Fort Sumner is on the high, dry eastern plains of New Mexico but there is plenty of history there, including the Billy the Kid Museum.
Fort Sumner, New Mexico is one of the most interesting towns in New Mexico to visit as there is so very much history to be found there. It is in DeBaca County, in the middle of Vaughn and Clovis. The town is by the Pecos River and nearby Sumner Lake. The town is l40 miles each way to either Albuquerque or Lubbuck, Texas. It is a small town with places to dine and you can find lodging there. Camping is available at nearby Sumner Lake. At one time Fort Sumner was called Sunnyside, New Mexico and was in San Miguel County. The post office was established in l878 and was there till l882. In 1891 Sunnyside, New Mexico was then put in Guadalupe County and the post office was there from the year l905 to l910. In l909 the two towns that were side by side called Sunnyside and Fort Sumner became one town and the name given was Fort Sumner. These two towns had many disagreements but finally in l909 they became just one town.
Fort Sumner was incorporated as a village at a meeting of the Guadalupe County Commissioners probably after 1910. It was named for the military fort that was established in 1862 by General Carleton, and which honored General Edmond Vose Sumner, commander of the 9th Military District. A post office was established in 1866 for the Fort and used intermittently at various locations after the military fort was closed until 1910. The last location was near Sunnyside where the AT & SF RR had built a depot about 1908. The town of Fort Sumner had found a home at last and when it found a place to stay, it grew rapidly. De Baca, County was established in l917 and Fort Sumner became the county seat.
This town has always been a farming and ranching area due to the irrigation available in the area. When the Alamogordo Dam was built on Sumner Lake it was the construction headquarters. At one time or another many crops have been grown there such as apples, alfalfa, grapes, melons and sweet potatoes. Today the town is the same as ever as the people are very friendly and always welcome visitors to this historical area.
After the war with Mexico the United States conquered the territory and found itself with many Indian problems. The Mescalero Apaches, Navajos and the Commanches had been fighting since the Spanish settled the area in 1598. For over two hundred fifty years the Spanish were harming the Navajo women and children and selling them as slaves. American Generals sent troops to Ojo del Oso (Bear Spring) and defeated the Navajos and signed a treaty. The United States Government built forts in New Mexico and stationed their troops at these forts. Several of these forts included Fort Union, Defiance, Craig, Fillmore, Marcy and Fort Thorn. They used their troops to control the Indians thus they had fewer problems with the Indians from l856 to l86l. A fort was deemed necessary on the Pecos River at the Bosque Redondo, an elbow of the Pecos River. These troops built roads in this area.
After the Civil War started in l86l many of the troops were taken from the forts in New Mexico. These forts became weak as the Indians began raids and committed depredations for at least twenty years. In l862 General Carleton assumed the military command and was forced to deal with the many problems involving the Indians. He felt that he could conquer all the Indians and put them under guard in an area. He established a reservation forty miles square on the Pecos River and began to conquer the Indians and bring them to this reservation.
His first decision was to slay the Mescalero Apaches if they resisted arrest and to take the women and children as prisoners. The majority of the Mescalero Indians went east into the Commanche country. Other Mescaleros went to Mexico. In l863 he had approximately 500 hundred of the Mescalero Apaches held.
A treaty was made with the chieftains for peace and government assistance and was accepted. The Apaches and Navajos that either were captured or surrended had to make what is called a Long Walk, some walking 400 miles from their homelands to this fort at the Bosque. The fort was named Fort Sumner after General Edwin Vose Summer. These Indians were kept prisoners at Fort Sumner for five long years and many died due to the weather elements, being deprived of nutrition and of the disease in the area. General William Sherman came to the Bosque Redondo area and in l868 he sent the Indians home as he deeded this new reservation a total failure.
Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell a large landowner bought the structures at Fort Sumner and when he retired he came to live at the Fort and made his home in the officer quarters that he had remodeled.
The Billy the Kid Museum is located in Fort Sumner and he is buried in the cemetery there. He was born Henry McCarty and used the alias of William H. Bonney, Kid Antrim and Billy the Kid. This era in the history of New Mexico during the l870's to l880's reveals much lack of respect for the law. Billy the Kid in the 1870's came from Silver City and rode many trails in the area. He was a killer from a very young age, hung in saloons and played cards very well. There are many tales as to the number of men he killed, some true, some not. He was the leader of a 12 man gang that went about the area killing and stealing cattle. He went to Lincoln County and engaged in the Lincoln County War. After John Tunstall was killed Billy set out to kill every man involved in his death. He began a vendetta throughout New Mexico. Sheriff Pat Garrett became Sheriff of Lincoln County and set out to capture or kill Billy the Kid and he did in 1881 by killing him in the home of Lucien B. Maxwell. In l908 Pat Garrett met his own demise and is buried in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
There are many mementos of the original Fort Sumner, Indian artifacts and memorabilia from this outlaw, Billy the Kid in this Museum. It is privately owned and is one of the larger museums in the Southwest.
Billy the Kid's tombstone was stolen twice and brought to Texas and California then later returned to his grave as it is today. Fort Sumner has a tombstone race yearly in which the contestants carry an 80 pound tombstone over an obstacle course.
At the Fort Sumner National Monument there is a museum just east of the Monument. Sumner Lake is 6 miles west and l0 miles north of the town of Fort Sumner out on N.M. 203. This lake was formed by a dam on the Pecos River. In May there are many people fishing trying to catch the walleys. There are camping sites, comfort stations and boat ramps available. You might want to consider spending a day or so in this Fort Sumner area. You can relive all the history that took place during those years of the old West in New Mexico.
