Fort Reynolds 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 near Avondale, Colorado, during the Indian Wars and 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 ...

. The site is about east of

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous municipality in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The ...

. Construction began in 1867 on the 23-square-mile military reservation, which was named for John F. Reynolds. He attended

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

and was killed at the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...

. Facilities included barracks, a mess hall, a hospital, a guardhouse, a store-house, a laundry, a corral, a supply depot, and parade grounds.

Fort Lyon Fort Lyon was composed of two 19th-century military fort complexes in southeastern Colorado. The initial fort, also called Fort Wise, operated from 1860 to 1867. After a flood in 1866, a new fort was built near Las Animas, Colorado, which ope ...

, which lies east of Fort Reynolds was closer to the skirmishes with Native Americans, so Fort Reynolds became a supply post, staffed with about 100 soldiers. In January 1868, soldiers were called from Fort Lyon and Fort Reynolds to manage citizen unrest in

Trinidad, Colorado Trinidad is the List of cities and towns in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the List of cities and towns in Colorado, most populous municipality in Las Animas County, Colorado, United Stat ...

, that began with a drunken brawl. That was the extent of the action seen by the Fort Reynolds post. It closed in 1872. In the 1930s, the site had remnants of camp life, including cooking utensils, weapons, buttons, and other items. A stone marker is located on US-50 at mile marker 333, about one mile east of Avondale.

References

External links

Fort Reynolds stone marker
an
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Reynolds, Fort, Colorado American Civil War army posts Forts in Colorado Military history of Colorado Government buildings completed in 1867 Colorado in the American Civil War Native American history of Colorado Former installations of the United States Army 1867 establishments in Colorado Territory