Fort Bliss was surrendered with property and $20,000 to Texas Confederates on March 21, 1861. From the old fort, the South launched the New Mexico-Arizona campaign. Later, Confederates abandoned and destroyed most of the fort and its equipment, except for the hospital and medical supplies left for their sick and wounded. Federals occupied the fort on July 4, 1862, and later escorted the recovered patients by horseback and ambulance over 500 miles down the Rio Grande to Fort Clark. Federals held the trans-Pecos area longer than any other part of Texas.