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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 '' Nuevo México'' becomi ...
, is located on the
Canadian River The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Quay County, New Mexico, slightly west of the
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
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, New Mexico. It was one of a series of forts established by General James Henry Carleton to control the
Comanches The Comanche (), or Nʉmʉnʉʉ (, 'the people'), are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma ...
and
Kiowas Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, 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 Colora ...
who frequented the Staked Plains of Texas and the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
. It also was to stop trade of stolen goods by the so-called
Comanchero The Comancheros were a group of 18th- and 19th-century Merchant, traders based in northern and central New Mexico. They made their living by trading with the nomadic Great Plains Native Americans in the United States, Indian tribes in northeaste ...
s.
Kit Carson Christopher Houston Carson (December 24, 1809 – May 23, 1868) was an American frontiersman, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent and United States Army, U.S. Army officer. He became an American frontier legend in his own lifetime ...
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
{{coord, 35, 19, 04, N, 103, 42, 12, W, display=title Bascom History of San Miguel County, New Mexico New Mexico Territory 1863 establishments in New Mexico Territory 1870 disestablishments in New Mexico Territory