and Milk River between Thornburgh’s men and a whole parcelof Utes under a chief named Jack. It’s said that Thornburgh had lessthan 150 men, mostly Cavalry, while the Utes numbered 300-400. Adetachment of colored troops from Garland in on the affair, we’re told.Thornburgh made a defense and held off the Utes for several days, butthe situation was pretty bad. By the 1st of October they got word toRawlings, Wyoming and a General Merritt set out with about 350 men. Onthe morning of the 5th, after a 170 mile forced march, Merritt’s menarrived at the burned-over circle of wagons which marked the defender’sposition. I know how Thornburgh’s men yelled when they saw that reliefcolumn that morning. I’ve set-up considerable howl myself on similaroccasions. In cases like that you don’t care if the men coming to rescueyou are Infantry or Cavalry, you’re that glad.
June 4, 1880. More troops coming into the fort every day. The fracas outat the White River Agency last year has caused considerable excitement,although the Indians around here have been fairly quiet. Chief Uray hasdone a lot to keep things peaceful in the valley. If he’d had his wayabout it, the Thornburgh affair wouldn’t have happened. The post and thetown are bustling—they even got a hotel here now. It may not be much forcomfort, but it’s something for these parts. If they don’t stop sendingin new units and new men, some of us may be sleeping in worse placesthan the hotel.
September 1, 1880. Bad news came this week. Chief Uray or Ouray, as somecall him, died on August 24. He’d been made big chief of the Utes andhad held them pretty well in tow; hard to say what will happen now. Moremen coming into Garland. Most of the new-comers are living in tents.
“Only a Memory....”]
June 1, 1881. Colonel (Brevet Brigadier General) R. S. Mackenzie, incommand of the troops stationed here at the fort, has set out for theUncompahgre valley to prepare to move the Utes into Utah. Old Ouray isdead and the thing he never wanted to see is going to happen—his peoplewill be moved to a reservation. Maybe it’s best for them.
October 1, 1881. The Utes had to be threatened by Mackenzie beforethey’d start the long hike into Utah, but when they found they had nochoice they went quietly and mighty pronto. The Whites thereabout were,of course, happy to see them leave. Everyone realizes that this puts anend to any Indian menace in the State.
March 16, 1882. With the Indians gone, the old fort is back to normaland maybe short of normal. Last year we had as many as 1500 men here—nowwe’re down to a couple of companies. My boys are growing up, but by thetime they’re soldier age it appears there won’t be any place for them tosoldier.
July 4, 1882. Had a big Independence Day celebration here today. Notmuch else to celebrate. Inspection team came to the fort again this weekand it looks as if they’re going to close up all the old forts andkick-out all the old soldiers. The company commander, a young buck, hadthe brass to tell me I was getting too old to soldier. This fort’sgetting old too. They haven’t been keeping the adobe walls plasteredwith mud like they used to and the rains have been making little riversdown the sides of the buildings.
February 5, 1883. At the end of this enlistment—which comes up inDecember this year—they say I’ve got to retire. I’m not an old man, butseveral old wounds have been bothering me and the doctor turned in a badreport on me. Why! I won’t know what to do away from the Army and thisold fort. They might as well shoot me like they do a horse that’s brokenhis leg.
October 10, 1883. Major General John Pope, commanding the Department ofthe Missouri, has recommended to the War Department that they closeseveral Indian forts and Garland is one of them. Well, the old fort andthe old soldier can go together.
November 29, 1883. Tomorrow the fort closes—likely forever. Company A,22nd United States Infantry, under the command of Captain Javan Irvine,will leave here for Fort Lewis, Colorado, and no new company will cometo replace it—as has happened for these past twenty-odd years. Somehowit won’t seem so bad to leave the Army now, knowing that Garland and Iclose our gates together. Family and I are going to stay on in thevalley and try doing a little ranching. Got a whole flock of kids tohelp.
Cavalry and Infantry Sergeants in Full Dress.]
Fort Garland Becomes A State Museum
By Rosamund Slack
Bugle with decorative letter “I”]
In 1883 Fort Garland was abandoned and the equipment belonging to thefort was sent to the new Fort Lewis, while the fort lands reverted tothe Trinchera Estate. For many years stock wandered across the parade tonibble of the grass once trod by drilling soldiers—rats and other smallanimals inhabited the barracks and officer’s quarters. Decay and erosionset to work in earnest in an effort to destroy the old fort. It appearedthat the once proud adobe walls would become a part of the soil againand that Fort Garland would be only a memory in the minds of a few oldsoldiers who had made the garrison their home.
In 1915 W. H. Meyer, a State senator, bought the property and used thecommandant’s house for his home. One of the barracks became a barn. TheMeyer home was altered soon afterwards, a gable roof and additionalwindows being added. Fortunately, Meyer was interested in history and inthe fort. He tried to keep the remaining buildings in some kind ofrepair and never deliberately changed the appearance of any building toany extent other than the commandant’s quarters.
Senator Meyer died in 1925 and a group of interested citizens of the SanLuis Valley formed the Fort Garland Historical Fair Association andpurchased the fort, with the idea of preserving what remained andsomeday establishing a museum. Over 600 persons in the surrounding areasupported this project. A small museum was begun in the commandant’shouse and once again the fort heard the sound of many voices, and feltthe tread of many feet.
After several years of vain effort to maintain the fort buildings, theFort Garland Historical Fair Association decided the job was one thatshould be done by a larger institution. In 1945 the fort and its landwere deeded to the State Historical Society of Colorado, for restorationand development as a State historical monument. For two years CuratorEdgar C. McMechen and his staff at the Denver museum worked and plannedfor the restoration of the five remaining buildings at the fort. In 1947the actual restoration was begun.
Fort Garland, After Restoration by the State.]
Fort Garland, After Restoration]
Mr. McMechen, a meticulous scholar, sought to reconstruct the fort asnearly as possible to its original appearance. He wished to use everyoriginal stone, every brick, every timber that was sound in thereconstructed buildings. The first step in the restoration was theremoval of the old roofs which had, for the most part, collapsed orbecome unsound. The five buildings under construction were the westbarracks, sometimes referred to as the Infantry barracks, the east, orCavalry barracks, and three of the original five officer’s quartersalong the north of the parade. The east barracks had suffered the mostfrom lack of repair and deterioration. One wall had crumbled and fallenaway and nothing remained of the roof but the cross beams. The buildingsto the south had long since disappeared and while the Society planned torebuild these two long structures, it found it impossible to undertakethe task at that time. The two officers’ quarters located immediately tothe right and left of the commandant’s building had also vanished andwere not to be rebuilt.
The reconstruction work on the fort buildings required carefulsupervision. The adobe bricks were made as they were made in 1858—themud being molded in forms and placed in the sun to bake. After theadobes were set in place, the walls were plastered inside and out with acoat of the same adobe material. Mexican women were employed to work themud into the crevices and give the walls a smooth surface. This they didwith their hands, alone, just as it has been done in the SouthwestUnited States for centuries.
Plans for the fort museum called for the following: the commandingofficers’ quarters, where Colonel Kit Carson commanded in 1866-67, to berestored as nearly as possible as it was when the famous scout residedthere, with deer and antelope heads
on the walls and the skins ofanimals covering the floor; one of the officer’s quarters to be used fora resident curator and not to be open to the public; the Cavalrybarracks to be utilized as a period museum, to represent the history ofthe San Luis Valley from the days of the Spanish Conquest to pioneersettlement; the Infantry barracks to contain a typical squad room andthe old soldier’s theatre. The painted backdrop on the wall of thetheatre was still visible prior to restoration and the simple mural wasto be restored. At some later date the two buildings to the south of theparade, on either side of the port sally, were to be rebuilt and wouldinclude the commandant’s and adjutant’s offices, the guard room,prisoners’ cells, post blacksmith shop, the post bakery and the postchapel. These rooms would all be furnished and equipped in the manner ofthe fort’s original service buildings.
Ute Indian Village. Diorama in Fort Museum.]
Interior of One of the Reconstructed Fort Buildings.]
The Fort Garland Museum is an attempt to preserve in all its
Old Fort Garland Page 4