Fort Wingate

Fort Wingate
McKinley County, near Gallup, New Mexico
Fort Wingate in the 1870s
Site information
Controlled by	New Mexico
Condition	storage facility
Site history
Built	1862
Built by	United States
In use	1862 - 1993
Battles/wars	Apache Wars Navajo Wars
Garrison information
Past commanders	Kit Carson William Redwood Price
Garrison	Navajo Scouts Apache Scouts 4th Cavalry 8th Cavalry 9th Cavalry and 13th Infantry 15th Infantry
Occupants	United States Army

Fort Wingate is near Gallup, New Mexico. There were two locations in New Mexico that had this name. The first one was located near San Rafael.^[1] The new location called Ft. Wingate was established on the southern edge of the Navajo territory in 1868. The initial purpose of the fort was to control the large Navajo tribe to its north. It was involved with the Navajo's Long Walk. From 1870 onward the garrison was concerned with Apaches to the south and hundreds of Navajo Scouts were enlisted at the fort through 1890.

History

Apache Scouts visiting Fort Wingate during the 1880s.

• 1860 A temporary post, Fort Fauntleroy, was established at Bear Springs (Ojo del Oso), a place visited by Navajos. Later it was renamed Fort Lyon, when General Thomas T. Fauntleroy, for whom the fort was originally named, joined the Confederates.
• 1862 The post was renamed Fort Wingate after the abandonment of an army post of that name located sixty miles away in San Rafael, New Mexico, also known as "Bikyaya" or "El Gallo," and which was originally located at Seboyeta.^[2][3] It was named for Major Benjamin Wingate, 5th U.S. Infantry, who received wounds to his legs during the Battle of Valverde.
  • September General Edward Canby ordered a new fort to be placed at the headwaters of the Gallo River. It was designed to house four companies of troops.
• 1864 Colonel Kit Carson was ordered by Canby to bring four companies of the First New Mexico Volunteers to the fort to control the Navajo.
• 1865 there were 3,089 troops in the New Mexico Military District, 135 at Fort Wingate.
• It was the staging point for Navajos being sent on the Long Walk
• 1873 - 1886 Participated in Apache Wars with troops and recruited Navajo Scouts.
• 1878 there were 137 troops at Fort Wingate.
• Was asked to settle disagreements between Navajo and citizens in New Mexico 1868-1895.
• 1891 Assisted Arizona units with angry Hopis
• 1907 Two troops of the 5th Cavalry went from Fort Wingate to the Four Corners area after some armed Navajo. This was the last armed expedition the US Government ever made against the Navajo. One Navajo was killed and the rest escaped
• 1911 A company of cavalry went from Ft. Wingate to Chaco Canyon and camped there several days to quell a possible uprising by Navajo
• 1914 Over 2,000 Mexican soldiers and their families were given refuge at the fort from the Mexican Civil War
• 1918 Fort Wingate focus turned from Navajo to World War I .
• 1940 Used to store munitions from World War II onward.
• 1950 Bureau of Indian Affairs given part of the land for Indian boarding school
• Redstone and the Pershing 1 missiles were tested among other things at Wingate
• 1993 the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) closes the post. Environmental cleanup and land transfer to the surrounding community continues to the present day.

Famous military figures

Second Lieutenant Cornelius C. Smith, a Medal of Honor recipient, poses with his favorite horse, Blue, in front of his quarters in 1895.

Several famous military commanders cycled through Fort Wingate's history.

• Lt. Charles B. Gatewood (later convinced Gerinimo to surrender) led many patrols out of Wingate
• 1881-85 General Douglas MacArthur lived at the fort as an infant, with his father who was a Captain in command of Company K, 13th US Infantry.
• 1889-90 General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing served as Lieutenant at the fort.

The above extracted from (AMCIS-102 dated 1 July 1970 Ft Wingate)

References

1. San Rafael is at 35°06′45″N 107°52′58″W / 35.112466°N 107.882652°W.
2. Fort Wingate @NewMexicoHistory.org
3. James H. Defouri, Historical Sketch of the Catholic Church in New Mexico (1887) p.81

External links

• http://www.astronautix.com/sites/forngate.htm Includes chronology and launch log.
• http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-wingate.htm Includes comprehensive history on Fort Wingate.
• http://www.ftwingate.org/ Website dedicated to the cleanup

Coordinates: 35°28′04″N 108°32′26″W / 35.46778°N 108.54056°W