Fort Bayard: Frontier military post and world-famous hospital

On August 21, 1866, Company B of the 125th Volunteer Colored Infantry arrived in southwestern New Mexico on a mission. They had been instructed to establish a military post near the famous Santa Rita copper mine and the rejuvenated gold camp of Pinos Altos. 

The spot they selected was near several springs, whose life-sustaining water could be brought downhill from their locations to the new fort, using only gravity without need of pumps.

Over the preceding two decades, the region had been pried from the grip of Mexico as a result of the Mexican American War of 1846-48 and had been opened up to American exploration and settlement. From the earliest years, considerable mineral wealth had been discovered, and miners, ranchers, farmers and other settlers had flocked to the area. 

Native Apache people had made the area their stronghold for centuries, and they resented the newcomers with their ideas for development and relocation of the Natives to reservations. Conflict resulted, and the American government sought to enforce its policies with military force.

Several other forts had come and gone in the region between 1851 and 1866, but this new post would prove to be lasting. It was named for Brigadier General George D. Bayard, who had been killed in action at the Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862. Ironically, he never set foot in New Mexico, but his namesake would become a long-lasting feature of the territory’s history.

Until its conversion to a medical facility in 1899, Fort Bayard was one of the most active Army posts in the Southwest. It housed both infantry and cavalry units, including companies of the famed Buffalo Soldiers, who won a reputation for being some of the most effective soldiers on the frontier. 

Fort Bayard played a major role in the Apache Wars, peaking with the efforts to subdue the great Apache leaders Victorio and Geronimo in the 1880s. As many as 800 soldiers at a time would occupy the fort complex and use it as a base of operation that saw its troops fanning out over thousands of square miles in pursuit of the formidable Apache warriors whose resistance finally ended with the surrender of Geronimo in 1886.

Among the soldiers who served at Fort Bayard was 2nd Lieutenant John J. “Blackjack” Pershing, who arrived in 1886, fresh out of West Point. He would go on to one of the most successful military careers in American history, climaxing with his command of all American forces in Europe during World War I. During his time at Fort Bayard, he helped to establish heliograph signaling stations throughout the region. 

He returned to Fort Bayard in 1922, as arguably the most famous living American, to preside over the establishment of a masonic building known as the Sojourners Club. He had been instrumental in involving his fellow Masons in the social life of military posts around the world, and was recognized for that effort at Fort Bayard.

The Hospital Era

In 1899 the mission of Fort Bayard changed to that of an Army hospital, devoted to the treatment of tuberculosis. The disease would have no available drug therapies until the late 1940s, and treatment options were centered on dry climates, special diet, isolation, and rest. 

It was known that patients often made more progress toward recovery at higher elevations. Fort Bayard’s climate and location made it an attractive option for the Army, as it sought a place to treat its personnel afflicted with the dreaded malady.

Dr. Daniel Appel was assigned as the first Commanding Doctor at Fort Bayard, beginning in 1899. It was soon discovered that many of the existing structures at the post were not easily adaptable to medical use. While Appel and other early commanders made progress, it would be Colonel Dr. George Bushnell who would shepherd the facility into its role as the leading Army hospital for tuberculosis, starting in 1904.

Suffering from the disease himself, Dr. Bushnell won the reputation as a brilliant physician and medical leader who was imaginative and energetic in development of treatment regimens. He became known worldwide for his efforts, and his resulting reputation helped convince the Army to invest the necessary money to rebuild Fort Bayard as a first-class hospital facility. 

Over the course of his command at Fort Bayard, which lasted until his transfer in 1917, Dr. Bushnell oversaw the construction of dozens of new buildings, including hospital wards, laboratories, and a new line of residential quarters along the west side of the old parade ground, which would become known as “Doctors Row.”

Another of Bushnell’s lasting accomplishments was the new landscaping for the facility. Trained in botany as well as medical science, Dr. Bushnell ordered the planting of thousands of trees and bushes, resulting in an astonishing transformation of the formerly barren landscape of Fort Bayard into that of a true oasis. 

During World War I, Fort Bayard’s patient load peaked at over 1,500. By that time, hundreds of staff and their families were making their homes at the facility. A dairy herd of more than 400 cows, a fruit orchard, and vegetable gardens were part of the scene. A steam heating plant and an electrical power plant provided needed utilities.

In 1920 the Army decided to move its main tuberculosis treatment operation to Denver. Fort Bayard was officially handed over to the U.S. Health Service, which in 1922 then transferred it to the brand-new Veterans Bureau, which would become the Veterans Administration in the 1930s. As a result, a new state-of-the-art hospital was constructed, and in became Veterans Hospital No. 55.

In 1964 the VA sold Fort Bayard to the State of New Mexico, and the hospital was converted to a state facility. In 2010 the Fort Bayard Medical Center building was completed about a mile south of the historic campus, and the former hospital and most of the remaining buildings were vacated. The VA hospital was demolished and removed in 2016.

The Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society was founded in the late 1990s, and through its efforts, the property was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2004. That designation carries no funding or staffing, so the Society through its volunteers seeks to keep the stories and legacy of Fort Bayard alive. 

The organization is actively working with the Village of Santa Clara, local legislators, and other civic organizations to preserve Fort Bayard and move forward with a recently completed Master Plan for the preservation and development of the historic property.

The FBHPS maintains a museum in the former commanding doctor’s home and is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Saturday, plus during the same hours on Sundays throughout the summer.  More information is available on the organization’s website, historicfortbayard.org.

Dr. Doug Dinwiddie serves as President of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society.  He is a retired professor of social science from New Mexico State University, and former adjunct professor of history at Colorado State University.  He earned his PhD at Northern Arizona University and also served as curator and director of the Western New Mexico University Museum from 1974 to 1987.