Description
With the imminent threat of a Confederate army invading the Territory of New Mexico, a call for volunteers to help the Union defenders was answered by some 2,350 California volunteers who marched from Fort Yuma to the Rio Grande in early 1862. While Sibley’s Confederate Army of New Mexico had largely retreated back to Texas, the new troops were fully engaged in defending the territory from the threat of another Confederate invasion and confronting hostile native tribes. After the California volunteers were mustered out in 1864-1865, many remained in the territory and played an important role in the economic development and political life of the territory.
Ambassador William Itoh is a Senior Advisor with McLarty Associates, an international business consulting firm. He also serves as professor of the practice in the Department of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. He is a retired Foreign Service officer and served as executive secretary of the National Security Council at the White House and as Ambassador to Thailand. He holds BA and MA degrees from UNM, was a logistics officer in the US Air Force, and assistant professor of history at California State University Humboldt before entering the Foreign Service.