Dreams of Empire Shattered – The Baylor –Sibley Campaigns of 1861

Until recently the Baylor-Sibley operations have often been viewed as a minor sideshow to the main event by many American Civil war historians who have dismissed them as un-important. Our speaker Ian Mitchell hopes to challenge some of those pre conceptions in this presentation. Ian will tell the story of how Texan - Confederate initial successes in 1861 -1862 to fulfil a dream of a huge slave based empire in the South West and Mexico were shattered during a brutal campaign in the winter of 1862 and at a windy mountain pass called Apache Canyon. Ian’s lecture will hopefully provide particular insight into these events as early this year he was fortunate enough to travel over part of the route taken by Sibley and his men in New Mexico.

About the Speaker

Ian Mitchell began his career as a librarian before serving in both the Royal Navy and the British Army as an education officer. After leaving the army in 1997 Ian worked on training projects in the Defence and Aerospace Industry. An amateur historian and established battlefield guide, Ian’s first book the Battle of the Peaks and Longstop Hill: Tunisia April 1943 was shortlisted in 2019 by the Society of Army Historical Research for its Templer first book prize. He is now an established member of the Round Table having joined 8 years ago and contributed to Vedette and Crossfire. In common with our President he has been fascinated by the often neglected Trans Mississippi theatre of operations. Ian will be familiar to several RT members as he led our successful 2019 Field Trip to the Ardennes but also because he incurred our current President’s displeasure by briefly mislaying him and his wife after the group had visited Clervaux Castle.