That Time Fort Bliss Fell Into The Hands Of Confederate Troops

Once upon a time the confederate flag flew over the state of Texas and Fort Bliss as well.

During the Civil War, Texas was one of the states ... along with Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, South Carolina ... that seceded from the union.

Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina also threatened to secede and all 11 made up what became the Confederate States of America.

At this time, the military was still under the control of the United States with Abraham Lincoln in office as Commander In Chief. That left Ft. Bliss under union control despite Texas leaving the union.

That wasn't going to work so in 1861, according to fortblisshousing.com, Texas confederates seized Fort Bliss for their own use.

From 1861 to 1862, Texas Confederates seized Fort Bliss after Texas withdrew from the Union. The fort was used to support the New Mexico Campaign, an effort to pull that territory out of the Union. The Confederates were forced to leave by a force of Californian Union troops in 1862, who used the fort as an occasional operating base.

The confederate soldiers stay at Fort Bliss was fairly short and they never did get all of New Mexico, (then still a territory, not a state), into the CSA.

Only the southern part of New Mexico, obtained in the Gadsden Purchase which comprised 29,670 square miles and stretched into Arizona, went confederate. The northern part of New Mexico remained loyal to the USA.

All 50 states would, of course, be reunited following the Civil War.