Union troops had surrounded the Confederate camp. Coopwood thought there were about 190 Union soldiers.
Captain Morris later wrote about the start of the fight:
A single shot was fired. I immediately got off my horse and started fighting. The battle lasted one hour and forty-two minutes.
Captain Coopwood remembered the fight differently:
The shooting started at 7 o'clock and ended at 11 a.m.
He explained that the main part of the battle involved both sides forming their lines like the angle of a square. The Confederates were inside the Union lines.
The End of the Skirmish
Captain Morris wrote about his decision to pull back:
My ammunition was running low. I moved back about half a mile to try and trick them into leaving their defenses, but it didn't work. I then went around their right side and camped 2.5 miles away. I stayed there until 5 p.m., then moved up the creek and camped until dark. After that, I went back to Canada Alamosa with my wounded soldiers. I reached Canada Alamosa at 4 a.m. the next day.
Captain Coopwood said that his men stayed on the battlefield until 10 a.m. the next day. They were ready for another attack if the Union soldiers came back with more troops. Coopwood reported that his side lost 2 men killed and 8 wounded. He believed the Union soldiers carried away their dead and wounded to hide their losses. He thought the Union side lost 12 or 13 killed.
However, the official report from Colonel E. R. S. Canby, Morris's superior, gave different numbers. Canby reported that the Confederates lost 10 men and 22 horses killed, and 30 men and many horses wounded. He also wrongly said that Captain Coopwood was killed. For the Union side, Canby reported that only 3 men were wounded in Captain Morris's group. Both captains seemed to have overestimated the losses of the other side.
