General Sibley’s Army of New Mexico was in desperate shape when he ordered their retreat back to Texas. Although they had pushed back the Union forces at the Battle of Glorieta Pass on March 26–28, 1862, a Union unit had discovered and destroyed their supply train. By the time his troops rallied in Albuquerque, only had enough food for 15 days and no more than 35 to 40 rounds of ammunition per man. Sibley recognized that they would have to travel quickly and unimpeded if he was to have any hope of making it down the valley and out of the territory.
Traveling unimpeded meant getting rid of anything that would slow the army down. With so many of their wagons burned and their mules and horses gone, the decision was made to leave behind eight brass two M1835 mountain howitzer cannons. So that they wouldn’t fall into Union hands and be used against them, the cannons were buried in a corral behind San Felipe Neri Church.
On the morning of April 12, the rebel army left Albuquerque.
More than a quarter of a decade later, in August of 1889, a Confederate returned.
Traveling unimpeded meant getting rid of anything that would slow the army down. With so many of their wagons burned and their mules and horses gone, the decision was made to leave behind eight brass two M1835 mountain howitzer cannons. So that they wouldn’t fall into Union hands and be used against them, the cannons were buried in a corral behind San Felipe Neri Church.
On the morning of April 12, the rebel army left Albuquerque.
More than a quarter of a decade later, in August of 1889, a Confederate returned.
Albuquerque's Old Town in 1885. The cannons would have been buried to the far left, just out of this picture.
Major Trevanian T. Teel The man who returned was Trevanian T. Teel, who had served under Sibley as an artillery officer, and had helped to bury the cannons. He now lived in El Paso, and the fate of the cannons rested heavily on him. Teel rounded up a group of locals and went to where he thought he remembered the corral to be. Instead of horses, he found a chile patch belonging to a man named Sofre Alexander. Over Alexander’s protests, the men dug up the field. they found all eight cannons.
What exactly happened to these guns is still a subject of speculation. The United States Government gave four guns to the State of Colorado, and the other four to New Mexico. The four Colorado guns are accounted for. All four were originally kept at the Colorado State Museum in Denver. In 1967, two of Colorado’s guns were being readied for a move to the newly restored Fort Garland army post when curators discovered that three of the four Colorado cannon were still loaded, 105 years after they had been buried. An army demolition team from Fort Carson was called in to remedy the situation.
What exactly happened to these guns is still a subject of speculation. The United States Government gave four guns to the State of Colorado, and the other four to New Mexico. The four Colorado guns are accounted for. All four were originally kept at the Colorado State Museum in Denver. In 1967, two of Colorado’s guns were being readied for a move to the newly restored Fort Garland army post when curators discovered that three of the four Colorado cannon were still loaded, 105 years after they had been buried. An army demolition team from Fort Carson was called in to remedy the situation.
Only two of the four guns given to New Mexico are accounted for. These two stood in the plaza at Albuquerque until the spring of 1983, when it was determined that letting them be handled by the public and subjecting them to the elements was not the best way of preserving them. Then-Mayor Harry Kinney had the cannons removed to the Museum of Albuquerque, where they were supposed to become part of the permanent display. (I have never seen them, and believe they are in storage in the basement.) The two howitzers that sit on the east side of the plaza in Albuquerque’s Old Town are replicas.
The remaining two howitzers are missing. They might be the two cannons that stood in the plaza in Santa Fe before World War II, but there is no record showing what kind of cannons those were. The October 15, 1942 issue of the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the Santa Fe City Council donated two cannons that were 700 lb "monsters" to the war effort. Mountain Howitzers weight only 220 lb each, so these might not be the cannons that had been buried in Albuquerque. In addition to the cannons, it is said that an estimated 300 to 500 weapons recovered from the battlefield at Glorieta Pass were also donated to a World War II scrap drive.
The destruction of that many historical firearms saddened me when I read about it. But not everyone thinks as I do. While I was searching the web for information on these guns, I found many blogs calling for the removal of the two howitzer replicas from Old Town. Bloggers suggested that having the cannons there glorified war, or, since they were Confederate pieces, implied an approval of slavery.
Maybe Teel should have let sleeping cannons lie.
The remaining two howitzers are missing. They might be the two cannons that stood in the plaza in Santa Fe before World War II, but there is no record showing what kind of cannons those were. The October 15, 1942 issue of the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that the Santa Fe City Council donated two cannons that were 700 lb "monsters" to the war effort. Mountain Howitzers weight only 220 lb each, so these might not be the cannons that had been buried in Albuquerque. In addition to the cannons, it is said that an estimated 300 to 500 weapons recovered from the battlefield at Glorieta Pass were also donated to a World War II scrap drive.
The destruction of that many historical firearms saddened me when I read about it. But not everyone thinks as I do. While I was searching the web for information on these guns, I found many blogs calling for the removal of the two howitzer replicas from Old Town. Bloggers suggested that having the cannons there glorified war, or, since they were Confederate pieces, implied an approval of slavery.
Maybe Teel should have let sleeping cannons lie.
Jennifer Bohnhoff is a retired history and language arts teacher. She is the author of historical and contemporary fiction for middle grade through adult readers. The Famished Country, book three of Rebels Along the Rio Grande, includes the story of the Battle of Albuquerque and the burying of the cannons.
