Fort Crittenden, originally Camp Crittenden, was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

post built in 1867 three miles from Sonoita,

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

along

Sonoita Creek Sonoita Creek is a tributary stream of the Santa Cruz River in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It originates near and takes its name from the abandoned Pima mission in the high valley near Sonoita. It flows steadily for the first of its westwar ...

. It was established to campaign against the

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

and to protect American

pioneer Pioneer commonly refers to a person who is among the first at something that is new to a community. A pioneer as a settler is among the first settling at a place that is new to the settler community. A historic example are American pioneers, perso ...

s in the area.

History

Fort Crittenden was established on August 10, 1867 at the head of Davidson Canyon, a half mile from the site of Fort Buchanan, which was built in 1856 and abandoned after the

Battle of Fort Buchanan The Battle of Fort Buchanan was an Apache attack on the United States Army post of Old Fort Buchanan in southern Arizona Territory, which occurred on February 17, 1865. Though a skirmish, it ended with a significant Apache victory when they f ...

in 1865. The fort was named for

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Thomas L. Crittenden, who was the commander of the 5th Division in the

Army of the Ohio The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union Army, Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863. History 1st Army of the Ohio General Orders No. 97 appointed ...

at Shiloh, the Left Wing of the Army of the Cumberland at

Stones River The Stones River (properly spelled Stone's River) is a major stream of the eastern portion of Tennessee's Nashville Basin region and a tributary of the Cumberland River. It is named after explorer and longhunter Uriah Stone, who navigated the r ...

, and the XXI Corps at Chickamauga during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. The fort was closed on June 1, 1873. Deteriorating adobe walls and dirt mounds mark the site which is on private property.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 31, 39, 27, N, 110, 42, 25, W, display=title Arizona Territory Buildings and structures in Santa Cruz County, Arizona Crittenden History of Santa Cruz County, Arizona 1867 establishments in Arizona Territory