Existing comment:
Founding Fort Union:
After the Mexican War, the Army built a series of forts to protect the new territory. Fort Union, on the main line of communication with the Missouri frontier, was the principal fort.
In July 1851, Col. E.V. Sumner, Commander of the Ninth Military District (New Mexico Territory), established Fort Union. A strategic site was selected in a grassy valley 100 miles northeast of Santa Fe, near the junction of the Cimarron Cut-off and the Mountain Route of the Santa Fe Trail. |