RE: [DL] Glorietta Pass

[James Santagate <jsanta1@prodigy.net>]

>To the north, USA Colonel Paul commanded Fort Union.  The fort >fielded 550
men, including 250 New Mexican volunteers.  Now . I >get the impression that
this size fort was more typical.  Forts >were centerpoints for supply and
garrisons for troops normally >responsible for Indian control (Apaches in
this area).  The New >Mexican volunteers were folks drummed up to increase
garrison >size after war had broken out, and would not have been part of a
>"normal" fort's troops.

I have visited the site of Fort Union in New Mexico and I must say it is a
really cool place to tour.  The fort is just to the northwest of Las Vegas,
New Mexico (not Nevada!) and about sixty miles north of Santa Fe, situated
right along the Santa Fe trail.  The location is gorgeous.  There were
actually three forts constructed on the site over the years, each one bigger
and more elaborate.  The ruins that are on the site are from the third fort
built on the site.  The buildings were made of adobe and most of what is
left is just foundations and some walls, which are being preserved in their
current state.  There are however several buildings that are mostly intact,
including the old fort hospital and several warehouses.  There is a park
ranger on site at the entrance building, which contains a small gift store
which has several books for sale that discuss the fort in very good detail. 
The walk around the site is fairly long and took me about two hours to see
everything.  There are plaques with information about the various buildings
and even some audio stuff that is accessed by pressing a button on the
plaque.  It is pretty cool to be able to step into the foundation of a
building that used to house an officer and his family and see the size of
the place in which they lived, how many rooms it had, etc.  I have a book
that I bought there that discusses the fort in greater detail.

Las Vegas, New Mexico is also an interesting old west town, where Doc
Holliday once stayed in their Plaza Hotel, which is still in operation
today.  Supposedly, Las Vegas is also where the Fort Union soldiers went for
R&R.

Jim