28 March, 1862: Friday

Union - Military/Government
Brigadier General George W. Morgan is assigned to command the Seventh Division of the Federal Army of the Ohio with an important object in mind: he was to capture Cumberland Gap, the vital mountain pass at the junction of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia.

Union - Military
New Mexico TerritoryAt Pigeon's Ranch in La Glorieta Pass, not far from Santa Fe, New Mexico Territory, the Union command of Colonel John P. Sough met a portion of H.H. Sibley's Confederates under Colonel W. R. Scurry.

After brisk fighting, the Union troops, both Colorado volunteers and regulars slowly fell back, outnumbered and on the defensive. Meanwhile, about 400 men commanded by Major J. M. Chivington scrambled over the mountains and descended upon the stationary Confederate wagons and supplies at Johnson's Ranch in the rear of the fighting column.

After Colonel Scurry heard of this disaster he was forced to retreat to Santa Fe, and the Southern invasion was nearly at an end.

The Confederates had about 1100 men in the fight, with 36 killed, 60 wounded, and 25 missing; the Union had 1,342 men in all, with 31 killed, over 50 wounded, and 30 missing.

Confederate - Military
Tennessee
There is a Confederate expedition in Scott and Morgan Counties.

Virginia
The first of several days of skirmishes begins on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad in Virginia.

Bibliography
The Civil War Day By Day: An Almanac 1861-1865. E.B. Long with Barbara Long, De Capo, 1971