Antonino Sandoval

Civil War veteran: Private (Trumpeter), Company- L, First New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry c1861- 1866; Colonel Christopher "Kit" Carson commanding Teodorita's father Antonino Sandoval died November 22nd, 1908. He was a private- trumpeter in the New Mexico Volunteer Cavalry. In 1862, confederate forces under Gen. Sibley launched an invasion of New Mexico from Texas. They scattered the few Union regular forces that remained in the territory. It took Colorado Volunteer militia to defeat the rebel forces and liberate both Santa Fe and Albuquerque. The coloradans were led by a former Methodist preacher by the name of John Chivington who would gain infamy in 1864 when he massacred a village of peaceful Cheyenne under Chief Black Kettle at Sand Creek, Colorado. Antonino Sandoval's regiment was organized and sent to garrison outposts within New Mexico against both rebels and marauding Indians and bandits. The rebel expedition limped back into Texas w/ much suffering and loss of life. Antonino is interred in Santa Fe's National Cemetery while his daughter, Teodorita is buried in the adjacent Rosario Cemetery, not too far from him. --Vivian and Harry Lujan Cortez