On the morning of March 26, 1862, Confederate and Union armies met in Glorieta Pass in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico. A series of skirmishes, jockeying for position, and a pitched battle on March 28 took a heavy toll on both sides and left the Rebels under Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley apparently victorious over Gen. John P. Slough's troops.

However, the tide turned when Union soldiers under Col. John Chivington located the Confederate supply train and destroyed it. Without supplies, replacement arms, and ammunition, the Rebel troops could not maintain themselves against the still-strong Federal forces in the area. The Confederate quest for expansion into the Southwest was abandoned.

The Battle of Glorieta: Union victory in the West offers the first full, detailed, and accurate history of this blind, groping struggle in the smoke-filled Glorieta valley. It incorporates for the first time under one cover all the known Union participant accounts, including several never before published. Based on his own research on the battlefield, Don E. Alberts also presents a thorough understanding of the deployment of troops and their actions.