Fort Weld, also called Camp Weld, began as a military camp on 30 acres east of the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major American river, in the state of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, w ...

in what is now the La Alma-Lincoln Park neighborhood of

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It was named for

Lewis Ledyard Weld Lewis Ledyard Weld (May 13, 1833 – January 10, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and Union Army officer. Weld, the third son of Lewis Weld, was born in Hartford, Connecticut, May 13, 1833. He graduated from Yale College in 1854. Afte ...

, the first Territorial Secretary. The central square of the post was used to practice drills of the troops. Buildings—soldier's quarters, officers' headquarters, mess rooms, a hospital, and a guard house—surrounded the square. The main entrance to the camp was on the eastern side of the post. It was established in September 1861 and abandoned in 1865.

Civil War

Governor William Gilpin had it built in 1861 to protect the territory from attack by the

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

soldiers during the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

. After the

Battle of Fort Sumter The Battle of Fort Sumter (also the Attack on Fort Sumter or the Fall of Fort Sumter) (April 12–13, 1861) was the bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina, by the South Carolina militia. It ended with the surrender of the ...

, tensions from people of the north and south resulted in brawls in the bars and streets of Denver and there were rumors that a brigade from Texas was marching towards Colorado. Soldiers of the 1st Colorado Infantry Regiment trained at Camp Weld and was credited with preventing advance of Texan troops in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

John Chivington John Milton Chivington (January 27, 1821 – October 4, 1894) was a Methodist pastor and Mason who served as a colonel in the United States Volunteers during the New Mexico Campaign of the American Civil War. He led a rear action against a ...

was a commander of the post.

Native Americans

Arapaho The Arapaho ( ; , ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho bands formed t ...

and

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

leaders met at Camp Weld in September 1864. Called the Camp Weld Council, it was a peace talk with the tribes and representatives from the

Colorado Territory The Territory of Colorado was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 28, 1861, until August 1, 1876, when it was admitted to the Union as the 38th State of Colorado. The territory was organized ...

and the United States Army, Silas S. Soule, militia commander

, territorial governor John Evans and Major Edward W. Wynkoop. The council was intended to bring peace between the native tribes and the European settlers and the Arapaho and Cheyenne leaders thought that they complied with the peace terms. However, efforts by Evans and the

Sand Creek massacre The Sand Creek massacre (also known as the Chivington massacre, the battle of Sand Creek or the massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was a massacre of Cheyenne and Arapaho people by the U.S. Army in the American Indian Genocide that occurred on No ...

(November 29, 1864) led by Chivington was "a deep moral failure", according to a study by eight scholars from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

and other universities.

Former camp

There were two fires that destroyed the camp. One soldier staked a homestead claim on Officer's Row, the last standing section of the camp. He raised his family there and built fish ponds and planted orchards on the land. He operated a picnic ground and a market for years. A bronze and granite historical marker was erected at 8th and Vallejo in 1934, which says:

References

{{Forts in Colorado Weld 1861 establishments in Colorado Territory