FORT UNION NATIONAL MONUMENT
Photos
Continued from previous page of photos. Click here for the previous page of Fort Union photos.
Shown above is a pathway leading from the Visitor Center/Museum through the center of the third Fort Union. Unlike its predecessors, the third Fort Union was carefully planned. Building materials included native stone, adobe bricks -- fashioned from soil dug from a field north of the fort site -- and bricks manufactured in the nearby town of Las Vegas. Adobe walls were coated with lime fired in nearby kilns. Logs were hauled from timber reserves in the Turkey Mountains, nails and window glass were freighted via the Santa Fe Trail. The new fort actually consisted of two installations -- a large military post, in the foreground, and an even larger Quartermaster Depot, in the background (immediately northwest of the military post). The walking tour takes about one hour of leisurely walking for the complete tour; about 30 minutes for the short tour.
The Military Prison, located at the southeast portion of the military post. Soldiers and civilians accused of serious crimes -- murder, desertion, selling guns to Indians -- were temporarily held in this grim territorial prison. After confinement in these dank, dimly lit cubicles, prisoners would be moved to a regular Federal penitentiary.
Marker in southwestern portion of military post.
Flagpole and Cannon in southwestern portion of military post.
Post Company Quarters: This was home for hundreds of soldiers garrisoned at Fort Union during Indian War years, located in the southwestern portion of the military post.
Officers' Row, located in the southwestern portion of the military post, housed the officers and their families.
The Office of the Commanding Officer, located in his 8-room quarters in Officers' Row, was the operational center of the Post. Everything was directed from here -- stable cleaning, a day-long patrol along the Santa Fe Trail, or a complicated month-long campaign involving hundreds of troops. Included was a wide hall, which was great for dancing.
The walls, shown in the center of the photo, are the ruins of the Sutler's Store, located west of the third Fort Union. Sutler's Stores were stores that provided personal items and trade goods to the soldiers. Needles and thread, frying pans, peppermint sticks, items rare on the frontier, could usually be purchased at this civilian-operated store. Nearby billiards hall, saloon and restaurant were enjoyed by soldiers and many civilians who worked in the Depot. Far off in the background, below the trees, are the remains of the Fort Union Arsenal.
The management of the Fort Union Depot, located immediately northwest of the military post, was the business of the Quartermaster Officers who lived in these buildings which was located in the southwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot. The Quartermaster's Quarters was the only residence larger than the Post Commander's Home.
This Sundial was located in the southwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot, across from the Depot Officers' Quarters.
Office of the Quartermaster: A mountain of paperwork involved in operating the huge Depot was handled in this building, located in the northwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot. Invoices and requisitions for door knobs, nails, kerosene lamps, shoes, blankets and uniform buttons, wheels, grease and mule harness were copied, classified and recopied for distribution to Army units throughout the New Mexican frontier.
Quartermaster Clerk's Office: This building, located in the northwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot, was an office for Depot Clerks and civilian workers.
This dome-topped cistern, located in the northwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot, held rainwater gathered from storehouse roofs for use in fighting fires.
The Commissary Storehouse, located in the northwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot, housed tons of canned and bottled goods, salted meats and fish, as well as onions and potatoes to feed the garrisons of New Mexico. The stone-lined cellar in the Commissary Storehouse was used for perishables such as lard, bacon and molasses. Six-mule teams and Army wagons were used mainly for short hauls and supplying troops in the field.
Quartermaster Storehouse Loading Yard, located in the northwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot.
Mechanics' Corral: Civilian craftsmen worked here, located in the northwest portion of the Quartermaster Depot, repairing wagons brought in from forts throughout New Mexico and keeping Fort Union's wagons in running order.
This hospital, located southeast of the third Fort Union, was one of the largest in the Southwest. Built for the military, it was also used by Santa Fe Trail travelers and other civilians in need of medical attention. Three gable-roofed structures -- linked by a corridor -- formed six wards with space for 36 beds. In isolated outposts, Army doctors had to be prepared for all manner of medical emergencies, from arrow wounds to childbirth.
Articles at the Museum which are available for touching and handling.
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For further information on Fort Union, call (505) 425-8025, write the Superintendent at Post Office Box 127, Watrous, New Mexico 87753, or send e-mail.
August 19, 2000: An evening at Fort Union. Evening tours of the fort will be conducted. Historic vignettes will lend a ghostly air to this yearly event.
Check out our other photos on Fort Craig National Historic Site, our Civil War photos, and the Apache Battleground, where Captain Stanton, for whom Fort Stanton was named after, was killed
Additional photos of other Civil War sites will be added as we visit them.
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