Fort Craig

Captain Louis S. Craig, for whom the fort was named, had been killed by deserters in California on June 6, 1852. The post was established on March 31, 1854, and by July 1861 it was the largest fort in the Southwest, with more than two thousand soldiers. When Sibley's Texans came up the river in February 1862, the garrison set fake wooden cannons on its gravel bastions beside the real guns, with empty soldiers' caps alongside. The panel dates the defeat at Valverde to 1865; the battle was fought on February 21, 1862.

What the plaque says

Official Scenic Historic Marker Fort Craig Fort Craig was established in 1853 and garrisoned in 1854 with troops from Fort Conrad located about nine miles north. Named after Capt. Louis S. Craig, it was used to control Indian raids along the Jornada del Muerto. Troops from Fort Craig were defeated in 1865 by Confederates at the Battle of Valverde, 7 miles distant. Between 1863 and 1865 it was headquarters for campaigns against the Gila and Mimbres Apache.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge — 19 mi
  A Rio Grande refuge south of Socorro where cranes and geese winter by the tens of thousands on wetlands and fields kept by people, because the river no longer floods to make them.

More markers nearby

• Vásquez de Coronado's Route — steps away
• Women of the Camino Real — steps away
• Paraje De Fra Cristobal — steps away
• Espejo's Expedition — steps away