<P> The Battle of Glorieta Pass , fought from March 26 -- 28 , 1862 , in the northern New Mexico Territory , was the decisive battle of the New Mexico Campaign during the American Civil War . Dubbed the `` Gettysburg of the West '' ( a term that `` serves the novelist better than the historian '' ) by some authors , it was intended as the decisive blow by Confederate forces to break the Union possession of the West along the base of the Rocky Mountains . It was fought at Glorieta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in what is now New Mexico , and was an important event in the history of the New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War . </P>
where did the battle of glorieta pass take place
at Glorieta Pass in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in what is now New Mexico