Major Isaac Lynde of the U.S. Seventh Infantry had been in command of Fort Fillmore in New Mexico when he surrendered the installation to Confederate troops on July 27, 1861. The elderly career soldier became one of the scapegoats for Union failure in the southwest during the early days of the war and, after a press campaign, was dismissed from the Army effective on this date. Long efforts to reverse this eventually succeded and he was reinstated to his rank in September 1866. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Frank Moore, ed., The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events, with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, Etc. (New York: G.P.Putnam, 1861), III: 89.
A.F.H. Armstrong, "The Case of Major Isaac Lynde," New Mexico Review, Vol. XXXVI January, 1961 No. 1, pp. 33-34