Fort Garland

Fort Garland
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Colorado State Register of Historic Properties
Fort Garland in 1874.
37°25′26″N 105°25′56″W / 37.42397°N 105.43224°W / 37.42397; -105.43224
Built	1858
NRHP reference No.	70000156[1]
CSRHP No.	5CT.46[2]
Added to NRHP	February 26, 1970

Fort Garland (1858–1883), Colorado, United States, was designed to house two companies of soldiers to protect settlers in the San Luis Valley, then in the Territory of New Mexico. It was named for General John Garland, commander of the Military District of New Mexico.^[3]

History

Colonel Kit Carson and New Mexico Volunteers were stationed here in 1866 and he successfully negotiated a treaty with the Utes in 1867.^[3]

The Ninth Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) was stationed here between 1876 and 1879. In 1876, these troops were called 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.^[3]

In 1879, United States military units from Fort Garland were called upon by Nathan Meeker, the Indian Agent at the White River Agency. Meeker and others were killed, and family members taken captive by unhappy Utes. The captives were released and the Utes were moved once again, which reduced the need for a fort.

Fort Garland Museum

The Colorado Historical Society restored the fort and opened the Fort Garland Museum in 1950.^{[citation needed]} Restored and reconstructed buildings include the adobe Commandant's Quarters, where Kit Carson and his wife once lived,^[4] the cavalry barracks with exhibits of Hispanic traditional arts and 19th century transportation artifacts, and officer's quarters. Permanent exhibits focus on Kit Carson and Buffalo Soldiers.^[5] The museum is administered by History Colorado.

Pike's Stockade, the reconstructed stockade site where Zebulon Pike raised the American flag in 1807, is located about 45 miles southwest of the fort.^[6]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Costilla County, Colorado

References

External links

OverviewTrading posts and
civilian forts

Forts	Bent's New Fort Bent's Old Fort (Fort William) El Pueblo (Fort Pueblo) Fort Davy Crockett (Fort Misery) Fort Huerfano Fort Jackson Fort Le Duc Fort Lupton Fort Mary B (Fort Meribeh) Fort Namaqua Fort Saint Vrain (Fort George) Fort Uncompahgre Fort Vasquez Fort Wicked Francisco Fort Milk Fort (Fort Leche)
Major events	Fort Pueblo Massacre (1854) Colorado War (1863–1865) American Ranch massacre (1865)

U.S. and Spanish
military forts

Extinct or museums	Camp Collins Fort Crawford (Cantonment at Uncompahgre) Fort Garland Fort Lewis Fort Logan Fort Lyon (Fort Wise) Fort Massachusetts Fort Morgan Fort Reynolds Fort Sedgwick Spanish Fort (Fort Sangre de Cristo) Fort Weld (Camp Weld)
Active	Fort Carson (Camp Carson)
National cemeteries	Fort Logan National Cemetery Fort Lyon National Cemetery
Major events	Sand Creek massacre (1864) Battle of Julesburg (1865) Comanche campaign (1867–1875) Battle of Beecher Island (1868) Battle of Summit Springs (1869) Meeker Massacre (1879)

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