Fort Garland

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Fort Garland | nrhp_type = | designated_other1 = Colorado | designated_other1_date = | designated_other1_number = 5CT.46<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycolorado.org/archaeologists/costilla-county#garland |title=Costilla County: Fort Garland |work=National and State Register Listed Properties |publisher=History Colorado |access-date=July 6, 2013 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref> | designated_other1_num_position = bottom | image = Fort Garland Colorado.gif | caption = Fort Garland in 1874. | location = [[Fort Garland, Colorado]] | coordinates = {{coord|37.42397|-105.43224|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = Colorado#USA | area = | built = 1858 | architect = | architecture = | added = February 26, 1970 | refnum = 70000156<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref> }}

'''Fort Garland''' (1858–1883), [[Colorado]], United States, was designed to house two companies of soldiers to protect settlers in the [[San Luis Valley]], then in the [[Territory of New Mexico]] (1850-1912). It was named for General [[John Garland (general)|John Garland]] (1793-1861), then commander of the [[United States Army]]'s Military District of New Mexico.<ref name=SLVMA>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumtrail.org/StoryofFortGarland.asp |title=The Story of Fort Garland: 1858-1883 |publisher=San Luis Valley Museum Association |access-date=July 6, 2013 |archive-date=July 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718101920/http://www.museumtrail.org/StoryofFortGarland.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==History== Colonel [[Kit Carson]] and New Mexico Volunteers were stationed here after the [[American Civil War]] (1861-1865), in 1866 and he successfully negotiated a treaty with the local native [[Ute tribe|Utes]] in 1867.<ref name=SLVMA/>

The [[9th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|Ninth U.S. Cavalry]] ([[Buffalo Soldiers]]) was stationed here for three years between 1876 and 1879. In 1876, these troops were called to the La Plata region to prevent conflict between the Utes and white mining prospectors. The following year, they helped remove illegal white settlers from Ute reservation lands.<ref name=SLVMA/>

In 1879, United States military units from Fort Garland were called upon by [[Nathan Meeker]], the Indian Agent of the [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] at the White River Agency. Meeker and others were killed, and family members taken captive by unhappy Utes. The captives were released and the Utes were moved once again, which reduced the need for a military fort.

==Fort Garland Museum== The [[Colorado Historical Society]] restored the fort and opened the '''Fort Garland Museum''' in 1950.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}} Restored and reconstructed buildings include the adobe Commandant's Quarters, where [[Kit Carson]] and his wife once lived,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumtrail.org/CommandantQuarters.asp |title=Commandant's Quarters |work=Fort Garland Museum |publisher=San Luis Valley Museum Association |access-date=July 6, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130720071754/http://www.museumtrail.org/CommandantQuarters.asp |archive-date=July 20, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> the [[cavalry]] [[barracks]] with exhibits of Hispanic traditional arts and 19th century transportation artifacts, and officer's quarters. Permanent exhibits focus on Kit Carson and Buffalo Soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.museumtrail.org/fortgarlandmuseum.asp |title=Fort Garland Museum |publisher=San Luis Valley Museum Association |access-date=July 6, 2013 |archive-date=July 18, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130718101857/http://www.museumtrail.org/FortGarlandMuseum.asp |url-status=dead }}</ref> The museum is administered by [[History Colorado]] organization.

[[Pike's Stockade]], the reconstructed [[stockade]] site where Western explorer and Army officer [[Zebulon Pike]] raised the American flag in 1807, is located about 45 miles southwest of the fort.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.historycolorado.org/museums/history-fort-0 |title=History of the Fort |work=Museums: Fort Garland Museum |publisher=History Colorado |access-date=July 6, 2013 |archive-date=August 27, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130827211137/http://www.historycolorado.org/museums/history-fort-0 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also== *[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Costilla County, Colorado]]

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{commons category|Fort Garland (Colorado)}} *[https://www.historycolorado.org/fort-garland-museum-cultural-center Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center] History Colorado *[http://www.museumtrail.org/fortgarlandmuseum.asp Fort Garland Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303144104/http://www.museumtrail.org/fortgarlandmuseum.asp |date=2009-03-03 }} San Luis Valley Museum Association *[http://fortgarlandfriends.org/ Friends of Fort Garland Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503073425/http://fortgarlandfriends.org/ |date=2013-05-03 }} *[http://www.sangres.com/colorado/costilla/fortgarland.htm Fort Garland, Colorado] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929021956/http://www.sangres.com/colorado/costilla/fortgarland.htm |date=September 29, 2017 }} Sangres.com

[[Category:1858 establishments in New Mexico Territory]] [[Category:1883 disestablishments in the United States]] [[Category:Forts in Colorado|Garland]] [[Category:Former installations of the United States Army]] [[Category:Military and war museums in Colorado]] [[Category:Museums established in 1950]] [[Category:Museums in Costilla County, Colorado]] [[Category:History Colorado]] [[Category:Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado|Garland]] [[Category:1950 establishments in Colorado]] [[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Costilla County, Colorado]] [[Category:Military installations established in 1858]] [[Category:Military installations closed in 1883]]