Fort Massachusetts (Costilla County, near Fort Garland, Colorado)
Costilla County, near Fort Garland · Colorado · Indian Wars
History & Significance
At the time of its construction and occupation, the San Luis Valley was technically part of New Mexico Territory, vastly unsettled. The fort was built to maintain control of the valley and protect white settlers and Ute Indians from one another, while serving as a headquarters for Indian Agents and demonstrating U.S. territorial claims as mandated by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Constructed mostly of wood in quadrangular shape and fortified by a wooden palisade wall, the fort housed two companies (Company F, 1st Dragoon, and Company H, 3rd United States Infantry) with a total of 93 men inside its walls. Though the fort itself was never attacked, it played an instrumental part in suppressing a band of Mohuache Ute and Jicarilla Apache Indians responsible for the Christmas Day 1854 attack on Fort Pueblo; scouts discovered the war party on March 18, 1855, led by Chief Tierra Blanca.
A military engagement occurred on April 28, 1855, where Colonel Fauntleroy's forces engaged a Ute camp near present-day Salida, killing forty Utes with only two American soldiers wounded. The fort would often become a swamp during warmer seasons and was snowed in during winters; though placed because military scouts reported it was Indian hunting ground along settler routes, by the time of construction, settlers had found easier trails into the valley.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Massachusetts_(Colorado)
- https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/costilla-county
- https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/fort-garland-0
- https://armyhistory.org/fort-garland-colorado/
- https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2571316/fort-massachusetts-post-cemetery
- http://wikimapia.org/22523863/Fort-Massachusetts