Fort Webster, a fort located at two locations near Santa Rita and San Lorenzo in

Grant County, New Mexico Grant County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. At the 2020 census, the population was 28,185. Its county seat is Silver City. The county was founded in 1868 and named for Ulysses S. Grant, the 18th President of the United St ...

between 1851-1853 and 1859–1860.

History

Fort Santa Rita

Fort Santa Rita was created in 1804 by the Spanish to protect the

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mines of Santa Rita (

Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States *Grant County, Arkansas *Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky *Grant County, Minnesota *Grant County, Nebraska *Grant C ...

), in

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

. It had a triangular shape and three towers. It was built by a civilian, Manuel Elguea. It was the target of constant attacks by the Apaches and in 1838 it was abandoned by the

Centralist Republic of Mexico The Centralist Republic of Mexico ( es, República Centralista de México), or in the anglophone scholarship, the Central Republic, officially the Mexican Republic ( es, República Mexicana), was a unitary political regime established in Mexico ...

. In 1848, it was included in territory ceded to the US as part of the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

1st Fort Webster (1851)

In 1851 the United States Boundary Commission occupied the

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'' ...

and named it Dawson Cantonment. In 1852 it is occupied by the

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 ...

, which will call it Gila Copper Mines Post or Fort Webster.Libro en línea
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2nd Fort Webster (1852 - 1853, 1859 - 1860)

The original post of Fort Webster at the Santa Rita copper mines was moved in September 1852, 14 miles east to the west bank of the Rio Mimbres, about one mile west of the modern town of San Lorenzo. This post was itself then abandoned in December 1853 for

Fort Thorn Fort Thorn or Fort Thorne, originally Cantonment Garland, was a settlement and military outpost located on the west bank of the Rio Grande, northwest of present-day Hatch, and west of Salem in Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. It was ...

. It was briefly reoccupied in 1859 as Station at the Copper Mines, until being abandoned in 1860.Robert Julyan, The Place Names of New Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), p. 137

Status of the site

The site of the old presidio, Cantonment Dawson and the original site of Fort Webster was obliterated by the great open pit of the

Chino Copper Mine Chino or El Chino may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''Chino'' (1973 film), an Italian film starring Charles Bronson * ''Chino'' (1991 film), a Nepali film Places * Chino, California, a city in San Bernardino County, California, US ...

in Grant County, New Mexico.

References

Sources

* Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, , page 533-534 * Frazer, Robert W., Forts of the West, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1965, , pages 106-107 * Frazer, Robert W. (editor), Mansfield on the conditions of The Western Forts, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1963, , pages 51–54

External links

Fort Webster (2)
from fortwiki.com accessed March 21, 2014. Webster History of Doña Ana County, New Mexico Closed installations of the United States Army 1851 establishments in New Mexico Territory 1868 disestablishments in New Mexico Territory {{NewMexico-geo-stub