How Did Colonel Slough Influence The Battle Of Glorieta Pass

The Confederate invasion caught the Union forces off guard. The Union found themselves scrambling to defend New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Colonel Canby decided to reorganize his forces in the area and consolidate at Fort Craig, a main supply depot and fortified position in the area. Col. Canby successfully defends Fort Craig but in the First major battle after the confederate invasion, the Battle of Valverde, the Union loses the city of Albuquerque. Before the Union forces are defeated, the Governors of Colorado and Kansas receive word and assemble a volunteer force. The Unions outcome at the Battle of Glorieta Pass would ultimately be decided by the volunteers from Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico. In March of 1862, Colonel P Slough marches his volunteer force of roughly 900 men, most of which were miners, to Fort Union, New Mexico. Once there, Col. Slough joined with the 1,500 New Mexico Volunteers and marched on the Santa Fe Trail to establish a defensive position in Glorieta Pass.
Once Col. Slough left Fort Union, he moved his forces to the entrance of Glorieta Pass. Just to the east of that position he established Camp Lewis. Colonel Slough’s

Colonel Slough would continuously use tempo to keep pushing the Confederate forces back without delay. He refused to let the Confederate forces have the time necessary to regroup and reorganize. Colonel Slough would also change from offensive operations to defensive operations and fight the Confederates with a defense in depth. A defense in depth requires an extreme amount of tempo and Colonel Slough would continuously flank the Confederate forces as they would advance through the canyon. Using primary, alternate, supplementary, subsequent positons, the union force were able to attrite the Confederate forces as they gained ground. The loss of personnel always outweighed the gain in ground by the Confederate