Message #118
From: AzTeC SW Archaeology SIG
To: "'Matthias Giessler'"
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 1998
Subject: Fort Cummings, New Mexico
[ AzTeC / SWA SASIG ] :
From: Maurice J Brill hermitag@juno.com
New Mexico Magazine gives a brief description of
a site which must have had a miserable history in
the government archives, Fort Cummings. The ruins
are not even shown on the New Mexico map. The
Mormon Battalion went through there in 1846. It
has a spring. Remains of Indian settlement go back
over 7,000 years. The fort was active between 1863
and 1887. The Butterfield Stage had a stop-over
there before the fort was built in 1863. The living
conditions of the soldiers (mostly Blacks) were
awful. Rutherford B. Hayes visited the place in
1880. They gave him no welcome. The fort is between
Deming and Hatch. Do you have any data or sources
of data on this site ?
The New Mexico Magazine stated that the fort
originally in 1863 was a Union camp against the
Confederates from Texas, but the Confederates
withdrew from New Mexico after the Battle of
Glorieta Pass. It then became an outpost to protect
the trail to California. Only some adobe walls
remain but archaeologists have found loads of glass
from whiskey bottles which indicated that the
soldiers drank away their tour of duty there. They
found a load of artifacts from the army on the
ground.
Try:
http://www.us.net/upa/june/indian.htm
http://www.greatwhite.com/~twtours/twtwest.html
http://www.teleport.com/~laposta/
http://www.teleport.com/~laposta/text/lapind02.txt
http://www.nara.gov/publications/microfilm/amerindians/amind8.txt
Headquarters Records of Fort Cummings, New Mexico,
1863-1873 and 1880-1884. M1081. 8 rolls. DP.
The Army established Fort Cummings, at Cook Springs,
New Mexico, to control the Apache and protect the
trail to California. Fort Cummings was garrisoned by
Regular and Volunteer troops until August 1873, when
it was abandoned because many of the Apache had been
restricted to the Ojo Caliente Reservation. Because
of increased Indian unrest, the Army reoccupied the
post from July 1880 until August 1884.
Roll Description Dates
1 Name and title index to 1863-73
letters sent 1880-84
Letters sent:
Vol. 1 (9) Oct. 20, 1863-Feb. 17, 1865
Vol. 2 (10) Feb. 20, 1865-June 18, 1867
Vol. 3 (11) June 24, 1867-Jan. 20, 1869
Vol. 4 (12) Jan. 23-Oct. 2, 1869
Vol. 5 (13) Oct. 3, 1869-Aug. 21, 1871
Vol. 6 (14) Sept. 3, 1871-July 23, 1872
Vol. 2 (4) July 28, 1872-Nov. 30, 1873
Vol. 7 (15) Oct. 25, 1880-June 24, 1881
Vol. 8 (16) June 26, 1881-Apr. 2, 1882
Vol. 9 (17) Apr. 3, 1882-Nov. 15, 1883
Vol. 10 (18) Nov. 22, 1883-Aug. 21, 1884
Endorsements sent:
2 Vol. 1 (21) Nov. 1, 1866-Jan. 11, 1870
Vol. 2 (2) Jan. 2-Nov. 9, 1870
Vol. 3 (3) Nov. 10, 1870-Jan. 1, 1872
Vol. 4 (22) Jan. 3, 1872-Oct. 6, 1873
Vol. 5 (23) Oct. 26, 1880-Jan. 4, 1881
Vol. 6 (24) Jan. 5-Apr. 7, 1881
3 Vol. 7 (25) Apr. 7-Oct. 30, 1881
Vol. 8 (29) Oct. 30, 1881-Feb. 22, 1882
Vol. 9 (26) Feb. 25-Dec. 22, 1882
Vol. 10 (27) Dec. 23, 1882-Feb. 27, 1884
Vol. 11 (28) Feb. 29-Aug. 17, 1884
Registers of letters received:
Vol. 1 (1) Nov. 1, l866-Oct. 1, 1869
Vol. 2 (4) Feb. 10-June 3, 1872
Apr. 4-July 16, 1873
Vol. 3 (5) Jan. 3, 1881-Mar. 3, 1882
Vol. 4 (6) Mar. 1, 1882-Feb. 7, 1884
Vol. 5 (8) Feb. 8-Aug. 18, 1884
Letters received:
4 1864-73
5 1880-81
6 1882
7 1883-84
Orders:
8 General and special Oct. 19, 1863-Feb. 23, 1865
orders,
Vol. 1 (33)
Vol. 2 (30) Feb. 23, 1865-Dec. 31, 1867
Vol. 3 (32) Jan. 1, 1868-Aug. 22, 1869
Vol. 1 (31) Aug. 23-Oct. 2, 1869
General orders,
Vol. 1 (31) Oct. 2, 1869-Aug. 4, 1873
Special orders,
Vol. 1 (34) Oct. 2, 1869-Dec. 27, 1871
Vol. 2 (35) Jan. 1, 1872-Nov. 30, 1873
General field orders,
Vol. 1 (37) Oct. 26, 1880-Jan. 17, 1881
Special field orders,
Vol. 1 (37) Oct. 26, 1880-Jan. 23, 1881
General field orders,
Vol. 1 (38) Feb. 5-Nov. 13, 1881
Special field orders,
Vol. 1 (38) Jan. 24-Mar. 19, 1881
Field orders
Vol. 1 (38) Mar. 21-Nov. 23, 1881
Vol. 1 (36) Nov. 30, 1881-Jan. 18, 1882
Orders Vol. 1 (36) Jan. 19, 1882-Aug. 21, 1884
Other Records:
"Records of Events" at Nov. 1, 1863-Nov. 9, 1864
Fort Cummings, Vol. 1 (33)
Reports of scouts Vol. 1 Nov. 2, 1880-Aug. 1, 1882
(48)
Register of charges and Sept. 1870-May 1873
specifications preferred in courts-martial
Vol. 1 (n.n.)
Lists of guards and Aug. 23, 1865-Mar. 1, 1866
prisoners ("Guard Report Book") Vol. l (51)
From: Harry Shafer
Regarding Fort Cummings, New Mexico, Check out:
Couchman, D. J., 1990, Cooke's Peak-Pasaron Por
Aqui: A Focus on United States History in
Southwestern New Mexico. BLM Cultural Resources
Series 7. Las Cruces.
From: Neal Ackerly
Dr. Ed Staski at New Mexico State University
(Las Cruces) conducted excavations at the fort
for a number of seasons and may have pulled
together a final report by now. He probably
knows more than most of us.
