Fort Bliss (El Paso County, Texas and Doña Ana/Otero counties, New Mexico, Texas)

El Paso County, Texas and Doña Ana/Otero counties, New Mexico · Texas · Mexican-American War, Civil War, Cold War, War on Terror

Quick BriefFort Bliss was established as an army post across from El Paso del Norte when the War Department ordered its creation in November 1848, with troops arriving on 8 September 1849. The post was formally named Fort Bliss on 8 March 1854 in honor of Lt. Col. William Wallace Smith Bliss, (1815–1853), a Mexican War veteran and son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor. Along with other Southwestern outposts, it protected recently won territory from harassing Apaches and Comanches, provided local law and order, and escorted the forty-niners. The installation remains active today as a major Army training center.

Civil WarActive base today

History & Significance

Fort Bliss was a U.S. Army post established in 1848 to assert authority over lands acquired after the Mexican War. The post relocated multiple times in its first decades.

From its initial location, Fort Bliss remained as a base for troops guarding the area against Apache attacks, with most troops belonging to the 8th Infantry Regiment until 1861. When surrendered to Confederate authorities in March 1861, it was occupied by Confederate forces under John Robert Baylor; Brig. Gen. Henry Hopkins Sibley later used Fort Bliss as a base to invade New Mexico but was repulsed in mid-1862.

California Volunteers under Col. James H. Carleton reoccupied the fort for the Union, and under Carleton's protection Mexican president Benito Juárez survived in El Paso del Norte in 1865–66. An 1867 Rio Grande flood swept away the Magoffinsville post; troops moved to Camp Concordia in 1868, but the post closed in January 1877 just before the Salt War of San Elizario.

On New Year's Day 1878, Fort Bliss was reestablished as a permanent post, with Buffalo Soldiers of the Ninth Cavalry and Company C of the 15th Infantry sent to prevent conflict over salt beds and Rio Grande water. In January 1914, John J. Pershing arrived to command the 8th Brigade during the Mexican Revolution. As AEF commander (1917–1918), Pershing organized, trained, and supplied a force that grew from 27,000 to over 2,000,000—the National Army of World War I.