FORT UNION Historic Structure Report

¹Leo Oliva, Fort Union and the Frontier Army in the Southwest, Southwest Cultural Resources Center, Professional Papers no. 41 (Santa Fe: National Park Service, 1993). Oliva's draft manuscript is on file at the Southwest Regional Office in the files of the Division of History, as well as at Fort Union National Monument.

²See "Old Fort Union (Parcel No. 2), Survey by: Wohlbrandt, Marsh, and Cotten, Date: Aug. 1960 and July, 1961, Compilation by: Cotten, Date: Nov. 1961, NM-FTU-2016, Drawer H, Doc. No. 112, Fort Union National Monument Files; "Archeology and Everyday Life at Fort Union," New Mexico Historical Review, 1965, 40(1), pp. 55-64.

³Wayne Ruwet, "The First Fort Union, Its Destruction and Replacement by the Fort Union Arsenal," December, 1969, accession no. 1393, Fort Union National Monument Files.

⁴Wayne Ruwet, "Fort Union, Its History and Its Value to Archeology," MA Thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of California at Los Angeles, 1970; accession no. 1392, Fort Union National Monument Files.

⁵Robert Louis Reiter, "The History of Fort Union, New Mexico," Thesis, University of Colorado, 1950. David M. Delo, Peddlers and Post Traders: the Army Sutler on the Frontier (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1992), p. 149. Darlis A. Miller, Soldiers and Settlers: Military Supply in the Southwest (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1989). Darlis A. Miller, "The Perils of a Post Sutler: William H. Moore at Fort Union, New Mexico, 1859-1870," Journal of the West 32 (April, 1993): 7-18.

⁶Miller, "Perils," p. 8.

⁷Delo, Peddlers, p. 171.

⁸Barton H. Barbour, ed., Reluctant Frontiersman: James Ross Larkin on the Santa Fe Trail, 1856-57 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1990), pp. 112-114; Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 402.

⁹Post sutler's Store, FOUN Document File, p. 6. Webb's wife, Marcella Smith Webb, later received a divorce from Nathan on the grounds of abandonment and adultery.

¹⁰Actually, it is a little more complicated than that: Colonel W. W. Loring and the council of administration chose W. H. Moore on January 30, 1859, and wrote on February 10, 1859, to Colonel S. Cooper, Adjutant General, U. S. Army Headquarters, Washington, D. C., notifying him of their selection. Colonel Cooper then wrote back to New Mexico to W. H. Moore on March 26, notifying him of his selection, to take effect upon the expiration of Alexander's appointment on December 31. Moore probably did not receive this letter until perhaps the end of April, 1859. This was the typical approval process. In subsequent notes, the date of the available letter of authorization or the equivalent will be used.

¹¹The following discussion is based on Miller, "Perils," and William H. Moore, William C. Mitchell, et al. vs. Gertrude E. Huntington, administratrix of Nathan Webb, deceased, Supreme Court of the United States no. 433, filed December 1870, copy in the Document Files of Fort Union National Monument.

¹²Oliva, "Frontier Army," pp. 547-48.

¹³Mora County Clerk's Office, Deed Records [MCDR], A:357-58, January 1, 1872. Other than the plan derived from field work in 1989, the 1866 map of Fort Union shows the plan of Moore's store. It was surveyed by Brevet Colonel H. M. Enos and John Lambert in August through December, and the final map undoubtedly drawn in January, 1867.

¹⁴William H. Ryus, The Second William Penn: A true account of incidents that happened along the old Santa Fe Trail in the Sixties (Kansas City, Missouri: Frank T. Riley Publishing Co., 1913), p. 128.

¹⁵Moore's store was first insured on Feb. 1, 1863 (FOUN Document Files, William H. Moore file). It was the first building to be constructed of the Sutler's Row at Third Fort Union, and is the one shown in the ca. 1865 photograph, Third Fort Union, ill. 53, pp. 230-31; in the background of Third Fort Union, ill. 22, pp. 168-69, taken about the same time; and shown in plan on the 1866 map, August-December, 1866; in fact, it is the only sutler's building in the row until Barrow begins his store, HS-305, in December, 1867. Because of the uncertainties about the 1866 map, the specific structure that was Moore's store cannot be proven using it alone. However, about August, the photograph in Third Fort Union, ill. 22, p. 169, clearly shows the building in Third Fort Union, ill. 53, p. 231, taken probably the same day, in the background behind HS-29. Lines of sight prove that this is indeed HS-303.

¹⁶Moore, Mitchell, et al. vs. Huntington. In 1866, Moore claimed that the buildings had cost him more than $25,000, while in 1870 Mitchell stated that they had cost $10,000; Miller, "Perils," p. 13. Even allowing for reasonable additions and improvements, these claims are obviously inflated.

¹⁷It is possible that Moore had a sutler's store at the Second Fort for a time in 1861 and early 1862; one of the long, strange buildings east of the fort, HS-218 or HS-219, could have begun as a sutler's building.

¹⁸One of the ca. 1885 photographs shows this gate, and it is visible today as a gap in the ruins of the wall.

¹⁹Ryus, Second William Penn, p. 128. William Ryus was a "counter jumper," a sales clerk, one of four who worked for William H. Moore at the sutler store about 1865.

²⁰Ryus, Second William Penn, p. 128. Carson was commander of Fort Union from December, 1865, to April, 1866.

²¹Arrott Collection, card # 00162, Francisco Abreu to Major Benjamin C. Cutler, July 5, 1865, FOUN Fact Files.

²²United States Statutes 14, 39th Congress, 1st Session. Miller, "Perils," p. 8.

²³The series of orders issued in 1867 are very complex, and constantly refer back to earlier orders. If a military post missed receiving some of the orders, the others would appear to be meaningless and contradictory. Since mail was lost and destroyed frequently during this period, undoubtedly some posts were put in a very confusing position.

²⁴Delo, Peddlers, p. 148.

²⁵Ibid.

²⁶Lieutenant Colonel W. B. Lane to Headquarters of the Army, Washington, D. C., May 10, 1867. The Army appears to have added Shoemaker to the approved list later, before October 4, when his authorization is revoked. Presumably Shoemaker received approval sometime after August 22, when multiple traders are authorized. Shoemaker had been in trouble about his sutlering activities before, when on August 2, 1866, he was ordered to close his illegal sutler's store. Later correspondence indicates that this was at the Arsenal.

²⁷Delo, Peddlers, p. 148. The commanding officer could restrict traders to one, if he though appropriate.

²⁸Miller, "Perils," p. 15. Grant was married to Dent's sister, Julia.

²⁹He was authorized in Special Order 102, issued by Headquarters, Fort Union, but no date is given for the order in the reference to it.

³⁰Brevet Major General Getty, Headquarters, District of New Mexico, Special Orders 97, October 4, 1867.

³¹John E. Barrow, 44th Congress, 1st House Report, volume 8, Number 799, Serial 1715, Hearings on "Sale of Post Traderships," (hereafter called "Hearings,"), p. 137.

³²B. Gordon Daniels, 44th Congress, 1st House Report, Volume 8, Number 799, Serial 1715, Hearings on "Sale of Post Traderships," p. 127.

³³Hearings, pp. 137, 138, 142, 144.

³⁴Ibid., pp. 137, 144.

³⁵Ibid., p. 137.

³⁶Ibid., pp. 137, 138, 142, 143, 140. Sometime this year, W. H. Moore and Company owed money to the company of Bryant and Bernard; it is possible that William D. W. Bernard was associated with this company.

³⁷Hearings, p. 141.

³⁸FOUN, Fact Files, December 5, 1867; Hearings, p. 141.

³⁹On December 14, 1867, Barrow bought $1,389.60 from A. Graclachowski, presumably in San Miguel County, New Mexico (Legal Notice, Weekly New Mexican, October 26, 1869, col. 1, p. 3). It is possible that this purchase was of construction material and building hardware. Hearings, p. 137-39.

⁴⁰Hearings, p. 144.

⁴¹Barrow sent identical advertisements to the two Santa Fe newspapers. His first ad appeared in the Santa Fe Weekly Gazette on February 15, p. 2, col. 5. The ad in the New Mexican appeared on February 18, p. 2 col. 5.

⁴²On September 25, 1868, the Post Commander ordered John Barrow to stop selling liquor to enlisted men at the "Billiard Saloon" associated with his store; Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 729.

⁴³The presence of a barber shop here is taken from the letter by John Taaffe to Commanding Officer, Fort Union, October 23, 1868, FOUN Fact File; that it was operated by John Gilbert is based on the 1870 census.

⁴⁴Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 1035.

⁴⁵John Taaffe to Commanding Officer, Fort Union, October 23, 1868, FOUN Fact File.

⁴⁶Santa Fe Weekly Gazette, July 11, 1868, p. 2, col. 5.

⁴⁷Hearings, p. 141.

⁴⁸Ibid., p. 137, 143.

⁴⁹While Barrow was gone, Bernard bet a load of Barrow's sugar and coffee that Ulysses Grant would win New York by 20,000 votes. He lost.

⁵⁰Hearings, p. 137.

⁵¹Ibid.

⁵²Barrow said that "Mr. Mickels" had been in the Army for some time as Quartermaster Clerk. He was the brother-in-law of General Bradley, who was Quartermaster of Fort Union; Hearings, pp. 140-41.

⁵³Hearings, p. 139.

⁵⁴Ibid., p. 139.

⁵⁵Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 1017.

⁵⁶Hearings, p. 137.

⁵⁷Weekly New Mexican, January 26, 1869, p. 3, col. 1.

⁵⁸On December 4, the daily New Mexican mentioned that Dent was visiting Bernard at Fort Union, and had publicly expressed an interest in returning to New Mexico (Santa Fe New Mexican, December 4, 1868). "Notice," Santa Fe Weekly Gazette, February 6, 1869, p. 2, col 5; also Weekly New Mexican, February 9, 1869, p. 3, col. 1; Hearings, 137, 139, 140.

⁵⁹Hearings, 137, 140.

⁶⁰"Notice," Santa Fe Weekly Gazette, February 6, 1869, p. 2, col 5; also Weekly New Mexican, February 9, 1869, p. 3, col. 1; Hearings, 137, 140.

⁶¹Hearings, p. 138.

⁶²Ibid., pp. 137, 139

⁶³Ibid., p. 144. On October 26, in Santa Fe, Frank Chapman published an official notice of attachment of the goods and possessions of the J. E. Barrow Company, specifically the possessions of John Barrow and William D. W. Bernard, on behalf of A. Graclachowski, who had sold goods to the company on December 14, 1867. The case was to be heard in March, 1870. If one or both defendants did not appear in court, their property would be sold to satisfy the outstanding amount owed (Weekly New Mexican, October 26, 1869, p. 3, col. 1). Dent, the actual owner at this time, must have settled this account.

⁶⁴In the Gazette, it ran through the last issue of the paper in September, 1869, but this may have been through an oversight.

⁶⁵Miller, "Perils," p. 16; Special Orders 177, Headquarters Department of the Missouri, September 23, 1869.

⁶⁶Hearings, p. 138.

⁶⁷No reference to his proposed bowling alley is known after Greisinger's original letter for permission. Unfortunately, no direct evidence indicates whether HS-303 or HS-304 was the Greisinger building; however, considering the number of people apparently resident in Greisinger's Hotel in the 1870 census, it is likely that this establishment was located in the larger HS-303, rather than the smaller HS-304. The discussion assumes that Greisinger constructed the core building of HS-303 as his house and restaurant in October-November, 1868.

⁶⁸The hotel appeared as in use on the 1868 map, drawn in May and updated through at least December, 1868, but closed before mid-1870, since it does not appear in the census of that year.

⁶⁹For example, the census refers to him as "hotelkeeper;" Harry C. Myers, ed., La Junta Precinct No. 11, Mora County, New Mexico, 1860, 1870, 1880, Federal Census Enumeration (Albuquerque: New Mexico Genealogical Society, 1993), pp. 49-63.

⁷⁰Adjutant General circular, authorized by the Secretary of War, March 25, 1872; Delo, Peddlers, pp. 153, 157.

⁷¹Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 755.

⁷²House Resolution Executive Document #249, July 15, 1870. Delo says that "as passed," the bill allowed only one trader; Delo, Peddlers, pp. 149, 152, 154.

⁷³Reiter, "The History of Fort Union," p. 47; Miller, "Perils," p. 16.

⁷⁴Reiter, "The History of Fort Union," pp. 47-48.

⁷⁵Miller, "Perils," p. 16-17.

⁷⁶MCDR, A:357-58.

⁷⁷Dent to Major David Clendenin, Commanding Officer, Fort Union, April 4, 1871, FOUN Fact Files.

⁷⁸Census of 1870, August 16-September 5, Myers, La Junta Precinct No. 11, Mora County, New Mexico, 1860, 1870, 1880, Federal Census Enumeration.

⁷⁹This building appears to have been added to Sutlers Row between 1866 and about 1870; it first appears on the 1868 map, updated through perhaps 1869. The space between HS-302 and the next building to the south seems to be large enough that HS-301 is not yet present, and HS-300 must be the structure shown.

⁸⁰Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 884.

⁸¹Reiter, "The History of Fort Union," p. 50.

⁸²Miller "Perils," p. 16.

⁸³Major J. F. Wade, Commanding, to John C. Dent, March 18, 1876, Fort Union Fact File.

⁸⁴Col. Dudley, commanding officer, Fort Union, July 18, 1877.

⁸⁵Headquarters, District of New Mexico, to Commanding Officer, Fort Union, October 26, 1877, FUNM Fact Files.

⁸⁶FOUN, Document Files, Mary Lou Skinner to Bruce T. Ellis, November 14, 1966. Photograph of HS-305, MNM #36599, shown in Third Fort Union, ill. 54, p. 233, sent to the Museum of New Mexico by Mary Lou Skinner, Crayton Conger's granddaughter, probably dates from the period of about 1880-1881 that the Crayton Conger family was at Fort Union.

⁸⁷Fact File, FOUN.

⁸⁸Mary Lou Skinner to Bruce T. Ellis, November 14, 1966, in Document Files, FOUN. Safronia Jager was born Safronia Gregg, daughter of the prominent farmer George W. Gregg. June 19, 1880, civilians with permission to live on the post are the "acting Post Trader [Arthur Conger], his family and employees, Beef Contractor [possibly Frank G. Jager] and family;" Lt. Col. Dudley, Commanding Officer, General Order 22, June 19, 1880, Fact File, FOUN.

⁸⁹Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 730.

⁹⁰Reiter, "The History of Fort Union," p. 50.

⁹¹Col. Granville Haller, commanding officer, Fort Union, to Secretary of War, January 21, 1882, Fact File, FOUN.

⁹²Reiter, "The History of Fort Union," p. 88.

⁹³Fact File, FOUN.

⁹⁴Las Vegas Optic, June 7, 1884. In 1886, for example, when Edward Woodbury was officially the trader, Conger was referred to in Army correspondence as the trader.

⁹⁵The buildings in their most complete form are visible in two photographs probably taken within a year or two of 1885, MNM #1823, and FOUN #1351. The last photograph is usually cited as having been taken in 1879, for unknown reasons, but evidence in the photograph strongly supports the later date.

⁹⁶Thomas Lahey was still operating out of Fort Union as of June 1, 1876 (Thomas Lahey to C. B. Tison, June 1, 1876, FOUN, Fact File, Sutlers and Post Traders, Q170). He last appeared in the civilian authorization of 1877 (see note 85); he did not appear at Fort Union in the census or authorization of 1880.

⁹⁷MCDR, A:161. On August, 1876, H. V. Harris and W. B. Stapp applied for a joint position as trader (Reiter, p. 47). It is odd that this dates after Harris's sale of the Moore building. W. B. Stapp appears several times in testimony collected from William Moore in December, 1870. In one reference, it appears that Stapp owed Moore a debt of $252 and that this was considered uncollectible; in a second reference, Stapp was one of the two principals of the company of Stapp and Hopkins, also in debt to Moore. William Stapp had been a clerk for Moore in the 1860s, and Hopkins married one of Moore's daughters (Fact File, FOUN).

⁹⁸Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 731.

⁹⁹Woodbury, and perhaps the traders before him, had "one room attached to the store which was set aside as sort of an officer's club. It was one place where they could go to play whist and things of that kind." Colonel Aubrey Lippincott, son of Surgeon Henry Lippincott, reel 29, side 2, Oral History Tapes, 1968, FOUN, p. 2.

¹⁰⁰Lippincott, p. 3.

¹⁰¹John Taaffe to Commanding Officer, Fort Union, October 23, 1868, FOUN Fact File.

¹⁰²Pitcaithley and Greene, ill. 54, pp. 232-33. The eaves of the roof and part of the adobe wall leaning out from behind the facade can be seen on the left and right sides of the picture.

¹⁰³NARG 156, Letters Received, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, M.S.K. Shoemaker, Union Arsenal, to General Dyer, Ordnance Department, Washington, November 16, 1865.

¹⁰⁴Oliva, "Frontier Army," p. 906.

¹⁰⁵NARG 156, Letters Received, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, M. S. K. Shoemaker, Union Arsenal, to General H. K. Craig, Ordnance Department, Washington, May 13, 1859.

¹⁰⁶NARG 156, Letters Received, Office of the Chief of Ordnance, M. S. K. Shoemaker, Union Arsenal, to General A. B. Dyer, Chief of Ordnance, Washington, November 16, 1865.

¹⁰⁷Arrott Collection, card 110, Brigadier General James H. Carleton, Headquarters, Department of New Mexico, Santa Fe, to Captain William Craig, Depot Quartermaster, Fort Union, New Mexico, February 22, 1963.