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Fort Selden Historic Site preserves the ruins of a US Army post in southern New Mexico. It’s located near Las Cruces.
Visiting
Fort Selden Historic Site is open Wednesday through Sunday from 8:30am to 4pm. Adult admission is US$5 (as of May 2024). There’s a short interpretive trail through the ruins and a small museum at the visitor center.
Museum
We started at the museum, where there were excellent displays about the history of the fort as well as military life on the frontier. There were several photographs, uniforms, and a scale model of the fort on display.
Some of the most interesting displays showcased the many items excavated from Fort Selden. These items included glass bottles and pottery, toothbrushes, pipes, wrappers, shoes, buttons, and more.
The Sentinel
After enjoying the museum, we set off on the trail through the ruins at Fort Selden Historic Site. At the beginning of the trail is a sculpture of a soldier by Reynaldo Rivera. It’s title The Sentinel and depicts a soldier from the 8th and 9th cavalry in 1876.
Origins
The land on which Fort Selden occupied was originally known as Paraje de Robledo, a campground along El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro. It dates back to 1598 and is named for Pedro Robledo, a Spanish soldier who died and was buried there during the expedition of Juan de Oñate (1550-1626). The campground was the last stop along the trail before the Jornada del Muerto (Deadman’s Journey), a dangerous desert crossing reaching about 100 miles north to Socorro.
In 1861, the Confederate Army established a military post on the site called Camp Robledo. It was used for cavalry patrols and operations against Fort Craig as well as to guard from Union approaches from the north towards Confederate Arizona.
Active Years
Fort Selden was established after the Civil War in 1865 to protect settlers from Native American raids. It was named for Colonel Henry Raymond Selden (1821-1865), an officer who served the Union for many years in New Mexico and was a veteran of both the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. Selden died of an illness on February 2, 1865, and was buried at Fort Union. His grave was later moved to Santa Fe National Cemetery.
The first soldiers to occupy Fort Selden arrived from California on July 31, 1865. Later, several units of African-American soldiers, known as Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed there. Many Buffalo Soldiers stationed there earned Medals of Honor for their bravery.
In 1884, Captain Arthur MacArthur Jr. (1845-1912) became post commander of Fort Selden. He lived there with his wife and two young sons, Arthur MacArthur III (1876-1923) and Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964). An interpretive panel in front of the Officers’ Quarters where the MacArthurs lived from 1883 to 1886 includes a family photo.
Douglas went on to become a five star general and a prominent figure in the Pacific theater during World War II. He wrote that at Fort Selden he and his brother “learned to ride and shoot, even before we learned to read and write”.
Decline
By late 1886, the threat of raids declined. Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo (1829-1909) surrendered to Brigadier General Nelson A. Miles (1839-1925) at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona made Fort Selden obsolete.
Because of this, Lieutenant General William Tecumseh Sherman (1820-1891) ordered the consolidation of six military posts in southern New Mexico and eastern Arizona. Fort Selden was the leading candidate for the site of the new post, but Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, was chosen because of its growth due to the railroads. The government decommissioned Fort Selden and it was abandoned on January 20, 1891.
Fort Selden Historic Site
In 1963, Harry N. Bailey, the owner of the land surrounding Fort Selden, donated it to the state according to his father’s wishes. By that time the ruins had been damaged by the elements as well as vandals and treasure hunters.
Fort Selden was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and was declared a New Mexico State Monument on July 2, 1973. It’s operated by New Mexico Historic Sites, a division of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs.
