Fort Bayard - 1866-1900 / Fort Bayard National Cemetery

The hospital the panel mentions came because the soldiers here stayed healthy. Army Surgeon General George Sternberg, noting the post's record, made Fort Bayard the Army's first tuberculosis sanatorium in 1899. It became a Veterans Administration hospital on May 1, 1922, and during World War II up to 100 German prisoners from the Lordsburg camp worked there. The state took it over in 1965. In 2010 the patients moved to a new building nearby and the old post was left empty; a Buffalo Soldier statue of Corporal Clinton Greaves stands on the parade ground.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Fort Bayard 1866-1900 One of the several posts created on the Apache frontier, Fort Bayard protected the Pinos Altos mining district. Company B of the black 125th Infantry served here, as did Lt. John J. Pershing. In 1900 the fort became a military hospital, and today serves as Fort Bayard Medical Center. Official Scenic Historic Marker Fort Bayard National Cemetery Originally established in 1866 as the military cemetery for Fort Bayard, many troopers, veterans, and civilians are buried here. It became a national cemetery, one of two in New Mexico, in 1973.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Santa Rita Copper Mine — 5.7 mi
  The copper pit east of Silver City that swallowed the town it was named for, beneath a spire of volcanic rock long said to look like a nun at prayer.
• City of Rocks State Park — 17 mi
  Pinnacles of volcanic tuff up to forty feet high standing in the grassland between Deming and Silver City, worn out of an eruption 34.9 million years ago.

More markers nearby

• Santa Rita Copper Mines — steps away
• Bayard — 1.6 mi
• Ladies Auxiliary of Local 890 — 2.3 mi
• Kneeling Nun — 2.3 mi