Booknotes: Desert Empire

New Arrival:

• Desert Empire: The 1862 New Mexico Campaign by Patrick Kelly-Fischer and Phillip S. Greenwalt (Savas Beatie, 2026).

Though a small campaign in terms of the numbers involved on both sides, the 1861-62 attempt by Confederate forces to seize control of the vast Desert Southwest and contest U.S. control of Lower California to the west and the gold fields of Colorado to the north produced a fascinating sequence of events. Both campaign overviews and micro-tactical histories of key battles already exist, but the overall topic seems tailor-made for another effort as part of the Emerging Civil War series.

Patrick Kelly-Fischer and Phillip Greenwalt's Desert Empire: The 1862 New Mexico Campaign begins with the Confederate occupation of Mesilla and the surrender of the poorly-led Fort Fillmore garrison, a July 1861 Union military disaster that opened the road to a Confederate advance into New Mexico Territory. From the description: "For the next year, troops from Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, and California would fight for control of the Southwest, its gold, and a route to the Pacific. The campaign would comprise hard miles of marching, much of it through scorching desert and mountainous terrain, struggles within the Southern ranks, confrontations with local tribes, and important battles and skirmishes while the fate of the region (and some thought, the Confederacy) hung in the balance."

Desert Empire revisits the New Mexico Campaign by "exploring the men, battles, and politics that shaped the course of the war in the Southwest and the future of the region." Of course, presentation of the material features an abundance of photographs and maps, both of which are hallmarks of the series. Space availability limits the size of the appendix section to two topics, the first being a fairly detailed examination of the California Column's epic march and the second a brief look at Fort Union's role in the campaign.

Hopefully, this publication marks the beginning of more trans-Mississippi content becoming part of the ECW series!