His position? The only time Carlton ever came even remotely close to Sibley's position was a brief skirmish near Tuscon. Sibley left because of Canby's actions in New Mexico, not Carlton's in Texas, and was well out of Carlton's way when his forces made it back to El Paso that May. Carlton was still running around somewhere in Arizona or western New Mexico at that time and did not make it to El Paso until August - four months after Sibley returned there and almost two months after Sibley's rear guard pulled out to San Antonio! To suggest that Sibley was running from some sort of imminent attack by Carlton - so fast that he allegedly didn't have time to bother with the wounded - is accordingly outright absurd.
the commander of the confederate forces had two choices: (1) Transport the sick and wounded, as well as possible, or (2) Abandon them to be captured.
Garbage! Why would he see some imminent need to transport them in June? Sibley did not know if Carlton was even going to head for El Paso considering that Carlton was a state away at the time of the pullout and considering that their forces only met once in a single skirmish outside of Tuscon. They were safe in El Paso and probably could have easily held off any attack by Carlton had they decided to stay, but that would have been strategically stupid since the war was for the most parts over in New Mexico and West Texas was of no strategic value.
Ockham's razor is simply against you on this one, capitan. Far from being the product of a convoluted botched exit strategy, the simplest explanation - that being the health threat posed by desert travel in the middle of summer - is the most likely.
"On the 28th ultimo [June 28, 1862] I received a positive order from Colonel Howe not to leave Las Cruses [New Mexico Territory] until further orders. Subsequently, while accompanying the general commanding on his march to Fort Quitman, I learned that [confederate] Colonel Steele greatly feared he would be overtaken by the California troops, and in his hurried retreat burned a number of his wagons and destroyed a large amount of ammunition. I also learned that so much were his men disheartened and so thoroughly disorganized, that had they been attacked by even a small force they would have at once surrendered.... had it not beeen for the orders ... I should certainly have followed and as certainly overtaken them before they left the river at Fort Quitman."
"Ockham's razor is simply against you on this one, capitan."
Your are forgetting Sibley's first postulate: Git while the gittin's good. Lt. Col E. E. Eyre
First California Volunteer Cavalry
Lt. Col. Eyre was in command of the advanced parties of the California Column.
"As soon as the arrival of Colonel Eyre on the river was known the Texans made a hasty flight. Their army was completely demoralized, and Colonel Eyre's force magnified fourfold. What they could not carry with them they destroyed. One hundred and fifty sick and wounded were left in hospital at Franklin, Tex., and above."
"General Carleton moved the column down the river as far as Las Cruces, La Mesilla, and Franklin [El Paso]. Taking with him two companies of cavalry, he proceeded on down as far as Fort Quitman, Tex.; from there he dispatched a company of the First Cavalry as far as Fort Davis, distant from Fort Quitman - miles. The Texans had abandoned this post. One man, much reduced, was found dead, his body being pierced in many places with arrows. This man had evidently been left behind sick. The sick and wounded Texans left behind at Franklin were sent with an escort to San Antonio."
"General Canby, at this time in command of the Department of New Mexico, had been ordered East, and on the 16th of September, 1862, General Carleton arrived in Santa Fe, and on the 18th assumed command of the department. Before leaving the lower country he published the following general order:
GENERAL ORDERS, Numbers 15.
HEADQUARTERS DISTRICT OF ARIZONA,
Las Cruces, N. Mex., August 14, 1862.
I. Commanders of towns will at once establish sanitary regulations, and require them to be observed by the inhabitants by the troops, so far as the policing of the streets and the keeping of their dwellings, quarters, stores, corrals, &c., in a state of cleanliness may be necessary to their health and comfort. Frequent inspections will be made by commanding officers or by a medical officer under his direction, to see that in all respects these regulations are followed. II. It is expected that all of the inhabitants living along the Rio Grande southward from the Jornada del Muerto to Fort Bliss, in Texas, will, at the earliest practicable moment, repair their dwellings and clean up their streets. The people may now rest assured that the era of anarchy and misrule - when there was no protection to life or property, when the wealthy were plundered, when the poor were robbed and oppressed, when all were insulted and maltreated, and when there was no respect for age or sex - has passed away; that now, under the sacred banner of our country, all may claim and shall receive their just rights. Therefore let the burden of anxiety be lifted from their hearts, and once let them pursue their avocations with cheerfulness, and with the full confidence that the protection which now shelters them from injustice will always be stronger in proportion as they shall be powerless to protect themselves."