Fort Bascom

The 1864 campaign on this panel left from Fort Bascom and came back in retreat. In November, Kit Carson marched east down the Canadian with New Mexico volunteers and about seventy-five Ute and Jicarilla scouts, and late in the month he attacked the Kiowa winter village of Dohasan near the ruins of Bent's Adobe Walls in the Texas Panhandle. Kiowa and Comanche warriors gathered by the hundreds; on his scouts' advice Carson burned the village and withdrew, reaching Fort Bascom again in December. The Army called it a victory.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Fort Bascom 1863-1870 Fort Bascom was built to protect this area from Comanches. In 1864, Kit Carson led a campaign against the Comanches, as did General Philip Sheridan in 1868. The fort was also established to control the Comancheros, New Mexicans involved in illegal trade with the Comanches. Fort Bascom was abandoned in 1870.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blue Swallow Motel — 6.1 mi
  A twelve-room tourist court on Tucumcari's stretch of Route 66, built in 1939, run for four decades by one woman, and lit by one of the most photographed motel signs on the road.

More markers nearby

• Yetta Kohn (1843-1917) — 5.5 mi
• Tucumcari — 6.2 mi
• Comanche Country — 6.6 mi
• Tucumcari Mountain — 7.1 mi