FORT UNION Historic Structure Report

Shoemaker's Last Days. Captain William Rawle Shoemaker announced his retirement on June 30, 1882, and asked permission to stay in his quarters in return for watching over the arsenal buildings. He was allowed to remain. On July 3, 1882, the Headquarters of the Army transferred 1st Lieutenant A.H. Russell of the Ordnance department from Rock Island Arsenal to the command of Fort Lowell Ordnance Depot "and to the duty of breaking up the Fort Union Arsenal and distributing the stores." [79] The stores were to be distributed between the Lowell Ordnance Depot and Rock Island Arsenal. [80] In the middle of July, 1st Lt. A.H. Russell arrived to abolish the arsenal and begin demolition of the structures. [81]

Shoemaker requested the opportunity to buy a few articles from the ordnance stores before they were shipped back to the other depots. He asked for simple carpenter's tools for rough carpentry including common planes, saws, squared, brace and auger bits, chisels, a grinding stone and an oil stone. He also wanted to purchase a cart, wheel barrow, shovels, hoes and a few other items. He intended to use all of the tools to maintain the buildings. [82]

Apparently Lt. Russell took quite a liking to Captain Shoemaker. After spending a month with him, he wrote:

Captain Shoemaker is active as ever, but it is a sad thing for him to see all his precious stores pass from under his eyes and the idea of having Ordnance buildings turned over to the Q.M. Dept. and the line of the Army [his emphasis] goes quite against his grain. He is very much pleased, however, at having his house left to him; and he is very grateful to the Chief of Ordnance for this kind action. [83]

Lt. Russell also commented on the fact that the quartermaster department built all of the new buildings, which was quite a change from Shoemaker's day when the military storekeeper had a direct line to Washington. [84]

In the summer of 1883, the Interior Department questioned the War Department about possibly taking over the Fort Union buildings for an Indian school. The War Department denied the request in June citing that Fort Union was needed for military service, but then issued instructions to transfer the buildings to Interior in November. [85]

Figure 15. Although this photograph was taken after Shoemaker's death his impact on the land was still overwhelming. The wooden fence, shade trees, architectural details and gutters on the buildings were signs of permanent settlement. This was a dramatic change from the impermanent construction of Fort Union of the 1850s. Fort Union National Monument.

On September 6, 1886, Shoemaker died of "general senile debility" and other problems. He was still living in the house that he had built, and he was still the volunteer custodian of the empty arsenal buildings at the time of his death. [86] His obituary in the Las Vegas Optic stated that his title was Captain of Ordnance, and noted that the title had been abolished years before; but Shoemaker was able to retain it because of his age and loyalty to his country for so many years. After a recitation of his military credentials, his obituary continued:

He was well known to many of our older citizens, but the increasing infirmity of deafness prevented his making many acquaintances in the last few years. He was a great hunter, and passionately fond of dogs and fine horses. Of the latter he always kept the best the country could afford. As a man he was courteous and affable, as an officer firm and faithful. Upright in all his dealings, never was the breath of slander upon his name. He will be buried at Fort Union tomorrow, the funeral taking place from his late residence. [87]

Through his years with the army, Shoemaker had invented the Shoemaker bit (a low-port grazing bit) and improved the design of the McClellan saddle. Just before the Civil War he had a pack of greyhounds that he used for hunting; he kept them in a kennel at the commissary corral. [88] He also became famous throughout the southwest for breeding race and pleasure horses.

The End of an Era. The arsenal appeared to have received intermittent use following Shoemaker's death. In 1887, a troop of cavalry occupied the buildings. [89] Also, an estimate of materials for fiscal year 1889 included costs for tin roofing and linseed oil for the officer's quarters and lumber for the arsenal barracks and shed for the stables. [90] That same year more correspondence in quartermaster files stated that the arsenal, abandoned that year, contained ample accommodations for a troop of cavalry, and that the commanding officer's quarters there was in good condition. [91] An inspection report also completed in 1889 reported conditions contrary to the other report: it stated that the arsenal buildings "are unoccupied and will soon go to pieces. I know of no use to put them to, and no guard is kept over there." [92]

Figure 16. After the roofing materials and lumber were salvaged from the arsenal buildings, deterioration came rapidly.

Within three years, however, illegal salvage operations had started dismantling the arsenal buildings. Captain Shoemaker had been meticulous about the quality of his construction materials despite the small appropriations he received for construction. He stretched his dollars often by hiring talented civilian workmen who produced quality work. In 1892, six years after his death, Shoemaker's buildings were coming apart piece by piece. A contemporary report described the situation:

Arsenal: located about one mile from post, and consisted of some twenty adobe buildings, which have been completely gutted of doors, windows, mantles, water-pipes, fixtures, &c. The material entering into these structures was of the most substantial kind and much of value in the way of timbers, floors, &c., still remains. [93]

After the turn of the century, winds, rain, and snow, cattle, and bulldozers took their toll on the remnants of the arsenal.

Summary. William Rawle Shoemaker was the military storekeeper (M.S.K.) who came out to New Mexico in 1849 as the chief ordnance officer for the Department of New Mexico. In 1851, he began establishing a small ordnance depot within the boundaries of Fort Union; the ordnance depot, however, was a separate military operation from the fort proper. Between 1862 and 1864, Shoemaker moved most of his operation into the relative safety of the earthen fortification, but he was back to the first fort area as quickly as he could be in 1864.

The army's official ordnance reservation was set aside in 1866, and after that time appropriations began to trickle through for building construction. Prior to the reservation designation, Shoemaker's outfit mainly occupied the dilapidated buildings of the first fort. Shoemaker improvised with building materials, funding, and the other vagaries of the army to maintain, and often improve upon what he had. Between 1869 and 1873, when most of the arsenal was constructed, Shoemaker was able to put to use his knowledge of building construction in the New Mexico climate. The design of his installation varied from typical army layouts of the period. Instead of the usual rectangular parade ground and neat rows of surrounding structures, Shoemaker's layout of the large adobe wall, teardrop-shaped drive and subordinate structures adjacent to the main house had a civilian design.

Shoemaker retired in 1882, at which time the army began shutting down the arsenal operation. Shoemaker remained on as caretaker of the buildings until his death in 1886. The army continued maintaining the buildings through 1889, but salvage operations were underway on the structures and the buildings were gutted by 1892. The arsenal that Shoemaker had worked so hard on constructing fell into ruin.