A Spanish

military 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'' ...

was constructed and occupied in 1819 near Sangre de Cristo Pass in the present U.S.

State of Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...

to protect the Spanish colony of

Santa Fe de Nuevo México Santa Fe de Nuevo México ( en, Holy Faith of New Mexico; shortened as Nuevo México or Nuevo Méjico, and translated as New Mexico in English) was a Kingdom of the Spanish Empire and New Spain, and later a territory (geographic region), territ ...

from a possible invasion from the United States. The fort was the only Spanish settlement in present-day Colorado. The site of this fort is known today as the Spanish Fort.

Background

When

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (; November 22, 1643 – March 19, 1687), was a 17th-century French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, the Mississippi River, ...

, claimed the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

and its entire

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

for

Louis XIV of France , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of ...

in 1682, he was unaware that the southwestern reaches of the basin extended into territory claimed by

Charles II of Spain Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabilities and the War ...

for the

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the A ...

colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo Méjico. French and Spanish traders first encountered one another in 1739 along the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United ...

. The conflicting claims of France and Spain to the upper Arkansas River basin were resolved in 1762 when

Louis XV of France Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...

transferred the French colony of

La Louisiane Louisiana (french: La Louisiane; ''La Louisiane Française'') or French Louisiana was an administrative district of New France. Under French control from 1682 to 1769 and 1801 (nominally) to 1803, the area was named in honor of King Louis XIV, ...

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_da ...

with the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau.Herbermann, Charles. ''The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church''. Encyclopedia Press, 1913, p. 380 (Original from Harvard University). The conflict between France and Spain was reignited in 1800 when

Napoléon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

demanded that

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother = Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place ...

return the Spanish colony of

Luisiana Luisiana, officially the Municipality of Luisiana ( tgl, Bayan ng Luisiana), is a 4th class municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 20,859 people. Locals call the town ''Little ...

to the

French Republic France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with the secret

Third Treaty of San Ildefonso The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secret agreement signed on 1 October 1800 between the Spanish Empire and the French Republic by which Spain agreed in principle to exchange its North American colony of Louisiana for territories in Tuscany ...

. Napoléon then sold La Louisiane to the United States with the

Louisiana Purchase Treaty The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or appr ...

of 1803. The United States maintained the claim of France to the entire Mississippi basin, while Spain asserted its claim to the southwestern portion of the basin. In 1806, a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition led by Captain

Zebulon Pike Zebulon Montgomery Pike (January 5, 1779 – April 27, 1813) was an American brigadier general and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado was named. As a U.S. Army officer he led two expeditions under authority of President Thomas Jefferson ...

explored the upper Arkansas River. In January 1807, the expedition left the upper Arkansas Valley and crossed the treacherous snow-covered

Sangre de Cristo Range , country= United States , subdivision1= Colorado , subdivision2_type= Counties , subdivision2= , parent= Sangre de Cristo Mountains, Rocky Mountains , borders_on= , geology= , age= , orogeny= Fault-block mountains , area_mi2= ...

into the

San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, extending from the Continental Divide on the northwest rim into New Mexico on the south. It c ...

, the undisputed territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. On February 26, 1807, Pike and his expedition were arrested by Spanish cavalrymen from Santa Fe.

History

In 1819, Spanish Governor

Facundo Melgares Facundo Melgares (1775, Caravaca, Murcia, Spain - unknown) was a Spanish military officer who served as both the last Spanish Governor of New Mexico and the first Mexican Governor of New Mexico. Melgares was, like most of the officials of the S ...

ordered the construction of a military fort near Sangre de Cristo Pass to block a possible invasion of Santa Fe de Nuevo México from the United States. The Sangre de Cristo Mountains and Sangre de Cristo Pass divide the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

basin from the Arkansas River basin, a part of the greater Mississippi River basin. The fort was occupied by a detachment of approximately one hundred soldiers who patrolled the area in search of

Ute Indians Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...

and foreigners. The fort was abandoned in 1821 after the

Adams–Onís Treaty The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p.168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and define ...

took effect redefining the border between Louisiana and New Mexico. The new border was defined as the

100th meridian west The meridian 100° west of the Prime Meridian of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 100th merid ...

from the Red River (the border between Spanish province of Tejas and the U.S. Territory of Arkansaw) north to the Arkansas River, then west along the river to its headwaters (at the

Continental Divide of the Americas The Continental Divide of the Americas (also known as the Great Divide, the Western Divide or simply the Continental Divide; ) is the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas. The Continental Divide extends from t ...

), thence directly north to the

42nd parallel north The 42nd parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 42 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean. At this latitude the sun is ...

, then west along the parallel to the Pacific Ocean. On August 24, 1821,

Ferdinand VII of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_p ...

finally recognized the independence of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

with the signing of the Treaty of Córdoba. Governor Melgares and other Spanish officials in New Mexico declared their allegiance to the new Mexican government. On January 12, 1828, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Limits affirming the boundaries set by the Adams–Onís Treaty. The region would remain at peace until May 13, 1846, when the United States declared war on Mexico.

References

{{Colorado Forts in Colorado Costilla County, Colorado Huerfano County, Colorado 1819 establishments in New Spain 1821 disestablishments Spanish-American culture in Colorado Spanish forts in the United States

Background

History

See also

References