Fort Bliss at Lanoria Mesa

Fort Bliss nearly left El Paso before it reached this mesa. After Geronimo's surrender in 1886 the government began closing small posts, and Fort Selden, eighteen miles north of Las Cruces, was favored. El Paso leaders raised about $7,000 for land on Lanoria Mesa, and Congress then committed $300,000 for the new post. In 1921 William Beaumont General Hospital opened here, the First Cavalry Division was activated and the fort received its first artillery unit.

What the plaque says

Fort Bliss at Lanoria Mesa In 1849, U.S. troops led by Maj. Jefferson Van Horne established a post in what is now downtown El Paso to secure territory gained in the U.S.-Mexico War, 1846-48. It moved several times: to Magoffinsville in 1854; to Camp Concordia in 1868; back downtown I n1878; to Hart's Mill in the 1880s; and finally to Lanoria Mesa in 1893 on land donated by El Paso citizens. The post name changed in 1854 to honor Lt. Col. William Wallace Smith Bliss, a veteran of the U.S.-Mexico War. In 1911, responding to revolution in Mexico, the government reinforced the infantry with artillery and cavalry units. In 1916, the U.S. began large-scale military operations into northern Mexico after revolutionaries attacked Columbus, New Mexico. The Punitive Expedition, led by Gen. John J. Pershing in pursuit of Francisco "Pancho" Villa, used Fort Bliss as headquarters. It utilized more than 100,000 U.S. troops, providing vital field training for soldiers and commanders who would soon be involved in what was World War I. In 1941, Fort Bliss was the nation's largest cavalry post. With the onset of World War II, the government increased the size of the post to more than a million acres, spanning this part of Texas and a large portion of the Tularosa Basin in New Mexico. Eighty battalions of anti-aircraft artillerymen trained at Fort Bliss as part of the war effort. After the war, German scientists brought to the fort began the U.S. Army's missile program. Fort Bliss has deployed troops to all parts of the world in defense of the U.S., and it has been a training center for both U.S. and allied troops. The fort's climate, size and rich history have combined to make it a key strategic asset for the nation. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Chamizal National Memorial — 3.5 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 4.8 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 8.6 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.
• Tigua Indian Cultural Center, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo — 9.3 mi
  The cultural center of Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, the Tigua nation that has lived in the Mission Valley of El Paso since 1682 and keeps its own history here.

More markers nearby

• Fort Bliss, C.S.A. — 1.3 mi
• San Lorenzo — 2.2 mi
• Biggs Army Airfield — 2.4 mi
• Victoriano Huerta — 2.6 mi