Cantonment Burgwin (also known as Fort Burgwin) was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in the

southwestern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, located south of

Taos, New Mexico Taos is a town in Taos County in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Nuevo México Governor Fernando Cha ...

, southeast of

Ranchos de Taos Ranchos de Taos is a census-designated place (CDP) in Taos County, New Mexico. The population was 2,390 at the time of the 2000 census. The historic district is the Ranchos de Taos Plaza, which includes the San Francisco de Asis Mission Chu ...

History

Established in 1852 to protect the

Taos Valley Taos Valley, also called Lower Taos Canyon, is a valley located in Taos County, New Mexico. It is bounded by the Rio Grande Gorge; the deep ravine, or Arroyo Hondo, of the Rio Hondo; and the Taos Mountain range. Included in the valley are Ranch ...

from Utes and

Jicarilla Apache Jicarilla Apache (, Jicarilla language: Jicarilla Dindéi), one of several loosely organized autonomous bands of the Eastern Apache, refers to the members of the Jicarilla Apache Nation currently living in New Mexico and speaking a Southern Athab ...

s, it was named for

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

John H. K. Burgwin in honor of his death in 1847 while fighting at the

Siege of Pueblo de Taos The siege of Pueblo de Taos was the final battle during the main phase of the Taos Revolt, an insurrection against the United States during the Mexican–American War. It was also the final major engagement between American forces and insurgent ...

, and he was buried there. It was designated a "

cantonment A cantonment (, , or ) is a military quarters. In Bangladesh, India and other parts of South Asia, a ''cantonment'' refers to a permanent military station (a term from the British India, colonial-era). In military of the United States, United Stat ...

" to indicate its temporary character. Fort Burgwin is known for its role in the

Battle of Cieneguilla The Battle of Cieneguilla (pronounced sienna-GEE-ya; English: small swamp) was an engagement of the Jicarilla War involving a group of Jicarilla Apaches, possibly their Ute allies, and the American 1st Cavalry Regiment on March 30, 1854 near ...

in 1854, between the 1st Cavalry Regiment and the

. Cantonment Burgwin was abandoned by the U.S. Army in May 1860. Several structures were rebuilt starting in 1957 and continued until 2004, financed initially by Ralph Rounds until his death in 1960. The new structures were known as the Fort Burgwin Research Center. Later, William Clements, Chairman of the Board at

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, added funding for several other buildings on the hill slopes around Fort Burgwin.

Current status

The core buildings are external reconstructions of the original buildings, but the interiors of several of the buildings are modern and serve as offices and classrooms. The site currently serves as the SMU-in-Taos campus, which offers for-credit summer and fall college classes, including the SMU archaeology field school, and the Cultural Institute, which offers weekend informal classes taught by SMU faculty. Previous archaeological work investigating the original fort included the work of Judith Thomas, a historic archaeologist from

Mercyhurst University (Seize the day) , former_names = Mercyhurst College (1926–2012) , established = , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic (Sisters of Mercy) , endowment = $31.8 million , faculty = 136 full-time , administrat ...

Geography

The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...

is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardised g ...

References

External links

* 1852 establishments in New Mexico Territory Buildings and structures in Taos County, New Mexico Burgwin Burgwin History of Taos County, New Mexico 1860 disestablishments {{NewMexico-struct-stub

History

Current status

Geography

See also

References

External links