HOUSE MEMORIAL 110

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2018

INTRODUCED BY

Jim R. Trujillo

A MEMORIAL

RECOGNIZING THE HISTORICAL ACHIEVEMENTS OF LIEUTENANT COLONEL MANUEL ANTONIO CHAVES.

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Antonio Chaves distinguished himself in service to his state and his country, and he is known as a hero of the battle of Glorieta Pass; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves lived through a significant era in the state's history, being born in 1818 during the Spanish colonial period, and he lived in New Mexico during the period of Mexican rule and during the time New Mexico was a territory of the United States; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves served honorably in the Mexican military before New Mexico was incorporated into the United States; and

     WHEREAS, in 1860, Manuel Antonio Chaves became a lieutenant colonel in the second New Mexico mounted volunteers and fought for the union at the battle of Valverde Ford; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves fought bravely at the battle of Glorieta Pass on March 26-28, 1862; and

     WHEREAS, as the leader of the second New Mexico mounted volunteers, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves was chosen to guide his forces to a confederate supply train; and

     WHEREAS, this leadership enabled the union soldiers and the Colorado and New Mexico volunteers to destroy the confederate supply train, which forced the retreat of the confederate forces to Texas and the end of confederate plans to annex the New Mexico territory; and

     WHEREAS, this victory became a turning point of the Civil War and forever etched the battle of Glorieta Pass as the "Gettysburg of the West"; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves spent his life after the war as a rancher in the San Mateo mountains of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves and his beautiful wife, Vicenta Labadie Chaves, were renowned for their generosity and hospitality and their embrace of traditional southwestern values; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves and Vicenta were buried in the chapel next to their hacienda before having their resting place moved to a local cemetery; and

     WHEREAS, Lieutenant Colonel Chaves is affectionately known in New Mexico as "El Leoncito", or the "Little Lion" of the southwest; and

     WHEREAS, on March 24, 2018, during the one-hundred-fifty-sixth commemoration of the battle of Glorieta Pass, a plaque will be dedicated to the memory and honor of Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Antonio Chaves and a contingent of New Mexico volunteers who fought with others to spearhead a union flanking movement at the battle of Glorieta Pass, which ultimately caused the confederate forces to retreat to Texas and to give up their effort to annex the entire west and parts of northern Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, dedication festivities will be held at Pecos national historical park to commemorate this important event;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the historical achievements and the significance of the life of Lieutenant Colonel Manuel Antonio Chaves be recognized; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the friends of Pecos national historical park.

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