FORT STANTON

NAME: FORT STANTON COUNTY: LINCOLN ROADS: 2WD GRID: 5 CLIMATE: Hot, cold, windy, dusty, always beautiful BEST TIME TO VISIT: any time

COMMENTS: FORT STANTON: Post office 1857-1863. REMAINS: lots to see!

FORT STANTON: 4 mi SE of Capitan. Formerly a military reservation established in 1855, through a treaty with the Mescalero Apaches in1852. Named for Capt. Henry W. Stanton, who lost his life in a battle with Indians in the Sacramentomountains on January 19, 1855. After 1896 the Army turned the buildings and site over to the US Public Health Service, which established the Fort Stanton Marine Hospital for the treatment of members of the US Merchant marine who were suffering from tuberculosis. While it was still a military post in 1880 General Pershing (then a lieutenant) was stationed here. In 1953, the federal government turned the area around the fort back to the state for use as a hospital, and a year or so later the federal government reclaimed the land for the Department of the interior, permitting the state health department to continue the use of the buildings as a hospital.FORT STANTON CAVE. About 1 mi SE of Ft. Stanton and about 5 mi SE of Capitan. Submitted by: Samuel W McWhorter

BACK