Qualla: Fort Union National Monument

Fort Union National Monument: Introduction

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Celt1007, CC BY-SA 4.0. Santa Fe trader William Davis arrived in 1857 expecting a fortress and found instead what looked like a quiet frontier village -- neat log huts laid out on broad streets crossing at right angles, set in the pleasant valley of the Moro. That gap between expectation and reality captures something essential about Fort Union. Over four decades and three separate constructions, this post in Mora County, New Mexico, was never quite what it appeared. It was a supply depot that dwarfed its military garrison, a federal installation built on someone else's private land, and a Civil War fortification whose star-shaped earthworks defended against a Confederate invasion most people have forgotten ever threatened the Southwest.

Image: Celt1007 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Fort Union National Monument: Where the Trails Converged

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kit Carson, Public domain. In April 1851, Lt. Col. Edwin V. Sumner received orders to overhaul the defense of New Mexico Territory. His soldiers, garrisoned in civilian settlements, were distracted by alcohol and often unfit for duty. Sumner chose a site 7.7 miles north of present-day Watrous, where the Mo...

Image: Kit Carson | Public domain

Fort Union National Monument: Dragoons and a Star-Shaped Fort

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit NPS, Public domain. Throughout the 1850s, mounted riflemen -- dragoons -- rode out from Fort Union to campaign against the Jicarilla Apaches, Utes, Kiowas, and Comanches who disrupted traffic on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1854, Jicarilla Apaches nearly wiped out an entire company of dragoons before bein...

Image: NPS | Public domain

Fort Union National Monument: The Supply Depot That Eclipsed the Garrison

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Park Service, Public domain. Construction of the third and final fort began in 1863 under Brig. Gen. James H. Carleton. It took six years to complete and became the most extensive military installation in New Mexico Territory, encompassing not just a military post but a sprawling quartermaster depot with war...

Image: National Park Service | Public domain

Fort Union National Monument: Squatters in Uniform

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit National Park Service, Public domain. Fort Union fought battles in courtrooms as well as on open ground. When the Army built the first fort in 1851, soldiers were unaware they had planted their post on private property -- part of the Mora Land Grant. Colonel Sumner expanded the reservation to eight square miles the f...

Image: National Park Service | Public domain

Fort Union National Monument: What the Wind Preserves

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Eric T Gunther, CC BY 3.0. Today Fort Union National Monument, a unit of the National Park Service, preserves the adobe ruins of the second and third forts. A self-guided trail winds past the remains of Officer's Row, the hospital, and the star-shaped earthworks. Across the valley to the west stand the rui...

Image: Eric T Gunther | CC BY 3.0