Union Captain James ‘Paddy’ Graydon

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The independent nature of Graydon’s command was apparent in the unit’s mustering-in ceremony. Graydon had prepared a blue silk battle flag, emblazoned with a cross. Each new applicant fell to his knees before the banner, swore by ‘Jesús Cristo y…Santa Maria’ to support the Union in general and Paddy Graydon in particular, and then kissed the banner. This ritual completed, the recruit was a member of Paddy Graydon’s Spy Company. The isolated hamlet of Lemitar seemed far away from combat, but Graydon and the other Union forces in New Mexico would soon have plenty of Confederate invaders in their back yard.

In the summer of 1861, a scouting party under Confederate Lieutenant Colonel John Robert Baylor entered New Mexico’s Mesilla Valley from Texas. After brushing aside Federal resistance at Mesilla on July 25, Baylor took Fort Fillmore and captured 11 Union companies, including a company of New Mexico Volunteers. The war was on.

Graydon’s scouts soon proved their worth, patrolling the roads along the Rio Grande and the so-called Jornado del Muerto (Journey of Death) — a long waterless stretch between the Rio and the San Andres mountains. In late December 1861, Graydon and his men rode to the outskirts of El Paso, Texas, and returned with a full report on Confederate forces at Fort Bliss and Mesilla.

Eight years of Indian-fighting and service under Ewell had made Graydon a tough, even ruthless, disciplinarian. Company rosters rarely indicated the loss of a single soldier, but there were deaths and desertions, as in any unit. Whenever Graydon’s first sergeant reported that a man had departed, Graydon made good the loss by riding up to the first male Nuevo Mexicano villager he saw that morning and saying in Spanish, ‘Juan Chacón [or the latest deserter's name], you useless deserter, get back on your horse. I ought to shoot you.’ The poor fellow would drop his hoe and say something like, ‘No, señor, yo soy Jesús Garcia, y no estoy soldado.’ Graydon paid no attention: ‘Sergeant, I’ll forgive Juan this time. Give him a uniform and his horse and see that he does not desert again.’ Graydon’s impromptu draft kept his company’s numbers at a constant level.

Captured deserters received equally abrupt treatment. Graydon assigned one detail to hunt down the deserter and another to dig a grave, while he presided over the court-martial and pronounced the death sentence. In late January, when the first three-month enlistment for Graydon’s troops expired, only 20 percent of his men reenlisted. The mustering-out officer made the following comments regarding the condition of the men and their equipment, making it clear that service with Captain Graydon was a no-frills affair:

Discipline: Good; Instruction: Good;
Military appearance: Good.
Arms: Bad;
Accoutrements: Bad;
Clothing: Bad.

But Graydon did more than exhaust his men and wear out his equipment. He also had a particular knack for harassing Rebel invaders.

Graydon’s greatest challenge came in the person of Confederate Brigadier General Henry Hopkins Sibley. Sibley planned to assemble a band of Texans, march up the Rio Grande and capture Santa Fe, then strike northeast 60 miles to the huge Federal supply base at Fort Union. After disabling the Federal forces in northern New Mexico, he planned to move west, capture Arizona and California, then annex northern Mexico and join this vast territory to the Confederacy — forming a nation extending from Texas north to the Potomac and from the Atlantic Ocean to California.

On February 19, 1862, when Sibley’s army of Texans appeared south of Fort Craig, Graydon greeted the enemy force with a bold act of defiance that foretold trouble for the invaders. With typical dramatic flair, the Irishman spurred his gray horse through the fort’s gates, rode within musket shot of the Confederates, and put on a little circus show of horsemanship before returning to his cheering comrades.

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Tags: 19th Century, American Civil War, Civil War Times, Historical Conflicts

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