Confederates succeed in hauling cannon up slope

Apparently there was a battle at Valverde in New Mexico in 1862 when confederate soldiers from Texas attempted to take Fort Craig and Socorro, held by the Union. In a re-enactment these confederates have just hauled a light cannon up the slope from the old road below. I understand the confederates were defeated and that their campaign in New Mexico didn't amount to much.

The old preserved road is a part of El Camino Real de Terra Adentro, which from the 16th century onwards connected Zacatecas (north of Mexico City) with Santa Fe. We visited the heritage centre where we learned how this route was used over several centuries by thousands of migrants heading for the interior south west. The section here is southern New Mexico was in the middle of the Jornada del Muerto - an 80-mile section across the Chihuahuan Desert with no water and very little grazing for the animals. Now you can do the journey in just over an hour on the I-25; then it would have taken several days and many lives were lost.