During the Civil War, no soldier in Gen. Edward Richard Sprigg Canby's Federal Army did more to help drive the Rebels out of New Mexico Territory than Capt. James "Paddy" Graydon, a pompous but incredibly daring 32-year-old Irishman and veteran of the First Dragoons. Best known to Civil War historians for his witty "mule raid" on the rebel camp the night before the Battle of Valverde, Graydon came to New Mexico as a bugler with the dragoons, fought against the Mescalero Apaches and established a hotel on Sonoita Creek in Arizona Territory. He also became a fierce defender of law and order in the Gadsden Strip and one of the best scouts and Indian fighters in the Southwest before his role as the "eyes and ears" of the Federal Army in New Mexico.
Thompson has drawn on a host of untapped sources to bring to life this flamboyant yet little-known figure who died in a gunbattle at Fort Stanton in 1862 and is buried in the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in Santa Fe.
"Thompson's brief biography (about half of it deals with the Civil War) is a fast-paced and entertaining look at the personal side of the war in the southwest." (Journal of the West)
Southwestern Studies No. 97
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ISBN 0-87404-192-9, paper, $12.50
6X9, 84 pg., photos, map, biblio.