History Fort Wingate

1 history

1.1 19th century
1.2 20th century
1.3 21st century

history

ojo del oso, literally eye of bear , meaning bear springs) navajo place visited grazing , water.

19th century

1849 hay camp set near seboyeta, new mexico , called fort wingate. named major benjamin wingate, 5th u.s. infantry, died on 1 june 1862 wounds received during battle of valverde.
1860 fort fauntleroy established @ bear springs (ojo del oso) outpost of fort defiance. general thomas t. fauntleroy named fort himself.
1861 fort fauntleroy renamed fort lyon brig. gen. nathaniel lyon, unionist, when fauntleroy left new mexico join confederacy. fort lyon closed on 10 september 1861 @ start of civil war.
1862 fort wingate moved near large spring @ san rafael, new mexico, known bikyaya or el gallo (the rooster). designed house 4 companies of troops.

1864 edward canby ordered colonel kit carson bring 4 companies of first new mexico volunteers fort control navajo.
1864-1866 staging point navajo deportation known long walk of navajo.
1865 new mexico military district had 3,089 troops, 135 of them @ fort wingate.


1868 fort wingate moved former site of fort lyon @ ojo del oso.

1873 - 1886 fort´s troops participated in apache wars troops , recruited navajo scouts.
1878 fort wingate had 137 troops.
1868-1895 fort wingate troops settled disagreements between navajo , citizens in new mexico.
1891 fort wingate troops assisted arizona units against angry hopis.



20th century

1907 2 troops of 5th cavalry went fort wingate 4 corners area after armed navajo. last armed expedition government made against navajo. 1 navajo killed , rest escaped.
1911 ft. wingate company of cavalry went chaco canyon , camped there several days quell possible uprising navajo.
1914 during mexican civil war on 2,000 mexican soldiers , families took refuge @ fort.
1918 fort wingate focus turned navajo world war i.
1940 fort wingate became ammunition depot world war ii until 1993.
1944 fort wingate supplied 100 tons of composition b high explosives manhattan project use in first trinity test
1950 bureau of indian affairs given part of polluted land indian boarding school
1960–67redstone (rocket) , pershing 1 missiles tested among others @ wingate.
1971 dod placed fort wingate on reserve , re-designated fort wingate depot activity or fwda.
in 1988, base realignment , closure round 1 decided close fort.
environmental restoration activities @ fwda began in 1989.
in january 1993, base realignment , closure act (brac) closed post.

21st century

though fort´s mission ended, missile defense agency (mda) continues use 6,465-acres launching target rockets white sands missile range (wsmr).
in december 2005, new mexico environment department (nmed) issued army resource conservation , recovery act (rcra) permit
as of 2016, fwda spread across 21,131 acres, occupyied 15,280 acres of land , brac acreage of 14,666.
environmental cleanup , land transfer surrounding community continues present, through @ least 2022. 5,854 acres have been transferred department of interior.explosives, perchlorates , nitrates primary contaminant in northern groundwater plumes have not migrated off-post, other sites consist of relatively minor soil or building contamination without groundwater issues explosives, svocs, , metals lead.




^ fort wingate @newmexicohistory.org
^ fraizer, robert walter (1965). forts of west. norman: university of oklahoma press. isbn 0-8061-1250-6. 
^ james h. defouri, historical sketch of catholic church in new mexico (1887) p.81
^ fwda, n.d. retrieved 17 june 2017
^ fy2016 fort wingate depot activity base realignment & closure installation action plan 29 november 2016, 41 pp