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Fort Stanton
Fort Stanton was built in 1855 as military fort. It was
established to protect settlements along the Rio Bonito in the Apache Wars. Kit
Carson, John "Black Jack" Pershing, Billy the Kid, and Buffalo Soldiers of the
9th Cavalry all lived here. The Confederate forces occupied the outpost in the
beginning of the American Civil War after the post was abandoned with the
withdrawal of U.S. forces in the region. The fort was originally established in
part as the Mescalero Apache reservation. In 1873 the reservation was moved 30
miles southwest to its current location. In 1899, President William McKinley
transferred Fort Stanton property from the War Department to the Marine Hospital
Service, converting the military reservation to America's first federal
tuberculosis sanatorium.
During World War II, Fort Stanton was used as a detention center for German and
Japanese Americans arrested as "enemy aliens," and 411 German nationals taken
from the luxury liner Columbus in 1939. The "enemy aliens" were mostly immigrant
residents of the U.S. who had been taken into custody as suspected saboteurs
shortly after the U.S. entered the war, despite a lack of supporting evidence or
access to due process for most internees. The 31 German American internees,
labeled "troublemakers" by the Department of Justice, were kept separate from
the 17 Japanese Americans also deemed "troublesome" by authorities who were
transferred to Fort Stanton on March 10, 1945. These new arrivals were deported
to Japan later that year.
In 2008, New Mexico governor Bill Richardson announced plans to establish Fort
Stanton as a living history venue, Fort Stanton State Monument, and funds to
renovate headquarters, officers quarters, and stables. In 2009, the area around
Fort Stanton and Fort Stanton Cave was designated by the U.S. Congress as a
National Conservation Area with more than 25,000 acres in order to protect
a unique cave resource, Snowy River Passage in Fort Stanton Cave National
Natural Landmark. Snowy River was discovered in 2001 by members of the Fort
Stanton Cave Study Project. The new NCA, called Fort Stanton – Snowy River Cave,
is managed by the Bureau of Land Management, Roswell Field Office. The NCA has
over 90 miles of multi-use trails for horseback riding, mountain bike riding and
hiking. It is the venue of an annual endurance riding event that has grown to be
6 days long. The NCA is joined on its south and northeast boundaries by the
Smokey Bear Ranger District of the Lincoln National Forest. In 2012, members of
the Southwestern Region of the National Speleological Society completed a
restoration project on the second floor balcony of Building #9, located on the
Fort Stanton Quadrangle. Source: Wikipedia.
View looking southwest toward the northeast corner of the Parade, with the
Barracks on the left and the Quartermaster's Quarters on the right
Fort
Stanton, Rosenthal, James W., creator Date: 2005.
View looking across field toward south wall - Fort Stanton, Stable, State
Highway 220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James W.,
creator 2005.
Oblique view of south wall, looking west - Fort Stanton, Stable, State
Highway 220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James W.,
creator 2005
View looking northwest from entrance at east end - Fort Stanton, Stable,
State Highway 220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James
W., 2005
View looking west between sheds - Fort Stanton, Stable, State Highway 220,
Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM:
Rosenthal, James W., creator 2005
Oblique view of east facade, looking north - Fort Stanton, Quartermaster's
Quarters, State Highway 220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James W., creator 2005.
Rosenthal, James W., creator 2005.
Perspective view from the southeast -
Fort Stanton, Guard House, State Highway 220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James W., creator 2005.
Perspective view from the southeast - Fort Stanton, Gymnasium, State Highway
220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James W., creator
2005.
View looking north - Fort Stanton, Merchant Marine Cemetery, State
Highway 220, Fort Stanton, Lincoln County, NM
Rosenthal, James W.,
creator 2005.