Fort Craig

Infobox_nrhp | name =Fort Craig
nrhp_type = nrhp


caption =
nearest_city= Socorro County, New Mexico
area =
built =1854
architect= Unknown
architecture=
added = October 15, 1970
governing_body = Private
refnum=70000414 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service] Named for Captain Louis T. Craig, Fort Craig, in Socorro County, New Mexico, was a fort built initially to control Indian raids on commerce and settlers.

Fort Craig was approximately 1,050 feet (320m) east-west by 600 feet (183m) north-south and was located on 40 acres (16 hectares) near the Rio Grande in southeastern New Mexico. It was near the site of the Battle of Valverde, a major Civil War battle between Union troops led by Colonel Edward Canby and Confederate forces of General Henry Sibley.

After the Civil War, Fort Craig was used by the Buffalo Soldiers and General George Crook in the Apache Wars. It was permanently abandoned in 1885.

The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.

In 2008, it emerged that 20 bodies had been looted from the cemetery at Fort Craig, and 67 were exhumed and removed by Federal archaeologists to prevent further looting.The exhumations conducted from August to October removed 67 skeletons-39 men, 2 women and 26 infants and children.cite web|url=http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_re_us/soldier_remains_exhumation;_ylt=AnyZdi5pTqbHpMyvxJTTCYNvzwcF
title= 67 bodies secretly exhumed from NM grave |author=Melanie Dabovich|date=2008-04-08|accessdate=2008-04-08|work=Associate Press article|publisher=Yahoo]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.blm.gov/nm/st/en/prog/recreation/socorro/fort_craig.html Bureau of Land Management Fort Craig site]
* [http://www.over-land.com/fortcraig.html Fort Craig, New Mexico]
* [http://www.newmexicoet.com/ft_craig_photos.htm Fort Craig National Historic Site] (sic, but note it is not a National Historic Site, webpage with multiple recent photos)
* [http://www.forttours.com/pages/fortcraig.asp Fort Tours Fort Craig history page]