Fort Reynolds was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

post near Avondale, Colorado during the Indian Wars and the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same 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 ...

. The site is about east of

Pueblo, Colorado Pueblo () is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 111,876 at the 2020 United States Census, making Pueblo the ninth most populo ...

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

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

and was killed at the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. In the battle, Union Major General George Meade's Army of the Po ...

. Facilities included barracks, a mess hall, hospital, guardhouse, store-house, laundry, a corral, 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 opera ...

, 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 home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The population was 8,329 as of the 2020 census. Trinidad lies north of Raton, New Mexico, and s ...

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
inscription
{{Forts in 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 Closed installations of the United States Army 1867 establishments in Colorado Territory