The immediate consequence of the battle of Valvende was that the insurgents marched directly past Fort Craig, which for want of men and provisions they were powerless to invest or capture, direct on Albuquerque and Santa Fé, which fell into their power without resistance. Albuquerque was the depot of United States Government stores, most of which was removed on the advance of the insurgents, and the rest destroyed. The occupation of Santa Fé was followed by the proclamation of a provisional government, which however never entered into practical operation. Fort Craig still remained in the rebel rear, and Fort Union in the possession of the national troops, on the north-east, from which direction reinforcements might be expected. The policy of the insurgents was therefore either to capture Fort Union before relief could arrive, or maintain their position, isolating Fort Craig until that post should be compelled to surrender for want of supplies. Meantime, news of the critical condition of affairs having reached the Colorado territory and Kansas, troops were at once organized to go to the relief of the threatened positions. By forced marches, scarcely paralleled in history, a Colorado regiment 950 strong, under Colonel Hough, reached Fort Union on the 13th of March. Here he gathered around him all the troops available, or possible to obtain, and marched for Santa Fé, to give battle to the invaders. The latter moved their forces forward to meet him. The numbers on both sides were nearly equal—between 1,200 and 1,500. They met at a point called Apache Pass. [Illustration: UNION HEROES RENO. FRANKLIN. MCCLERNAND. DUPONT. WILKES.] The main fight took place at Apache Cañon, eighty miles from Fort Union, and twenty miles from Santa Fé. Three battalions, one under Major Chivington, one under Captain Lewis, and one under Captain Wynkoop, advanced to the cañon, on the 28th, when the pickets reported no enemy in sight. The command then advanced, when shots were fired at them by the Texans, who were in ambush and succeeded in killing four privates. The Union men, under Hough, rushed on them, killing 20 or 30 Texans, wounding many of them, and taking seven prisoners, four officers and three privates. Major Chivington’s command, which went ahead and surprised the Texan pickets, taking 67 prisoners, and 64 provision wagons, now arrived, and a plan of action was determined upon. It was to meet the enemy in front and flank them at the same time.