Not surprisingly, many New Mexicans objected to Baylor’s takeover of their region. The Union responded by sending Colonel E. R. S. Canby to establish a U.S. Department of New Mexico in the territory. Meanwhile, the Confederacy dispatched General H. H. Sibley to Fort Bliss, where he took command of the Army of New Mexico. Finally, the stalemate was broken when California - which was solidly pro-Union - sent a column of volunteer troops to chase the rebels from Arizona. A demoralized Sibley abandoned the region, and Arizona became a U.S. Territory in 1863.

Mort Künstler painted this poignant cavalry scene, a detail from Morgan’s Raiders, which typifies the cavalry troops in Arizona at the time of secession.