In 1862, as the American Civil War entered its second year, Confederate president Jefferson Davis authorized General Henry S. Sibley to invade New Mexico and Colorado to expand Confederate territory in the Southwest and seize Colorado's mining country west of Denver, whose Rocky Mountain gold could support Confederate bonds and paper money. In Colorado, territorial governor William Gilpin used drafts on the U.S. Treasury to recruit the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, trained them outside Denver, and sent them south in early 1862 to join troops from New Mexico, with units passing through here on their late winter march along segments of the Taos and Santa Fe trails. Sibley's troops, drawn largely from Texas, moved north up the Rio Grande Valley and captured Santa Fe, but because they had few supplies and carried everything in their supply train, they were vulnerable. Advancing east from Santa Fe toward Glorieta Pass with the intention of attacking Fort Union, they encountered Colorado and New Mexico forces under the joint command of Colonel Edwin S. Canby. In late March 1862, the Battle of Glorieta Pass was fought; although the battle itself was inconclusive, Union cavalry destroyed the Confederate supply train, forcing Sibley to retreat to El Paso, Texas. Called the "Gettysburg of the West," the battle ended the Confederate threat, the Union soldiers became local heroes, and Gilpin was fired for issuing unauthorized drafts on the U.S. Treasury.