Socorro, February 27, 1862 - History repeated itself in Socorro on Sunday as shocked citizens watched the U.S. Army fight and eventually surrender to a superior force of Texas Mounted Volunteers. The small force protecting the central New Mexico town of Socorro was unable to withstand the onslaught from the attacking army of Confederate soldiers and was quickly defeated and chased from the town by the hardened rebel force.
There has been no word yet concerning the fate of the hundreds of innocent women, children, disabled and elderly citizens of Socorro since the rebel force roundly defeated the town's defenders and forced the U.S. army and most able-bodied men to leave town in order to avoid being shot, hanged or involuntarily drafted into the Confederate Army. The worst is naturally feared by those who survived the fierce battle. One of our sources for this story claimed he thought he heard a woman screaming as he snuck out of town under cover of darkness that night. When asked why he took no action to investigate the screams, he confessed he was disguised as a female at the time and naturally feared what the rebels might do to him if they caught him. Later he changed his story and claimed it may have been only a cat fight, a mountain lion or a coyote he heard that night.
The marauding Confederate military force of Texas Volunteers had already carved a bloody trail of death and destruction before attacking Socorro and routing U.S. forces stationed there. This unprovoked attack on the U.S army soldiers and the innocent citizens of Socorro was another chapter in the ongoing reign of terror which has been waged by the Texican Militia since they entered New Mexico territory a few weeks ago. Please join us in praying for the well being of the defenseless citizens of Socorro.
To view both color and moving images taken during the battle by our war correspondents and smuggled out of town at great risk to their lives, Click Here to Visit our Battle of Socorro Gallery (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/531).
One wounded battle survivor, Garret Jaramillo -- a longtime opposition politician in Socorro, charged the town's mayor and part time saw-bones Doc Baskirt and several members of the town counsel have been secretly plotting to turn Socorro over to the rebels for months as part of a bizzare-sounding scheme to attract tourists and federal investment to the town 140 years or so in the future.
The wild-eyed Jaramillo also claimed an unidentified Socorro banker and other local land speculators were plotting to sell the Texican commander, General Sibley (alias, Samuel Walton the 1st), land where the rebel general hopes his great-great-great-grandson may one day build a gigantic retail chain store containing tens of thousands of square feet of sales space after such businesses are invented a century or so from now. When we pointed out everyone in Socorro could live in a building that big and there might not be enough chain in the whole country to fill a store that size, Jaramillo only laughed. He also insisted the mayor had offered to rent the rebels rooms in the mayor's hotel at drastically reduced rates as part of a crazy-sounding plot to turn the isolated town of Socorro into a tourist mecca a century and a half from now. He went on to explain he's gathering evidence of the alleged conspiracies and plans to file a federal lawsuit in the future if he loses Socorro's upcoming mayoral election.
There were only a few survivors of the small U.S. military force assigned to defend Socorro. None were able to corroborate Jaramillo's wild-sounding claims and no one could recall whether he had consumed too much Tequilla the night before.
[Reporter's Note: This story is a tongue-in-cheek news report about the historical reenactment of the Battle of Socorro which took place in Socorro on Sunday, February 26, 2006. If you missed the show, you missed a very fun day. The 1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry (www.1stnmvi.com (http://www.1stnmvi.com/)) and the Company C, 4th Texas Volunteers (www.swcp.com/~pvtpappy (http://www.swcp.com/~pvtpappy/)) put on a great show! Other than General Sibley, all characters and details described in this story are fictional creations of the reporter's fertile imagination. Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental and should be read in the generally humorous spirit with which the article was written! :rolleyes: ]
http://66.221.218.52/i/bsnb.jpg
Rebels Take City - US Army Surrenders
Socorro, February 27, 1862 - History repeated itself in Socorro on Sunday as shocked citizens watched the U.S. Army fight and eventually surrender to a superior force of Texas Mounted Volunteers. The small force protecting the central New Mexico town of Socorro was unable to withstand the onslaught from the attacking army of Confederate soldiers and was quickly defeated and chased from the town by the hardened rebel force.
There has been no word yet concerning the fate of the hundreds of innocent women, children, disabled and elderly citizens of Socorro since the rebel force roundly defeated the town's defenders and forced the U.S. army and most able-bodied men to leave town in order to avoid being shot, hanged or involuntarily drafted into the Confederate Army. The worst is naturally feared by those who survived the fierce battle. One of our sources for this story claimed he thought he heard a woman screaming as he snuck out of town under cover of darkness that night. When asked why he took no action to investigate the screams, he confessed he was disguised as a female at the time and naturally feared what the rebels might do to him if they caught him. Later he changed his story and claimed it may have been only a cat fight, a mountain lion or a coyote he heard that night.
http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/battle003.jpg
The marauding Confederate military force of Texas Volunteers had already carved a bloody trail of death and destruction before attacking Socorro and routing U.S. forces stationed there. This unprovoked attack on the U.S army soldiers and the innocent citizens of Socorro was another chapter in the ongoing reign of terror which has been waged by the Texican Militia since they entered New Mexico territory a few weeks ago. Please join us in praying for the well being of the defenseless citizens of Socorro.
http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/battle001.jpg
To view both color and moving images taken during the battle by our war correspondents and smuggled out of town at great risk to their lives, Click Here to Visit our Battle of Socorro Gallery (http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/pp-514/showgallery.php/cat/531).
One wounded battle survivor, Garret Jaramillo -- a longtime opposition politician in Socorro, charged the town's mayor and part time saw-bones Doc Baskirt and several members of the town counsel have been secretly plotting to turn Socorro over to the rebels for months as part of a bizzare-sounding scheme to attract tourists and federal investment to the town 140 years or so in the future.
The wild-eyed Jaramillo also claimed an unidentified Socorro banker and other local land speculators were plotting to sell the Texican commander, General Sibley (alias, Samuel Walton the 1st), land where the rebel general hopes his great-great-great-grandson may one day build a gigantic retail chain store containing tens of thousands of square feet of sales space after such businesses are invented a century or so from now. When we pointed out everyone in Socorro could live in a building that big and there might not be enough chain in the whole country to fill a store that size, Jaramillo only laughed. He also insisted the mayor had offered to rent the rebels rooms in the mayor's hotel at drastically reduced rates as part of a crazy-sounding plot to turn the isolated town of Socorro into a tourist mecca a century and a half from now. He went on to explain he's gathering evidence of the alleged conspiracies and plans to file a federal lawsuit in the future if he loses Socorro's upcoming mayoral election.
There were only a few survivors of the small U.S. military force assigned to defend Socorro. None were able to corroborate Jaramillo's wild-sounding claims and no one could recall whether he had consumed too much Tequilla the night before.
[Reporter's Note: This story is a tongue-in-cheek news report about the historical reenactment of the Battle of Socorro which took place in Socorro on Sunday, February 26, 2006. If you missed the show, you missed a very fun day. The 1st New Mexico Volunteer Infantry (www.1stnmvi.com (http://www.1stnmvi.com/)) and the Company C, 4th Texas Volunteers (www.swcp.com/~pvtpappy (http://www.swcp.com/~pvtpappy/)) put on a great show! Other than General Sibley, all characters and details described in this story are fictional creations of the reporter's fertile imagination. Any resemblance to real persons living or dead is purely coincidental and should be read in the generally humorous spirit with which the article was written! :rolleyes: ]