onel Loring, who was
in perfect sympathy with his superior, and willing to carry out his
well-defined plans. In 1861 he ordered Colonel G. B. Crittenden on an
expedition against the Apaches. This officer at once tried to induce his
troops to attach themselves to the rebel army in Texas, but he was met
with an indignant refusal by Colonel Roberts and the regular soldiers
under him. The loyal colonel told Crittenden, in the most forcible
language, that he would resist any such attempt on his part, and
reported the action of Colonel Crittenden to the commander of the
department at Santa Fe. Of course, Colonel Loring paid no attention
to the complaint of disloyalty, and then Colonel Roberts conveyed the
tidings to the commanding officers of several military posts in the
Territory, whom he knew were true to the Union, and only one man out
of nearly two thousand regular soldiers renounced his flag. Some of the
officers stationed at New Mexico were of a different mind, and one of
them, Major Lynde, commanding Fort Filmore, surrendered to a detachment
of Texans, who paroled the enlisted men, as they firmly refused to join
the rebel forces.

Upon the desertion of Colonel Loring to the Southern Confederacy,
General Edward R. S. Canby was assigned to the command of the
department; next in rank was the loyal Roberts. At this perilous
juncture in New Mexico, there were but a thousand regulars all told,
but the Territory furnished two regiments of volunteers, commanded by
officers whose names had been famous on the border for years. Among
these was Colonel Ceran St. Vrain, who had been conspicuous in the
suppression of the Mexican insurrection of 1847, fifteen years before.
Kit Carson was lieutenant-colonel; J. F. Chaves, major; and the most
prominent of the line officers Captain Albert H. Pfeiffer, with a record
as an Indian fighter equal to that of Carson.

At the same time Colorado was girding on her armour for the impending
conflict. The governor of the prosperous Territory was William Gilpin,
an old army officer, who had spent a large part of his life on the
frontier, and had accompanied Colonel Doniphan, as major of his
regiment, across the plains, on the expedition to New Mexico in 1846.

Colonel Gilpin at once responded to the pleadings of New Mexico for
help, by organizing two companies at first, quickly following with a
full regiment. This Colorado regiment was composed of as fine material
as any portion of the United St