Fort Craig
Fort Craig | |
Nearest city | Socorro, New Mexico |
---|---|
Coordinates | 33°38′25″N 107°0′46″W / 33.64028°N 107.01278°W |
Area | 15 acres (6.1 ha) |
Built | 1854 |
Website | Fort Craig Historic Site |
NRHP reference No. | 70000414[1] |
NMSRCP No. | 46 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 15, 1970 |
Designated NMSRCP | March 21, 1969 |
Fort Craig was a
The Fort Craig site was approximately 1,050 feet east-west by 600 feet north-south (320 by 180 m) and covered 40 acres (16 hectares).
History
Before Fort Craig
The 1848
In 1849, an initial garrison was established at
Establishment
In 1853, the
Life at remote Fort Craig was uncomfortable and lonely at best and deadly at worst. The buildings were a constant source of misery to the soldiers, and records reveal litanies of complaints about leaky roofs, crumbling walls and chimneys, crowded conditions and filth from crumbling dirt roofs and muddy floors.
Civil War
By July 1861, Fort Craig had become the largest fort in the Southwest, with over 2,000 soldiers. That same year, several regiments of New Mexico Volunteers were established to handle the new threat posed by the Confederate Army of New Mexico.
In September 1861, a cavalry force of about 100 men set out from Fort Craig and skirmished with rebels at
In February 1862, all five regiments of New Mexico Volunteers were sent south from Fort Union to reinforce Fort Craig and to wait for the Confederate advance up the Rio Grande.
After capturing several military installations in the newly established
On Fort Craig's massive gravel
On February 21, 1862, the Union troops led by Colonel Edward Canby and the Confederate Army of New Mexico of Brigadier General Sibley first met at the Battle of Valverde, a crossing of the Rio Grande just north of the fort. Both sides took heavy casualties. At the end of the day, the Confederates held the field of battle, but the Union still held Fort Craig.
The Battle of Valverde is considered a Confederate victory. However, the New Mexico Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Miguel Pino, found the Confederates' lightly guarded supply wagons and burned them. Sibley was forced to march further north without the supplies he had hoped to take from Fort Craig. On February 23, 1862, the Confederate forces marched around the Union Army and headed for Albuquerque.
Indian Wars
Between 1863 and 1865, Fort Craig was headquarters for U.S. Army campaigns against the Gila and Mimbres Apaches.
Fort Craig was permanently abandoned in 1885.
Fort Craig was referenced on page 208 in Dee Brown’s book “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”.
Fort Craig Historic Site
The
A 1958
In 1894, Fort Craig was sold at auction to the only bidder, the Valverde Land and Irrigation Company. Fort Craig was listed on the
Around 2004, it emerged that 20 bodies had been looted from the cemetery at Fort Craig, evidently by a collector of military memorabilia. To prevent further looting, 67 more sets of remains were exhumed by Federal archaeologists for reinterment at Santa Fe National Cemetery. in 2007.[6]
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
- ^ a b U.S. Congressional serial set inventory control record 1. 1856. pp. 414–419.
- ISBN 978-0-8263-1689-9.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8263-2148-0
- ^ "National Register of Historic Places Gallery". NPS.gov. Retrieved 3 Sep 2018.
- ^ "Feds Quietly Dig Up 67 Civil War Graves". CBS News. 9 April 2008. Retrieved 3 Sep 2018.
External links
Media related to Fort Craig (New Mexico) at Wikimedia Commons