Texans out for revenge in New Mexico

On Aug. 14, 1842, the secretary of war and marine gave a mysterious Missourian everything he wanted: a colonel’s commission, the money and authority to raise a mercenary force and his sealed orders. Now it was all up to Charles A. Warfield to take Texas’ revenge on New Mexico. The unprovoked imprisonment the previous year of the 300-plus members of the Santa Fe Expedition had deeply wounded…