The California Column
Advance of the California Column to Arizona and New Mexico.
In early 1862, Colonel James H. Carleton, commander of the District of Southern
California and the First California Volunteer
Infantry, was ordered by Brigadier-General George
Wright, commander of the Department of the Pacific, to organize, equip
and lead an expedition from
Southern California through Arizona, into New Mexico to reinforce the Department of New Mexico
and aid
in the expelling of the Confederate forces then in New Mexico.
The Confederate Army of the Southwest, under the command of Brigadier General Henry H. Sibley, was
then advancing up
the Rio Grande in its conquest of New Mexico. Sibley had been to Richmond, talked
to President Davis, and convinced him
to take New Mexico, then California, and then the South would
have control of the southern route, and eventually have the
Pacific Coast.
By mid 1861, all of the regular troops, with a few exceptions, had been withdrawn to the East and
the seat of the rebellion.
The troops remaining in the southwest and the Pacific Coast were
as follows:
9th U.S. Infantry in Department of the Pacific
3rd U.S. Artillery in Department of the Pacific
5th U.S. Infantry in Department of New Mexico
These regulars were to remain in their respective Departments until the end of the war except for
several batteries of the Third
Artillery which were ordered east in 1863. By then the Department of the
Pacific had more than adequate soldiers to defend
the Pacific Coast.
The California Volunteers units involved in the march from California to the Rio Grande and into western
Texas were as follows:
1st California Volunteer Infantry
5th California Volunteer Infantry
1st California Volunteer Cavalry
2nd California Volunteer Cavalry
3rd United States Artillery, Light Battery A