by Dr. Walter Earl Pittman
 
New Mexico was key to the whole Southwest.
 
Although the New Mexico Territory was far distant from the main theaters of war, it was engulfed in the same violence and bloodshed as the rest of the nation.  The Civil War in New Mexico was fought in the deserts and mountains of the huge territory, which was mostly wilderness, amid the continuing wars against the Indian tribes waged by both sides.  The armies were small, but the stkes were high: control of the Southwest.  Dr. Walter Earl Pittman presents this concise history of New Mexico during the Civil War years, from the Confederate invasion of 1861 to the Battles of Valverde and Glorieta, to the end of the war.