December Bonus: I Love Fort Bayard - Douglas Dinwiddie

In this episode of the "I Love New Mexico" podcast, Bunny Terry interviews Doug Dinwiddie, a retired history professor and president of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society. Doug shares his deep connection to Fort Bayard, located near Silver City, New Mexico. He discusses the fort's establishment in 1866, its role during the Indian Wars, and its evolution into a tuberculosis hospital and later a state hospital. The episode highlights the fort's historical significance, the preservation efforts by the society, and the various recreational and cultural activities available in the surrounding area.

Historic Fort Bayard

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Original Music by: Kene Terry

Transcript

Bunny 00:00:00  I'm so excited to have today's guest on the I Love New Mexico podcast. He's going to talk about a subject that I've been long fascinated with, and yet it's a place that I haven't visited yet. It's on my bucket list, my New Mexico bucket list. And, Doug Dinwiddie is in the southwest corner of the state, down close to for those of you who are, not as familiar with our subject, which is Fort Bayard. it's sort of, in the Silver City area. Doug, we have lots of folks who listen to the podcast who are from outside the United States. So when we interview folks, I always want our guests to know that it's good to keep in mind that some of the people listening to the podcast have absolutely no familiarity with New Mexico. But like you and I, they are interested in it. So, Doug, tell people who you are and what you do.

Doug 00:01:03  Great money first. Let me just thank you for this opportunity to talk about Fort Bayard. It's a subject obviously close to my heart and hope other people will see why.  I'm a retired history professor. I grew up in this area near Silver City. And again, for those who are not familiar with New Mexico. Silver city is in the southwest quadrant of the state of New Mexico. and I actually, live just a few miles north of Silver City and an even older settlement called Pinos Altos, which was a gold mining camp established in 1860. Silver city came into being in 1870. Fort Bayard was established in 1866. and it This lies approximately seven miles east of Silver City along U.S. highway 180. and it predated Silver City by about four years now. Talk briefly about the establishment of the port and so forth. but, my wife and I both grew up in this area. and in our careers took us away, and, a few years ago when we retired, we moved back, to the area. we been members of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society, for the last 15 years or so. and that group was formed in the 1990s to keep the stories of Fort Bayard alive. Currently, I'm serving as the president, of that organization. and, at this point, I'll just tell you a little bit about Fort Bayard, why it came into being and when, it was not the first fort in this area. people may know, that, New Mexico was, home to native cultures for thousands of years. in the native people who were living here. when the first Europeans showed up included, particularly the Apache culture, the Cherokee Apache, called this region their home. And of course, the Spanish, established themselves in New Mexico. starting in the mid 1500s. And the Onate colony established, just north of where Santa Fe is today in the, at the end of the 1500s, 1598. Well, if you look at maps from that era, the Spaniards labeled this entire region of New Mexico, as apocrypha. and they really did not come down to this area very much because the Apache were very jealous of their, custody of this portion of the world. And so the Spanish had confined themselves more or less to the Rio Grande Valley and had not ventured much into this region.

Doug 00:04:33  When they finally did, however, they did so because of mineral wealth. and particularly there's a copper mine, the famous Santa Rita copper mine, which was developed by Spaniards starting right around 1800. They still mined copper there today. And, so over 200 years now, mining of copper there. And the Apaches had allowed that to happen in return for trade goods, basically. and finally then when New Mexico became independent, when Mexico, I should say, became independent of Spanish rule in 1821, then the ownership of the mine, passed to Mexican interests. There came to be tension between the Spaniards and, the Mexicans and the Indians, and eventually that mine was forced to shut down in the 30s due to violence, from both sides. and so we move up into 1846, when the United States goes to war with Mexico over boundary disputes, primarily in Texas as part of the US strategy to defeat Mexico in that war, an American army came down the Santa Fe Trail, captured Santa Fe without a fight, in 1846.

Doug 00:06:05  And the very first American soldiers to set foot in this part of New Mexico were part of the same army that had conquered Santa Fe. they were on their way to California to fulfill their mission, and they were guided by Kit Carson, the famous mountain men who had worked briefly at the copper mine. So he knew this area very well. But anyway, he led the army through here in 1846, the Army topographical engineers on on the mission, recorded the natural resources that were in this area. And that report later on led, a rush of miners into this area to exploit the minerals that the Army had reported coming across. fast forward 1850. the the, official treaty between the US and Mexico that ended the war transferred New Mexico and a lot of other territories to the custody of the United States. And so the. Yeah. Go ahead.

Bunny 00:07:19  Can I ask can I ask you one question? I mean, you you said that I mean, my degree is in history, and I don't know this specifically Western history, and I don't know this piece of these stories, but I'm fascinated by.

Bunny 00:07:35  So this was the first time that American soldiers had come to this area. But what about so Kit Carson led them here were the was were Americans like Kit Carson? Had they come into the area to like, trap, to explore what was when did the Americans show up down there? Yeah.

Doug 00:07:57  Great question. and what we know about that, we believe that the first English speaking, visitors to this area were trappers, who had come down from Taos. Taos had become kind of the mountain man headquarters in New Mexico. And Beaver were were the main prize. And they were being trapped out in the Northern Rockies and, central Rockies. And so they, they were rumors that there were beaver pelts to be had along the Gila River, which flows through our area, and across southern Arizona. and so a party of mountain men from Taos, called the the, Sylvester Patty was the guy that was in charge of them. His son was James Ohio Patty, who later wrote a book about what? What their adventures were when they came here.

Doug 00:09:00  So they came to the Gila in search of beaver pelts. In the eight about 1824, they found some beaver, but they found a lot more Apaches. and they decided that they would keep moving. And they eventually made it all the way out to San Diego. In fact, I visited, Sylvester Patty's grave and Balboa Park in San Diego. But anyhow, they were the first, white, English speaking people we know of that were in this area, and they actually bought a share of the copper mine at Santa Rita for a while. And another former mountain man, actually, became an onsite partner, in, in that his name was McKnight. and he stayed, from the 1820s forward until the Apaches forced them out in the 1830s. so going back now to, the acquisition, official acquisition of the region by the US in the Mexican War, when New Mexico became a territory, in 1850. And of course, it included at that time what is now Arizona. And they had hoped that they might get New Mexico in as a state immediately.

Doug 00:10:27  and that didn't happen. Of course, California came in as a state almost immediately because the gold, and so forth. But as those of us familiar with New Mexico history know, it took until 1912 before New Mexico finally made it to statehood. But in the meantime, when New Mexico was a territory starting in 1850, the army decided to establish a system of military posts across the region, to implement US policy and particularly toward the needy people. the US is going to introduce the reservation system and try to force the needy people to relocate to those places. The Apaches were very resistant to that idea, of course. but anyway, that's why forts started being built in this part of New Mexico. Fort beard was not the first fort. Several others came and went and, were abandoned for various reasons location, lack of water, etc.. And so it wasn't until after the Civil War, the Civil War, of course, had thrown everything on its head and the US Army had evacuated, abandoned many of its forts in New Mexico, due to the crisis of the Civil War.

Doug 00:11:52  And so once that great issue was in the past, then the army came back and started looking for places to establish a fort. They chose the spot where Fort Bayard is located. based on a number of factors, most important of which was water. There were 19 freshwater springs near the site, and all of them at a slightly higher elevation, so they were able to move the water from the springs down to the site of the fort. You just using gravity? and so, the first soldiers arrived to establish Fort Bayard on August 21st, 1866.

Bunny 00:12:36  so. Yeah. Go ahead. So let's let me ask you a I mean, I know there obviously the Army was quite strategic. did the Apache presence play a part in this? I mean, was it we're, you know, I'm just thinking about, you know, if you're a listener and you're thinking, what? Why? Why? You know, it's like I always think, why did they create Fort Bascom by Tucumcari? It's such an odd place.

Bunny 00:13:06  But I think that was because of the Comanche presence. And I'm curious about, why Fort Bayard, where it was. Yeah.

Doug 00:13:15  well, this is the heart of the Cherokee Apache region. at least we have members of our group who are of, Apache here. And they believe, of course, that this was their, their homeland, from time immemorial. Sure. Yeah. And so when and at first, the relations were okay between the newcomers and the Apache people, but, especially once gold was discovered and you get these, the stampede of newcomers coming in, they began to shoot the game and and, disrupt the landscape. The patchy belief system is such that the land is sacred, so they never have been very friendly to the idea of people scouring the land, digging holes in it, and sure, it's out of it, etc. so. So it was inevitable that there would be tension between the groups, and even though their first contact was was friendly, that deteriorated over time. And we won't go into all the details, but there were bad, actions on both sides.

Doug 00:14:31  And, anyhow, that's why the Army decided to protect the miners, the travelers, the, ranchers and farmers who were coming into the area. Mining was always the most important activity here, but there were these other activities as well that brought settlers to the area. And the Apache fought back against that, or against people that they believed were invading and stealing their land. And so the Army's policy nationwide was to create these zones, which we call reservations, where the Apaches and other native people were forced to go and to stay there. And the idea being that if they would stay there, they could be acculturated, taught to farm, etc.. but if they resisted that, then the army took over and used force to make them go to those places. And that's why they set up this system of fort to have permanent stations, if you will, for the military, across the region. Let me just mention that Fort Bayard is named for a man that never set foot in New Mexico. General George V Baird, who had been killed in battle in the Civil War, and his name had gone at the top of a list of people to be honored, and apparently when they needed a name for the new fort.

Doug 00:16:06  His name was at the top of the list. So that's why it's been Fort Bayard an honor.

Bunny 00:16:13  Isn't that interesting that yeah, I wondered. My husband and I had that conversation over coffee this morning. He said, who was Bayard? And? And he's more of a history buff than I am. And neither one of us had any idea. Yeah.

Doug 00:16:27  And actually, you will find out that there were temporary forts in the Washington, D.C. area that were also named Fort Bayard, but after the same man. But those were closed very quickly at the end of the Civil War. And apparently there was a political motivation to keep his name on something. and so that's why he out here in remote New Mexico, we have this, As close as he ever got to New Mexico. Best I can find out was he was in Kansas for a while, but.

Bunny 00:17:01  That's it. So, Doug, what? Let's fast forward. just because we do have limited time to talk, but that's so. So what is.

Bunny 00:17:13  I mean, one of the things that I find most interesting about Fort Bayard is that it still, you know, unlike Fort Union or or Bascom or some of the others around the state, you still have a physical structure there. Is that original or is it, I mean, is it recent? Is it what's what's it's a beautiful it's a beautiful place to visit, as I understand. Yes.

Doug 00:17:38  well, yeah. Let me, mention that the history of Fort Beard is really the story of two very distinct eras. And the old Fort period goes from 1866, when it was started till Phil, 1899. In 1899, the Indian Wars were over. The army decided it no longer needed Fort Bayard as a military post, but they were looking for a place to start the Army's first tuberculosis hospital.

Bunny 00:18:11  TB that's it. Yes.

Doug 00:18:13  TB had become the most widespread deadly disease in the world. By 1900, there was no drug therapy for it. There would not be until the late 1940s. I guess it had a long night inspired.

Doug 00:18:30  So the way, the way you tried to help people with tuberculosis was to take them to a dry climate, preferably at a high elevation, because the TB germ thrives on oxygen. So, thin air, dry climate, lots of sunshine, a healthy diet, lots of rest and isolation. Keep them away from the main population. Port Baird checked all those boxes. So the army says Fort Bayard will be the place where we establish our first Army Hospital for tuberculosis. The Army active duty soldiers march out one side of the fort. The medical corps marches in the other side. In 1899, the doctors get to Fort Bayard. They say we don't like this place. we love the environment. It checks all those boxes. But the physical plant is not acceptable for a medical facility. The third commanding doctor at Fort Bayard, starting in 1904, is a gentleman named George Bushnell. Bushnell is the leading authority in the world on the treatment of tuberculosis in 1904, and he's at Fort Bayard. He has a lot of influence in Washington.

Doug 00:19:55  He is able to persuade the Army to rebuild Fort Bayard as a medical complex. So they tear down the old fort. You come to New Mexico or you come to Fort Bayard. Today, you don't see anything from the old Fort era. Everything is from the medical period. And those buildings that you see on our website and so forth now. And our museum is in the former commanding doctor's house. That house was built in 1911. all of the buildings you see at Fort Bayard today are from the medical period. It remains a medical Army medical center until 1920. The Army signs it over to the US Health Service. They keep it for two years, and then they transfer it to the brand new Veterans Administration. And they build a state of the art 600 bed hospital becomes known as VA Hospital number 55 on the site at Fort Bayard. That building was torn down by the state of New Mexico just a few years ago. It remains a VA hospital until 1964. In 1964, the VA sells it to the state of New Mexico, and the state still owns it today.

Doug 00:21:23  Fort Bayard becomes a state hospital in 1964. They build a brand new Fort Bayard Medical Center building a mile south of the historic Fort Beard. In 2010, the state walks away from the historic core of Old Fort Bayard to, they don't need it anymore. And they turn off all the utilities, among other things, out there. We have operated the museum. Our group, the Historic Preservation Society, came into being to keep the stories of Fort Bayard alive starting in the 1990s. We have operated a museum in the former commanding doctor's house since that time, since 2006, without electricity and as I speak, they are installing electricity for us and we, in the next few weeks are going to have a museum with power for the first time in our existence. So. So we're very excited. It's so.

Speaker 3 00:22:32  Exciting. I love that.

Doug 00:22:34  So when you come out today to visit us, and by the way, let me mention very important that in 2004, after extensive lobbying by my predecessors in our organization, including testimony before Congress in DC in 2004, Fort Bayard was designated as a National Historic Landmark.

Doug 00:22:59  now, that's a nice name. We appreciate it, but it comes with no money. Okay, so, there is no, there's no Park Service presence. and we get no budget from the national government. We get no personnel or anything like that. And we keep going at Fort Bayard. 100% volunteer organization. And we survive on donations and grants.

Bunny 00:23:27  These are the best stories. Stuck because it's, it's it's just kind of a testament to. I mean, this is why we do the podcast. We love New Mexico, and you obviously love Fort Bayard, which which is a really important piece of New Mexico's history.

Doug 00:23:44  It is. And, and, you know, among the people who passed through Fort Bayard, General John Jay J. Blackjack Pershing. He graduated from West Point in 1886. His first assignment was Fort Bayard, New Mexico. and so Pershing is, among our distinguished alumni. and by the way, of course, is most listeners will know, Pershing goes on to be the commanding general of all U.S. forces in World War one.

Speaker 3 00:24:17  And, yes, France.

Doug 00:24:19  Well, after the war, he's arguably the most famous man in in America by that time. And he comes back to Fort Bayard in 1922 to preside over the, dedication of what's called the Sojourners Club at Fort Bayard. Sojourners was a military Masonic order. And, and so we have photos in our collections of of General Pershing Dedicating the Sojourners Club at Fort Bayard and and it etc.. So, that's just one historic story, about Fort Bayard. And there are many, many more, and we try to, to tell the story of the entire era of the old fort era all the way up through the medical period. Doctor Bushnell have already mentioned world famous doctor, for tuberculosis. And Fort Beard became such an important part of our community. It helped thousands and thousands of people over the years, recover from the dread disease of can be.

Bunny 00:25:36  So talk about now. What are you doing? I saw some really cool things that you're doing on the website, and I also.

Bunny 00:25:44  And I'm and I'm going to apologize ahead of time in case I got this wrong, but I swear I talked to somebody about how, there's an opportunity maybe to come near there and camp or bring your RV. I, you know, I want folks to come, including me, to get there and see what you're doing. Tell folks what they'd find today.

Doug 00:26:07  Yes. the village of Santa Clara, which is, just across the highway about a mile and a half from the historic port Santa Clara came into being at the same time as Fort Bayard, as a supply center for the fort. Today, it's a small, progressive community of about 2000 people, and the village government has leased from the state of New Mexico on very generous terms. 14 of the buildings at Fort Bayard, including the museum building, which we sublease, from from the village and anybody wanting to stay on the ground at Fort Bayard, in a camper or a tent or whatever, can make arrangements to have that be possible by contacting the village of Santa Clara.

Doug 00:27:04  and they're available. They're infos available online, and so forth. And basically that's all you have to do is call and say, I would like to camp on, on the grounds at Fort Bayard, and they will help you learn to do that. If you'd rather go to, more developed sites. Of course. We have lots of things. Silver city is very active in tourism. There's lots of RV parks in the area. If you like to rough it and go up. We're on the doorstep of the Gila National Forest, which is over. I think it's close to 3 million acres of US national forest land.

Bunny 00:27:45  Isn't it the largest or is it the first? There's some superlative that goes with the wilderness.

Doug 00:27:52  Wilderness area in the United States was the Gila Wilderness. We even had a write up in National Geographic back just a few months ago, in the June issue of 2024, because it's the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Gila Wilderness, which was the first wilderness in the United States. And so it's a wonderful area for people who enjoy outdoor recreation.

Doug 00:28:20  Silver city has a large historic district and lots of cultural, activities for people to partake in. So when you come to see Fort Bayard, there's a lot to do in the area. It's, You can easily spend several days here.

Bunny 00:28:38  Doug, if somebody I know, there are people who are listening, who are thinking, wait a second. I want to be at least a contributor to the future preservation of Fort Bayard. We're going to include links in our show notes. But can you tell, you know, if somebody's driving in their car, obviously they're not going to be able to look up the show notes, but can you give folks an idea where to go online to make a donation or figure out how to get more involved?

Doug 00:29:11  Certainly, they'd be happy to do that. our website is historic Fort bayard.org. and there are links on our website, that allow you for donations. You can get lots more information. I also welcome direct communication to myself. my email. Can I add that here?

Speaker 3 00:29:37  Absolutely, yes.

Doug 00:29:39  My email is history Guy 51 be at gmail. And our, organizational website is or excuse me email or organizational email is info at Historic Fort bayard.org. So and Doug.

Bunny 00:30:04  Is there something I'm sorry I'm sorry.

Speaker 3 00:30:06  What. Oh yeah.

Bunny 00:30:07  Are there any events coming up that folks now we're you know this obviously this podcast is going to stay online forever. We are in November of 2024. But is there anything coming up in the next few months that folks might want to attend or know about?

Doug 00:30:27  Right now we have the the one thing I can it's kind of out there, I suppose you unexpected things we do we actually, show.

Speaker 3 00:30:38  Oh.

Doug 00:30:39  Wow. And our our films cover the gamut of things of interest. And we've been doing this now continuously for over eight years. And, people can show up. There's a National Guard armory building owned by the village of Santa Clara. Now, that gives us a very, generous lease on part of the space in there. And that's where our research library is located, by the way.

Doug 00:31:07  But in that building, we have space to show movies. And, so every Thursday night, starting on January 23rd this year, we'll, we'll be showing our weekly film series. So anybody who's in the area, I can always join us. Those are free. and, and so, we will have our, our usual opening hours as something important is our museum is open regularly on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. out at the fort. But we do open for special occasions or special tours. If somebody says, gee, I want to see the museum at Fort Bayard, but I can't be there on Saturday. Contact us. We'll work it out so that we you can get to see in sight. We also have about 30 interpretive signs and a self-guided outdoor, walking tour that then the grounds are open all the time, 24 over seven, every day of the year, including holidays. And so people can come out. We have a boxes, plastic boxes around the parade ground with the walking tour information.

Doug 00:32:31  And you can just take one of those, and guide yourself, around Fort Bayard, look at the interpretive signs and read the booklet. So even if you can't visit the museum when it's open, you can still learn a lot about Fort Bayard from your self-guided walking.

Bunny 00:32:49  This has been so much fun to talk about because I had, as I'm sure everybody who's listening, a very cursory, understanding of what the fort was. And now I've got a schedule, a weekend where we can come down and take a look. So thank you so much, Doug, for giving us a half hour of your time to help us figure out, how to help us hear how important this is to New Mexico's history. It's such a big piece of it.

Doug 00:33:23  And I'm sure you realize I've only scratched the surface.

Speaker 3 00:33:26  So I know.

Bunny 00:33:28  I know, we should do this again. We should do this again. Thank you so much, Doug. I'm on my way. I'm. I'm scheduling a visit.

Doug 00:33:36  All right, well, just let us know when you're going to be here, and we'll make sure you get a special tour.

Bunny 00:33:44  Thank you.