Fort Wingate was a military installation near

Gallup, New Mexico Gallup is a city in McKinley County, New Mexico, United States, with a population of 21,899 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. A substantial percentage of its population is Native Americans in the United States, Native American, wi ...

, United States. There were two other locations in New Mexico called Fort Wingate: Seboyeta (1849–1862) and San Rafael (1862–1868). The most recent Fort Wingate (1868–1993) was established at the former site of Fort Lyon, on

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

territory, initially to control and "protect" the large

tribe to its north. The fort at San Rafael was the staging point for the Navajo deportation known as the

Long Walk of the Navajo The Long Walk of the Navajo, also called the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo (), was the deportation and ethnic cleansing of the Navajo people by the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government and the United States A ...

. From 1870 onward the garrison near Gallup was concerned with

Apaches 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 ...

to the south, and through 1890 hundreds of

Navajo Scouts The Navajo Scouts were part of the United States Army Indian Scouts between 1873 and 1895. Generally, the scouts were signed up at Fort Wingate for six month enlistments. In the period 1873 to 1885, there were usually ten to twenty-five scouts a ...

were enlisted at the fort. Fort Wingate supplied 100 tons of

Composition B Composition B (Comp B), also known as Hexotol and Hexolite (among others), is a high explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenade ...

high explosives to the

Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

for use in the first

Trinity test Trinity was the first detonation of a nuclear weapon, conducted by the United States Army at 5:29 a.m. MWT (11:29:21 GMT) on July 16, 1945, as part of the Manhattan Project. The test was of an implosion-design plutonium bomb, or "gadg ...

and became an ammunition depot "Fort Wingate Depot Activity" from World War II until it was closed by the

1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. Environmental cleanup of UXO,

perchlorate A perchlorate is a chemical compound containing the perchlorate ion, , the conjugate base of perchloric acid (ionic perchlorate). As counterions, there can be metal cations, quaternary ammonium cations or other ions, for example, nitronium cat ...

, and lead as well as land transfer continue to the present day. The Fort Wingate Historic District was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978. The associated community was first listed as the Fort Wingate

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in 2020, with a population of 328 during the 2020 census.

History

*Ojo del Oso (in Spanish meaning "Eye of the Bear" or "Bear Spring") was a Navajo place visited for good grazing and water.

19th century

*1849: A hay camp was set up near Seboyeta, New Mexico and was called Fort Wingate.Fort Wingate
@NewMexicoHistory.org It was named for Major Benjamin Wingate, 5th U.S. Infantry, who died on 1 June 1862 from wounds he received during the

Battle of Valverde 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 (crossing), ford of the Rio Grande in Union (American Civil War), Union-held New Mexico Territory, ...

. *1860: Fort Fauntleroy was established at Bear Springs (Ojo del Oso) as an outpost of Fort Defiance. Colonel Thomas T. Fauntleroy named the fort for himself. **1861: Fort Fauntleroy was renamed Fort Lyon for Brig. Gen.

Nathaniel Lyon Nathaniel Lyon (July 14, 1818 – August 10, 1861) was a United States Army officer who was the first Union Army, Union General officer, general to be killed in the American Civil War. He is noted for his actions in Missouri in 1861, at the beginn ...

, a Unionist, when Fauntleroy left New Mexico to join the Provisional Army of Virginia after the state seceded from the Union. Fort Lyon was closed on 10 September 1861 at the start of 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 ...

. *1862: Fort Wingate was moved near a large spring at San Rafael, New Mexico, also known as "Bikyaya" or "El Gallo" (the rooster). It was designed to house four companies of troops. **1864: Edward Canby ordered Colonel

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 ...

to bring four companies of the ''First New Mexico Volunteers'' to the fort to "control" the Navajo. ** 1864–1866: It was the staging point for the Navajo deportation known as the

. **1865: The New Mexico Military District had 3,089 troops, 135 of them at Fort Wingate. *1868: Fort Wingate was moved back to the former site of Fort Lyon at Ojo del Oso. **1868: Navajo people returning from Bosque Redondo were temporarily settled at the Oso Del Ojo Fort Wingate before spreading out into the newly established Navajo Reservation. **1873–1886: The fort's troops participated in

Apache Wars The Apache Wars were a series of armed conflicts between the United States Army and various Apache tribal confederations fought in the Southwestern United States, southwest between 1849 and 1886, though minor hostilities continued until as l ...

with troops and recruited

. **1878: Fort Wingate had 137 troops.

**1868–1895: Fort Wingate troops often settled disagreements between Navajo and "citizens" in New Mexico. **1891: Fort Wingate troops assisted Arizona units against angry

Hopi The Hopi are Native Americans who primarily live in northeastern Arizona. The majority are enrolled in the Hopi Tribe of Arizona and live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona; however, some Hopi people are enrolled in the Colorado ...

20th century

*1907: Two troops of the 5th Cavalry went from Fort Wingate to the

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

area after some armed Navajo. This was the last armed expedition the US Government made against the Navajo. One Navajo was killed and the rest escaped. *1911: A Ft. Wingate company of cavalry went to

Chaco Canyon Chaco Culture National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in the American Southwest hosting a large concentration of pre-Columbian indigenous ruins of pueblos. The park is located in northwestern New Mexico, betwee ...

and camped there several days to quell a possible uprising by Navajo. *1914: During the Mexican Civil War over 2,000 Mexican soldiers and their families took refuge at the fort. *1918: Fort Wingate focus turned from Navajo to

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. *1940: Fort Wingate became an ammunition depot from World War II until 1993. *1944: Fort Wingate supplied 100 tons of

high explosives to the

for use in the first

. *1950:

Bureau of Indian Affairs The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States List of United States federal agencies, federal agency within the U.S. Department of the Interior, Department of the Interior. It is responsible for im ...

was given part of the polluted land for an Indian boarding school. *1960–67: Redstone and

Pershing 1 The MGM-31A Pershing was the missile used in the Pershing 1 and Pershing 1a field artillery missile systems. It was a solid-fueled two-stage theater ballistic missile designed and built by Martin Marietta to replace the PGM-11 Redstone missile ...

missiles were tested among others at Wingate. *1971: DoD Placed Fort Wingate on reserve and re-designated as "Fort Wingate Depot Activity" or FWDA. *1988: the

Base Realignment and Closure Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) was a process by a Federal government of the United States, United States federal government commission to increase the efficiency of the United States Department of Defense by coordinating the realignment and ...

round 1 decided to close the Fort. *Environmental restoration activities at FWDA began in 1989. * January 1993: the Base Realignment and Closure Act (BRAC) closed the post.

21st century

*Though the fort's mission ended, the

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...

(MDA) continues to use 6,465 acres for launching target rockets to

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established in 1941 as the Alamogordo Bombing and Gunnery Range, where the Trinity t ...

(WSMR).FY2016 Fort Wingate Depot Activity Base Realignment & Closure Installation Action Plan
29 November 2016, 41 pp *In December 2005, the

New Mexico Environment Department The New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) is a state government agency responsible for "protecting and restoring the environment of the state of New Mexico to foster a healthy and prosperous New Mexico for present and future generations," ac ...

(NMED) issued the Army a

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the primary federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. , , ''et seq., ...

(RCRA) Permit. *As of 2016, FWDA spread across 21,131 acres, occupied 15,280 acres of land and a BRAC acreage of 14,666. *Environmental cleanup and land transfer to the surrounding community continues to the present, through at least 2022. 5,854 acres have already been transferred to the Department of Interior. Explosives,

s and nitrates are the primary contaminant in the northern groundwater plumes which have not migrated off-post, all other sites consist of relatively minor soil or building contamination without groundwater issues but with explosives, SVOCs, and metals like lead.

Geography

Fort Wingate is in western McKinley County, with the inhabited portion located by road east-southeast of Gallup, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

New Mexico State Road 400 State Road 400 (NM 400) is a state highway in the US state of New Mexico. NM 400's southern terminus is at the end of state maintenance where it continues as County Route 50 in McGaffey, and the northern terminus is at NM 118 a ...

runs through the community, leading north to

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

and south to McGaffey. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the Fort Wingate census-designated place has an area of , all land. The area drains north toward the South Fork of the Puerco River, part of the Little Colorado River watershed.

Education

There are two

Bureau of Indian Education The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Interior under the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs that directs and manages education functions. Formerly known as the Office of Indian Education Programs ...

(BIE)

boarding schools A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

in the area: Wingate Elementary School, and Wingate High School. the Wingate Elementary dormitory is a former military barracks that also houses students at Wingate High. In 1968 the girls' dormitory had 125 girls; the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

stated that the dormitory lacked decoration and personal effects and was reflective of a campaign to de-personalize Native American students. At the time the school strongly discouraged students from speaking

and wanted them to only speak English. Circa 1977 it opened a 125-student $90,000 building which used a solar heating system. The non-BIE school district is

Gallup-McKinley County Public Schools Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) is a school district based in Gallup, New Mexico which serves students from Gallup and surrounding areas of McKinley County. History Prior to 1980, the district had of land. That year parts left to form t ...

. It is zoned to Indian Hills Elementary School, Kennedy Middle School, and Hiroshi Miyamura High School. - KML files
Elementary boundaries
an
locationsMiddle boundaries
an
locations
an
High boundaries
an
locations

Notable people

* Lt. Charles B. Gatewood (1853–1896) led many patrols out of Wingate and later convinced

Geronimo Gerónimo (, ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands the Tchihen ...

to surrender *1881–85 General

Douglas MacArthur Douglas MacArthur (26 January 18805 April 1964) was an American general who served as a top commander during World War II and the Korean War, achieving the rank of General of the Army (United States), General of the Army. He served with dis ...

lived at the fort as an infant, with his father, a Captain in command of Company K, 13th US Infantry. *1889–90 General John J. (Black Jack) Pershing served as Lieutenant at the fort.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20160728222747/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/forngate.htm Includes chronology and launch log *http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/fort-wingate.htm Includes comprehensive history on Fort Wingate *http://www.ftwingate.org/ Website dedicated to the cleanup
The History of Fort Wingate, by Harold James, 18th NM Genealogical Field Conference
* {{Authority control Wingate Buildings and structures in McKinley County, New Mexico Former installations of the United States Army Historic American Engineering Record in New Mexico History of McKinley County, New Mexico Ruins on the National Register of Historic Places 1860 establishments in New Mexico Territory Military installations established in 1862 1993 disestablishments in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in McKinley County, New Mexico Wingate Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico Census-designated places in New Mexico Census-designated places in McKinley County, New Mexico