Fort Bascom, established in 1863 in
New Mexico Territory
The Territory of New Mexico was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. It was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, as a result of ''Santa Fe de Nuevo México ...
, is located on the
Canadian River in
Quay County, New Mexico, slightly west of the
Texas border, 10 miles north of
Tucumcari, New Mexico.
The fort was named in honor of Captain
George Nicholas Bascom, who was killed during the American Civil War on February 21, 1862, while defending
Fort Craig against Confederate forces in the
Battle of Val Verde
The Battle of Valverde, also known as the Battle of Valverde Ford, was fought from February 20 to 21, 1862, near the town of Val Verde at a ford of the Rio Grande in Union-held New Mexico Territory, in what is today the state of New Mexico. ...
, New Mexico.
It was one of a series of forts established by General
James Henry Carleton to control the
Comanches and
Kiowas
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and ...
who frequented the
Staked Plains of Texas and the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
. It also was to stop trade of stolen goods by the so-called
Comancheros.
Kit Carson engaged the Comanches and Kiowas in the
First Battle of Adobe Walls in the heart of the
Texas Panhandle.
The fort was abandoned in 1870.
External links
History lecture on Fort Bascom
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Bascom
History of San Miguel County, New Mexico
New Mexico Territory
1863 establishments in New Mexico Territory
1870 disestablishments in New Mexico Territory