Fort McRae A U.S. Army fort first established by California Volunteers of the Union Army during the American Civil War on April 3, 1863. It was located east of the Rio Grande on the south side of Canyon del Muerto, (now known as McRae Canyon), at an elevation of 4,423 feet / 1,348 meters in the southern Fra Cristobal Range, 3 miles northeast of Elephant Butte, in Sierra County, New Mexico. It was located nearby to the west of the Ojo del Muerto, a spring in the Canyon del Muerto, one of the few reliable water sources along the route of the Jornada del Muerto.[1] [2]: 73-74}
History
Fort McRae was a U.S. Army post, established in 1863 and closed in 1876, in what is now Sierra County, New Mexico to protect an area from Apache raiders.[3] The post was originally founded by California Volunteers of the Union Army in 1863 to protect the travelers on the Jornada del Muerto from Apache raids. They manned it until they were relieved by soldiers of the regular U.S. Army during the aftermath of the American Civil War in 1866. The post was named for Alexander McRae (1829–1862) a hero of the 1862 Battle of Valverde.
Ft. McRae epitaph and names of soldiers on post cemetery monument.[2]: 74–75, 77 [4]
Fort McRae was the only outpost within a radius of 30 miles (48 km), except for the other U.S. Army forts, Fort Craig which was 23 miles (37 km) away to the north and Fort Selden which was 60 miles away to the south.[3]
It is located in the general area of Elephant Butte, New Mexico in McRae Canyon. A 21.6 acres (8.7 ha) area at the site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005. In National Park Service sources its precise location was Address restricted[5]. [6], ==References==
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort McRae (historical)
- ^ a b Wilson, John P., Between the River and the Mountains: A History of Early Settlement in Sierra County, New Mexico, Report #40, John P. Wilson, Las Cruces, New Mexico, August 1985
- ^ a b "Fort McRae". New Mexico History.
- ^ Rio Grande Republican, Dec. 22, 1880, p.1
- ^ Federal and state laws and practices restrict general public access to information regarding the specific location of this resource. In some cases, this is to protect archeological sites from vandalism, while in other cases it is restricted at the request of the owner. See: Knoerl, John; Miller, Diane; Shrimpton, Rebecca H. (1990), Guidelines for Restricting Information about Historic and Prehistoric Resources, National Register Bulletin, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, OCLC 20706997.
- ^ But consulting the upper right hand corner of this page will remedy that deficiency courtesy of the GNIS. See U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort McRae (historical)
References
33°11′28″N 107°08′38″W / 33.19111°N 107.14389°W
Category:Forts in New Mexico