Educational Media Reviews Online

When thinking of battles of the United States Civil War, battles such as Gettysburg and Manassas quickly come to mind. But what about battles in the states west of the Mississippi?

Texas left the Union on February 1, 1861, the seventh state to do so. Henry H. Sibley, a defector from the Union army, led an army of Texas volunteers into New Mexico with the grand design of securing California seaports. Many Texans believed that New Mexico belonged to Texas and joined Sibley for the glory of Texas rather than the Confederacy.

Many other westerners did not want to get involved in the "problems of the East." Many had moved west for just that reason. These settlers had been making great strides in "civilizing" the Colorado territory with new schools, libraries, etc. and did not want to abandon these efforts. On the other hand, a substantial number of volunteers in Colorado, mainly composed of miners loyal to the Union, advanced on Sibley's forces. The Civil War in the West arguably came to a climax at the battle of Valverde, New Mexico on February 21, 1862.

This is a superbly focused documentary offering a chronology of battles, elaborate reenactment of battles and marches, and excerpts from soldiers' letters and diaries. This film comes highly recommended to any library for an audience of high school students or higher.