On July 24, 1861, Lt. Col. John Robert Baylor led 300 men from Fort Bliss to Fort Fillmore in New Mexico Territory, placing them between the fort and the river that supplied its water, but canceling a planned attack after learning the garrison had been warned. After fording the Rio Grande, his force entered nearby Mesilla, a strongly pro-Confederate community. On July 25, Union Major Isaac Lynde approached Mesilla from the south with 380 infantry and mounted riflemen plus howitzers, demanded surrender, opened fire with artillery, and after a bungled charge withdrew to Fort Fillmore. Baylor remained in Mesilla and sent to El Paso for artillery and reinforcements. When Lynde learned this, he abandoned Fort Fillmore that night, but because Baylor blocked the shortest route north toward Fort Craig, Lynde retreated northeast toward San Augustin Pass in the Organ Mountains, aiming for Fort Stanton 150 miles away. At sunrise on July 27, Baylor discovered the withdrawal and gave chase with his troops and some Arizona civilians. As Baylor's fastest horsemen reached the stragglers, the road was strewn with discarded equipment and exhausted soldiers begging for water. Lynde and his mounted troops reached San Augustin Springs and tried to send water back to the lagging infantry, but Baylor crossed the mountains by another pass and early that afternoon rode unopposed into Lynde's temporary camp, where Lynde surrendered his 492-man force after a short discussion. The victory at Mesilla was one of the war's early and surprising Confederate successes. On August 1, Baylor proclaimed the Arizona Territory, Confederate States of America, and named himself governor. Mesilla remained the capital of Confederate Arizona until Texan military forces withdrew to Texas in July 1862, and Baylor's actions in the summer of 1861 added to his fame as a folk hero.