By Kristy McCaffrey
Fort Bowie—located in southeastern Arizona—would become one
of the most important military posts in the Arizona Territory. It not only
guarded Apache Pass and its important water supply, it was situated directly in
Chiricahua Apache country.
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| Fort Bowie |
Apache Pass is a shallow saddle that separates the
southeastern Arizona’s Chiricahua Mountains from the Dos Cabezas. When the
United States acquired the area from Mexico, they inherited a corridor that
became nationally prominent as the Southern Overland Mail Road, connecting the
eastern U.S. to California. Unfortunately, Apache Pass lay in the heart of
Apacheria. Because there was a fairly reliable water source at Apache Springs
(at the pass), this location was frequented by the Chiricahua Apache Indians.
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| Apache Pass |
The first Fort Bowie—named for Colonel George Washington
Bowie, commander of the regiment that established the fort—was built at Apache
Pass in 1862, consisting of a 4-foot high stone wall that was 412 feet long.
The wall surrounded tents and a stone guard house. During the next six years,
patrols attempted to subdue the Apache, who raided and killed travelers not
escorted by the military. Living conditions at the fort were undesirable:
isolation, bad food, sickness, crude quarters, and the constant threat of
Apaches led to low morale and frequent troop rotation.
In 1868, construction began on a second Fort Bowie and
encompassed barracks, houses, corrals, a trading post and a hospital. In 1876,
most of the Chiricahua Indians were taken to the San Carlos Reservation, but
Geronimo escaped, launching the start of a 10-year battle known as the Geronimo
War. During this time, Fort Bowie was the center of military operations against
the Chiricahua. Geronimo’s final surrender came in 1886. After that, Fort Bowie
settled into a more peaceful existence. It was finally closed in 1894.
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| Fort Bowie, 1893. |
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| Geronimo departing for Florida from Fort Bowie, 1895. |
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