Civil War & Mexican American War

Fort Union National Monument

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Not much remains of the largest Union fort in the west. But there’s plenty of history here. This was a critical supply base to keep the Confederacy from expanding into the southwest. Some of the Navajo who were driven from their homes during the Long Walk were imprisoned here. Here was the largest and most advanced hospital in the west. Soldiers and cavalry guarded both branches of the Santa Fe trail from here, once trading and migration routes for Natives, then for settlers whose wagon ruts can still be seen in the earth, then for the mail, and finally for the railroad, which still bears the name in the logo BNSF.

On the drive out to the site, a pronghorn stood in the road and stared at me, perhaps not frightened by my relatively quiet and zero emission electric car. Although I didn’t get a photo, I got a careful look at it and confirmed its identity with the park volunteer. Turns out they’re not antelope but related to giraffe. Again, everything I learned about the west, where “the antelope play” was wrong. There aren’t any antelope in North America. The pronghorn are the last survivors of human hunting among similar species in North America, due to their speed. Humans are increasingly lethal to all other species, and by changing our climate so quickly, we will make most species on earth extinct within a few decades. I wonder what our ancestors who traveled this trail would say if they could see how quickly we are devastating the planet.

Click to see my photos of all national park units in New Mexico and to read about all Civil War parks.

Pecos National Historical Park

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Yes, I know this is another Kiva photo. But I learned something important on the ranger tour down here. One of the visitors was an engineer, and he explained that one reason that the Native Americans built round buildings below ground level and square buildings above ground, even within the same pueblo, is that circular walls are the most efficient way to hold back the pressure of the dirt. When building up above ground, it’s easier to balance walls using right angles. That’s one reason why I saw round ball courts at Wupatki, round pit dwellings at more primitive sites and round kivas at important ceremonial sites, even as the majority of buildings at the same sites are rectangular.

Pecos is fascinating for multiple reasons, which explains why it was promoted to a historic park. One being that the archaeologists who excavated the pueblo roughly 100 years ago sent many human remains to Harvard University and Andover Academy for study, and they were repatriated in 1999, mainly reburied near relatives at a nearby pueblo community. Another is that here is where the Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish was planned and executed in 1680. Furious over their treatment by the domineering missionaries, the Native Americans orchestrated simultaneous uprisings across the southwest in the largest and only truly successful Native uprising against a colonial power in North America. And if that wasn’t enough, Pecos is also the site of the Civil War battle of Glorieta Pass, which prevented the Confederacy from taking over the southwest. As the Russians are belatedly learning in Ukraine, it all came down to supply line logistics. Kudos to the park ranger for explaining everything.

Click to see my photos of all national park units in New Mexico and to read about my visits to all Civil War parks.