Fort Union National Monument ⓘ

The second Fort Union was fundamentally different from the first and third Fort Unions. The second Fort Union was built as a traditional defensive structure, designed to withstand a seige. The first and third Fort Unions were built as frontier forts, designed more like open campuses as places to house and feed soldiers. The army did not anticipate major assaults on its frontier forts. The second Fort Union was built very quickly by newly recruited soldiers working day and night to finish the massive earthen fort in less than a year. An impending Confederate invasion of New Mexico created the urgency for the second fort. The new fort was located about a mile east of the first Fort Union--away from the mesa sheltering the first fort but still near the water supply at Wolf Creek. The mesa top was a potentially devastating location for opposing artillery and would have enabled the Confederates to capture quickly the first fort. As the second fort was being completed in early 1862, the Confederates were already marching north up the Rio Grande Valley. Under the command of Brig. Gen. Henry H. Sibley, the Confederates were on their way to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Fort Union and eventually the Colorado gold fields. By early March 1862, the Confederates had taken Santa Fe, with only Fort Union standing between the invaders and the Colorado gold fields. Soldiers from Fort Union joined forces with Colorado Volunteers and headed south to challenge the Confederate army. The two armies confronted one another at Glorieta Pass, in between Santa Fe and Pecos, NM. The Battle of Glorieta Pass , fought from March 26-28, 1862, was the decisive battle in the New Mexico Campaign during the Civil War in the West. Union forces, under the command of Col. John P. Slough, 1st Colorado Volunteers, and under the direction of Maj. John M. Chivington, 1st Colorado Volunteers, successfully defeated the Confederate forces when the southerners' wagon trains were destroyed. With the loss of their supplies, the Confederates had little choice but to retreat back to Texas. Once it became clear that the Battle of Glorieta Pass had successfully eliminated the Confederate threat in the West, the army began laying plans for the third Fort Union .

By 1851 nearly 1,300 soldiers served in the New Mexico Territory. They were scattered throughout eleven small outposts, with the headquarters at Fort Marcy in Santa Fe. Unhappy with the performance of troops in New Mexico, Secretary of War C.M. Conrad, commanded Lt. Col. Edwin V. Sumner, 1st. Dragoons, to take control of the territory and "revise the whole system of defense." Conrad thought that "both economy and efficiency of the service would be promoted by removing the troops out of the towns...and stationing them more toward the frontier." Sumner's first action was to relocate the department headquarters and the main supply depot from Santa Fe, "that sink of vice and extravagance," to a location on the eastern frontier. The chosen site was strategically situated near the junction of the Mountain and Cimarron Branches of the Santa Fe Trail.

Usually, civilians employed by the Quartermaster Department built frontier posts, but Sumner discharged these men and assigned the work to his soldiers. The result was what one might expect from unskilled laborers. Assistant Surgeon Jonathon Letterman commented on the conditions in October 1856: "The entire garrison covers a space of about eighty or more acres, and the buildings being of necessity, widely separated, causes the post to present more the appearance of a village, whose houses have been built with little regard to order, than a military post. Unseasoned, unhewn, and unbarked pine logs, placed upright in some and horizontally in other houses, have been used in the erection of the buildings, and as a necessary consequence are rapidly decaying. In many of the logs of the house I occupy, an ordinary sized nail will not hold, to such an extent has the timber decayed, although several feet above the ground. One set of the so-called barracks have lately been torn down to prevent any untoward accidents that were liable at any moment to happen from the falling of the building; and yet this building was erected in 1852. The unbarked logs afford excellent hiding places for that annoying and disgusting insect the bed bug, so common in this country, which it is by no means backward in taking advantage of, to the evident discomfort of those who occupy the buildings-the men almost universally sleeping in the open air when the weather will permit. The building at present used as a hospital, having a dirt roof, has not a room which remained dry during the rain in the latter part of September last, and I was obliged to use tents and canvas to protect the property from damage." Despite the dismal living conditions, the soldiers managed to live there for ten years, and participated in several Indian campaigns. Civil War came in April 1861, and when news reached New Mexico things began to change...

The Third Fort Union (1862 - 1891) was built in the traditional "territorial" style, and was constructed using native resources such as clay, stone, and lumber. The walls were constructed of adobe brick that stood on stone foundations, and were coated with plaster fired in limekilns. They were adorned with red bricks brought to New Mexico along the Santa Fe Trail.

Other materials, such as tools, nails, window glass, fire bricks, and roofing tin were transported along the Santa Fe Trail from Fort Leavenworth. As beautiful as the fort appeared, it had been hastily constructed. Faulty roofing meant constant leaks onto the adobe structures, making repairs a frequent necessity.

The Post at Fort Union was made to accommodate four companies, both cavalry and infantry; and the Fort Union Quartermaster Depot was equipped to supply all other New Mexico forts. As the central supply hub for all New Mexico posts, the Fort Union depot was larger than the Post, and it employed more men, mostly civilians.

Fort Union stayed in operation until the arrival of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad in 1879 slowly put an end to the Santa Fe Trail. The railroad ended one era and opened another in the Southwest. Fort Union lingered on for another ten years, and as the buildings deteriorated the end was in sight. The post, along with the trail, had outlived its usefulness. On February 18, 1891, the Las Vegas Optic reported that "The last few days have told a terrible tale at Fort Union. Four days ago everything was in running order, now everything is upside down and inside out...The soldiers are busy packing government and private property."

After its abandonment in 1891 the once majestic buildings fell into ruins and faded into the pages of history. Fort Union National Monument was established in 1956, after a group called Fort Union Inc., and others, advocated for its protection and preservation. Today, the Fort Union ruins stand as a reminder of its unique history and the vital role it played in the development of the Southwest.