Fort Sumner

Fort Sumner was a military fort in De Baca County in southeastern New Mexico charged with the internment of Navajo and Mescalero Apache populations from 1863-1868 at nearby Bosque Redondo.

History

On October 31, 1862, Congress authorized the construction of Fort Sumner. General James Henry Carleton initially justified the fort as offering protection to settlers in the Pecos River valley from the Mescalero Apache, Kiowa, and Comanche. He also created the Bosque Redondo reservation, a 40-square-mile (100 km²) area where over 9,000 Navajo and Mescalero Apaches were forced to live because of accusations that they were raiding white settlements near their respective homelands. The fort was named for General Edwin Vose Sumner.

The stated purpose of the reservation was for it to be self-sufficient, while teaching Mescalero Apache and Navajo how to be modern farmers. General Edward Canby, whom Carleton replaced, first suggested that the Navajo people be moved to a series of reservations and be taught new skills. Some in Washington, D.C. thought that the Navajo did not need to be moved and that a reservation should be created on their own land. Some New Mexico citizens encouraged killing the Navajo or at least removing them from their lands. The 1865 and 1866 corn production was sufficient, but in 1867 it was a total failure. Army officers and Indian Agents realized that Bosque Redondo was a failure, as it had poor water and too little firewood for the numbers of people who were living there. The Mescalero soon ran away; the Navajo stayed longer, but, in May 1868, were finally permitted to return to their native lands.

Fort Sumner (Maine)

Fort Sumner was a coastal defense fortification on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine, United States. It was built in 1794 as part of the First System of coastal fortifications built by the United States. It was reportedly originally named Fort Allen after the nearby Revolutionary War battery that probably became part of Fort Sumner, but was renamed in 1797 after Increase Sumner, the incumbent Governor of Massachusetts, of which Maine was then a part. The location is now Fort Sumner Park, also called Standpipe Park, at 60 North Street.

History

Fort Sumner consisted of a blockhouse, magazine, and barracks on the summit of Munjoy Hill, where Fort Sumner Park is now, and a "water battery" (battery near a body of water) or "detached battery", probably where Fort Allen Park is now and an upgrade of the Revolutionary War Fort Allen. The battery was rebuilt in 1798 and 1808. The Secretary of War's report for December 1811 describes a battery "at the north end of the town... of five guns mounted and four 18-pounders mounted on travelling carriages". This probably refers to the detached battery, which may have been on the Fort Allen site. Fort Sumner lessened in importance with the construction of Fort Preble and Fort Scammel in 1808. Fort Allen was rebuilt in 1814 with a magazine and barracks due to the British capture of Eastport and Castine in the War of 1812.

Fort Sumner (Maryland)

Fort Sumner was built during the American Civil War by the Union Army in the Brookmont section of Bethesda, Maryland, just northwest of Washington, D.C.

Construction

The earthwork fort was an 1863 expansion of Fort Alexander, Fort Ripley, and Fort Franklin, which were built to protect the Washington Aqueduct, the new water supply for the city, and the adjacent Potomac River shoreline. Fort Sumner was named for Major General Edwin Vose Sumner, who died in 1863 from wounds received at the Battle of Antietam.

The fort had a commanding view above the Potomac River and included 30 artillery pieces. In addition to the aforementioned components, the site included Battery Bailey and Battery Benson, overlooking Little Falls Branch.

Remains

Fort Sumner was razed in 1953. There are a few visible remains of Battery Bailey in Westmoreland Hills Park, which can be seen from the adjacent Capital Crescent Trail. Part of the site was acquired by the Army Map Service (AMS) early in World War II and renamed Fort Sumner. The AMS was renamed US Army Topographic Command in 1968 and merged into the Defense Mapping Agency in 1972, at which time the site was renamed Defense Mapping Agency Topographic Center. The Defense Mapping Agency and its successors, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, occupied the site until the early 2010s. The residential area that was built over Fort Sumner has a plaque about the fort at Sangamore Road and West Path Way, and portions of it are named "Fort Sumner Hills" and "Sumner Village".

Fort Sumner (disambiguation)

Fort Sumner may refer to:

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