On This Day In New Mexico History - January 20

On this day in New Mexico History - On 20 January 1891, Lt. James Brett, commanding a small caretaker force at Fort Selden, filed the final post return, which reported: "All public property from this post having been disposed of, it was abandoned on this date." That ended Fort Selden's use by the US Army.

Fort Selden (at present day Radium Springs) was established in 1865 in an effort to protect settlers and travelers in the Mesilla Valley from desperados and Mescalero Apache Indians. Built near the banks of the Rio Grande, the adobe fort housed units of U.S. Army Infantry and Cavalry.The first troops to occupy the fort were companies of the 125th US Colored Infantry Regiment, a group of African-American enlisted soldiers from Kentucky who had been mustered into the Union Army near the close of the American Civil War. Several of the units assigned later, including the 9th US Cavalry and 10th US Cavalry, and stationed at the fort were also composed of black troopers, sometimes referred to as Buffalo Soldiers. As a testament to their bravery, nine Buffalo Soldiers received the Medal of Honor while serving in New Mexico Territory.

In 1884, Captain Arthur MacArthur, Jr., 13th Infantry, was assigned as post commander. With him was his wife and two young sons, Arthur MacArthur III, age 7, and Douglas MacArthur, age 4. In his memoirs, Douglas MacArthur wrote that it was at Fort Selden that he and his brother learned to ride and shoot, even before we learned to read and write. The MacArthurs spent two years at Fort Selden before Captain MacArthur was transferred to Fort Wingate.

By late 1886, the frontier had rapidly changed. Geronimo's surrender to Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona ended the nation's long Indian Wars. As a result, Army commander-in-chief, Lt. General William Tecumseh Sherman, ordered a consolidation of six military posts in southern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. He favored a giant, one-square-mile installation large enough to accommodate six troops of cavalry and six companies of infantry. Sherman further ordered that the permanent post be located near the junction of the Santa Fe Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad in southern New Mexico. For a time, Fort Selden was the leading candidate for the site of the new post, but because the railroads had brought spectacular growth to the El Paso, Texas area, Fort Bliss, was selected.

On This Day In New Mexico History - January 20