Fort Wingate: A Military Outpost in the Shadow of the Long Walk

Fort Wingate’s history is deeply entwined with U.S. efforts to manage, suppress, and later reconcile relations with the Navajo people.

Fort Wingate’s history is deeply entwined with U.S. efforts to manage, suppress, and later reconcile relations with the Navajo people in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Originally established in 1860 as Fort Fauntleroy at Bear Springs (Ojo del Oso), the fort was one of several frontier outposts created to secure American expansion into the Southwest following the U.S.–Mexico War. It was part of a broader military strategy to control Indigenous populations, especially the Navajo, whose resistance to encroachment and raids on settlements had become a persistent concern to territorial officials and settlers. Tensions at Fort Fauntleroy came to a head in 1861 after a violent confrontation during a ration distribution event, which ended in the deaths of over a dozen Navajo individuals. The incident shattered fragile diplomatic relations and contributed to an intensification of military pressure.

In the years that followed, Fort Wingate became a key staging ground for the U.S. Army’s campaign to subdue the Navajo. Under the leadership of General James H. Carleton and Kit Carson, the military executed a scorched-earth policy aimed at destroying the Navajo’s means of subsistence. This culminated in the Long Walk of 1864—a forced relocation of roughly 8,000 Navajo men, women, and children from their homelands to the Bosque Redondo reservation at Fort Sumner, over 350 miles away. Many perished during the journey or while confined to the poorly resourced reservation. Fort Wingate played a direct role in this process, serving as a central holding area and logistical base for the removal operation.

Following several years of hardship, poor conditions, and growing public criticism of Indian policy, the U.S. government reversed its course. In 1868, a treaty was signed at Fort Sumner allowing the Navajo to return to a portion of their ancestral lands. Fort Wingate was reestablished that same year, this time at the former site of Fort Fauntleroy, to oversee the resettlement process and continue monitoring the Navajo population. Though relations gradually stabilized, the military remained a presence in Navajo life. The fort’s responsibilities included enforcing boundaries, responding to reported disturbances, and administering rations and supplies, often under policies that continued to restrict Indigenous autonomy.

By the early 20th century, Fort Wingate’s role had shifted again. In 1911, part of the post was designated for use by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and in 1925, the old parade grounds and barracks were repurposed as a boarding school for Navajo and Zuni children. This marked a new phase in federal policy that sought cultural assimilation through education. The fort’s transformation into an educational institution reflected broader national efforts to suppress Indigenous languages and customs through formal schooling. While it offered structured learning and vocational training, the boarding school system also imposed severe cultural losses and left a lasting mark on generations of Native families.

Today, Fort Wingate stands as both a reminder of military expansionism and a witness to the resilience of the Navajo people. While many of the original buildings are gone or repurposed, the site continues to bear the imprint of its long and often painful history. Environmental cleanup and land transfers remain ongoing, and tribal, federal, and local stakeholders are still shaping Fort Wingate’s legacy. It is where military history, Indigenous sovereignty, and national memory intersect, and where the past continues to inform the present.