Qualla: Fort Quitman https://qualla.com/fort-quitman en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:03 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/9/t/s/b/fort-quitman-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Fort Quitman https://qualla.com/fort-quitman Fort Quitman: Introduction https://qualla.com/fort-quitman/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. On the banks of the Rio Grande, hemmed in by mountain ranges on both sides, sits one of the most cursed military installations in American frontier history. Fort Quitman was established in 1858 to protect travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, but it would spend most of its existence falling apart, getting abandoned, and being briefly reoccupied by soldiers who universally despised it. Adobe crumbled from the walls onto sleeping soldiers. Gardens failed in the alkaline soil. And in the end, it was not Apaches or Confederates who destroyed the fort, but an angry mob of Texans who burned it during a dispute over salt.

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Image: Nzeemin | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/t/s/b/fort-quitman-wp/9tsb-fort-quitman-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Fort Quitman: A Station on the Long Road https://qualla.com/fort-quitman/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. Fort Quitman was established on September 28, 1858, by units of the 8th Infantry Regiment under Captain Arthur T. Lee. The initial garrison of 86 officers and men had one primary mission: protect the San Antonio-El Paso Road, a vital artery connecting the settled parts of Texas t...

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]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/t/s/b/fort-quitman-wp/9tsb-fort-quitman-a-station-on-the-long-road.mp3 0:06 2 full Fort Quitman: The Civil War Comes West https://qualla.com/fort-quitman/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. By 1860, the garrison had been reduced to a skeleton crew: one officer, Second Lieutenant Zenas Bliss, and just 20 men. When Texas seceded and joined the Confederacy, Bliss and his soldiers were ordered to march to San Antonio with other federal troops evacuating West Texas. They...

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]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/t/s/b/fort-quitman-wp/9tsb-fort-quitman-the-civil-war-comes-west.mp3 0:06 3 full Fort Quitman: Buffalo Soldiers in a Broken Fort https://qualla.com/fort-quitman/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Army returned to Fort Quitman in January 1868, this time sending Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry Regiment and 42nd Infantry under Major Albert Payson Morrow. What they found was a disaster. Much of the post was in such poor condition that it was never fully restored. Sold...

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]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/t/s/b/fort-quitman-wp/9tsb-fort-quitman-buffalo-soldiers-in-a-broken-fort.mp3 0:06 4 full Fort Quitman: Death by Fire and Railroad https://qualla.com/fort-quitman/ Photo credit Nzeemin, CC BY-SA 3.0. The last regular unit, Company B of the 25th Infantry Regiment, departed Fort Quitman in January 1877. Later that year, an angry mob from San Elizario arrived and burned the post to the ground. The occasion was the San Elizario Salt War, a violent dispute over access to salt depo...

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]]> Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/t/s/b/fort-quitman-wp/9tsb-fort-quitman-death-by-fire-and-railroad.mp3 0:06 5 full