Fort Webster, New Mexico

Fort Webster, a fort located at two locations near Santa Rita and San Lorenzo in Grant County, New Mexico between 1851-1853 and 1859–1860.

History

1st Fort Webster (1851)

The first Fort Webster was the reoccupied former Mexican Santa Rita del Cobre Fort that had guarded the Santa Rita Copper Mines and then had been abandoned in 1838, after repeated Apache attacks. It was first occupied by an American Border Commission survey party in 1851, under the name Cantonment Dawson. Subsequently, abandoned it was reoccupied and renamed by the U. S. Army in January 1852 as Post at Gila Copper Mines then Fort Webster.

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.[1] This post was itself then abandoned in December 1853 for Fort Thorn. It was briefly reoccupied in 1859 as Station at the Copper Mines, until being abandoned in 1860.[2]

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 in Grant County, New Mexico.

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References
  1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort Webster (historical)
  2. Robert Julyan, The Place Names of New Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1996), p. 137

Sources
  • Roberts, Robert B., Encyclopedia of Historic Forts: The Military, Pioneer, and Trading Posts of the United States, Macmillan, New York, 1988, 10th printing, ISBN 0-02-926880-X, page 533-534
  • Frazer, Robert W., Forts of the West, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1965, ISBN 0-8061-1250-6, pages 106-107
  • Frazer, Robert W. (editor), Mansfield on the conditions of The Western Forts, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman OK, 1963, ISBN 0-8061-1083-X, pages 51–54


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