Battles Fought in New Mexico: From Pueblo Revolt to WWII

New Mexico's landscape has witnessed conflict across four centuries. Here's a chronological breakdown of wars with battles on its soil.

American Indian Wars (1600s–1880s)

• Pueblo Revolt (1680) — Coordinated uprising expelled Spanish for 12 years
• Navajo Wars — Decades of raids, treaties, and forced removal (Long Walk)
• Apache Wars — Geronimo, Victorio, and others resisted into the 1880s

Mexican–American War (1846–1848)

• Battle of Glorieta Pass (1862) — *Note: Actually a Civil War battle; see below*

American Civil War (1861–1865)

• Battle of Valverde (1862) — Confederate victory near Fort Craig
• Battle of Apache Canyon (1862) — Part of the Glorieta Pass campaign
• Battle of Albuquerque (1862) — Skirmish during Confederate retreat
• Battle of Galisteo (1862) — Minor engagement near Santa Fe

World War II — Correction Needed

The listed WWII battles (Bataan, Corregidor, Midway, Philippine Sea, Iwo Jima, Okinawa) did not occur in New Mexico. They took place in the Pacific Theater. However, New Mexico did host critical wartime facilities:

• Los Alamos — Manhattan Project atomic bomb development
• White Sands — Trinity test site (first nuclear detonation, 1945)
• Albuquerque & Kirtland Fields — Major training bases
• POW Camps — Held German and Italian prisoners

New Mexico's wartime role was scientific and logistical, not combatant.