New Mexico Territory during the Civil War will appeal to those interested in the Civil War in New Mexico with its primary source information from the inspection reports of Major Henry Davies Wallen and Captain Andrew Wallace Evans, who were appointed the inspector general and assistant inspector general for the territory of New Mexico for the Federal Army. They reported on the situation of the various Federal forts and garrisons in the territory and how they would stand up to hypothetical Confederate invasion, this in response to an actual invasion which occurred in the early days of the Civil War.

The Federals expected another Confederate invasion at any time and wanted to be prepared for the attack, since it could come from various directions inside Texas, which borders New Mexico on its eastern and southern borders. They even considered an attack from across the Mexican border to be a possibility, and the military commander of New Mexico wanted to be ready.

The introduction to this book will interest general readers of Civil War history; the rest of the book may not be as interesting to them, although it does provide firsthand reports on the situations of the Federal forts. The introduction relates the Confederate invasion of New Mexico by General Henry Hopkins Sibley, which turned out to be the only major incursion by the Confederacy of New Mexico. If General Sibley had fielded more troops, he may have been able to hold New Mexico for the Confederacy, but Federal forces in New Mexico received more help from volunteers via New Mexico and Colorado.

Some maps and black-and-white photos and drawings are included, as are endnotes, a bibliography of primary and secondary sources, and an index. The attractive dust jacket, designed by Kathleen Sparkes, features dark red and dark blue with gold and white lettering and stars as background to a black-and-white drawing of Fort Union, New Mexico from W. W. H. Davis - El Gringo, New York, 1857.

Jerry D. Thompson is Regents Professor of History at Texas A & M International University and is the author of twenty books and recipient of numerous awards. Some of his books are Civil War to the Bloody End: The Life and Times of Major General Samuel Peter Heintzelman (2006), Civil War in the Southwest (2001), Vaqueros in Blue and Gray (2000), A Wild and Vivid Land (1998) and more.