Museum Trail of Southern Colorado
  • Home
  • Museums
    • Conejos County Museum
    • Creede Historical Society Museum
    • Creede Underground Mining Museum
    • Crestone Historical Museum
    • Francisco Fort Museum
    • Friends of 169
    • Fort Garland Museum
    • Hazard House Museum
    • Hinsdale County Museum
    • Homelake Veterans' History Museum
    • Huerfano Heritage Center
    • Jack Dempsey Museum
    • Luther Bean Museum
    • Monte Vista Historical Society Museum >
      • Monte Vista Oral Histories
      • Monte Vista Historical Walking and Driving Tour
    • Museum of Friends
    • Old Spanish Trail - La Vereda de Norte Chapter
    • Rio Grande County Museum
    • Ryan Geology Museum
    • Saguache County Museum
    • Sangre de Cristo Heritage Center >
      • Dia de Los Muertos
      • Morada
      • Sacred Circle Tour
      • Mariachi San Luis
      • Francisco de Coronado
      • San Luis Flour Mill Grinding Stone
    • San Luis Valley Museum
    • Sanford Museum
    • Transportation of the West Museum
    • Orient Land Trust and Museum
  • Heritage
    • ColoradoStargazing
    • Six Journeys
    • Introducing the Valley
    • Natural Wonders
    • In the Steps of Pioneers
    • Ring of Gold
    • Life in a High Desert Valley
    • The Creative Spirit
    • Los Caminos Antiguos Scenic Byway
    • Ute Tribe
  • Research
    • Genealogy
    • Cemetery
  • Calendar
  • Things To Do
    • Itineraries >
      • Murals of Conejos County
      • 3 Scenic Byways: Short Walks-Long Views
      • 3 Scenic Byways: Best in Class
      • 3 Scenic Byways: Leaf Peeping in Southern Colorado
    • Photography/Photographers
    • Videos
  • News
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

The Story of Fort Garland:  1858 - 1883

Picture
African Americans of the Ninth Cavalry at the sally port (main entrance) into Fort Garland, 1874. These men became known as Buffalo Soldiers, a name bestowed upon them by Southern Plains Indians.
Western expansion fueled the need for frontier forts.  The primary purpose of these forts was to keep the peace between the settlers and the indigenous people. 

In 1852 the U.S. government saw the need for a military presence in the San Luis Valley and built Fort Massachusetts, the area’s first stronghold.  It soon became clear that the location of Fort Massachusetts was not strategically practical.  It was vulnerable to attack from higher ground and it was too far from the settlers it was intended to protect.   Brig. Gen. John Garland, then commander of the Ninth Military Dept., issued orders for a new post to be built 6 miles south between the Ute and Sangre de Cristo creeks. 

The buildings of the new fort were built of adobe mud bricks and the layout of the fort echoed that of other contemporary military posts in the West.  It consisted of a rectangle of single-story buildings featuring a sally port (main entrance) on the south side.  The rectangle encompassed a grassy parade ground lined with cottonwoods and a flagpole in the center.   As originally constructed, the fort could accommodate seven officers and two companies of one hundred men each. 

In 1861 the American Civil War was moving west, two companies of Colorado Volunteers were mustered into federal service at Fort Garland and marched to bolster forces against the Texan Confederates, who were attempting to capture the West.  With the defeat of the Texans near Santa Fe at Glorieta Pass in 1862, the West was saved for the Union.

After the Civil War, from 1866 to 1867, Christopher "Kit" Carson commanded the New Mexico Volunteers at Fort Garland.  Drawing on his knowledge of American Indian languages and culture, he worked with Chief Ouray and other Ute leaders in negotiating peace between Utes and others in the Valley that lasted more than a decade. 

The Ninth Cavalry of the famed Buffalo Soldiers was stationed here between 1876 and 1879 after having served in Texas.  In 1876, troops marched to the La Plata region to prevent conflict between the Utes and white prospectors.  The following year, they helped remove white settlers from Ute reservation lands.   

The peace in Colorado was shattered on Sept 29, 1879, when a band of Utes killed Indian Agent Nathan Meeker and 11 others at the White River Agency in northwest Colorado.  The incident raised the specter of all-out war and in anticipation the garrison at Fort Garland expanded to 15 companies, most of which had to live in tents during a brutal snowy winter.  Within a year, the Utes were militarily escorted out of their centuries-old central Rockies home and directed to sagebrush reservations in eastern Utah or smaller reservations in southern Colorado. 

Fort Garland was in use for 25 years, a long time for a frontier fort.  The coming of the railroad and the removal of American Indians marked the end Fort Garland in 1883.
Picture
Civil War Reenactors
    Enter your email address.
Submit
Jack Dempsey Museum
Home  |  Museums  |  Research  |  Calendar  |  Support
Exhibits  |  Videos  |  News  |  About Us  |  Contact Us

Copyright 2020, Museums of the San Luis Valley and Southern Colorado, All Rights Reserved