Fort Bowie – Arizona

The motorhome is parked the Thousand Trails RV Resort located in Bow, a few miles north of Burlington, Washington. I’ve been here several times in past years. I’ll depart here later this morning.

I’m just hanging out taking maximum advantage of my Thousand Trails membership and very agreeable weather.

Mary’s personal to-do list plate, which can only be handled by herself, continues to over-flow. Recently we acknowledged that her meeting up with me in September, just is not going to happen.   😦

I’ll next likely see her when I arrive at her home in November. A friend recently expressed a concern about the status of our relationship. Not to worry…it continues to function per our original agreement when we met in October, 2008. That is…I remain on the road and she will join me when her other life allows. We talk every day on the phone…sometimes more than once. It’s just the way life is!

On July 12th, I blogged about the great Civil War photo book I found in a Goodwill store. If you missed that posting, here’s the link…http://wp.me/pDCku-ckv

I’ve really enjoyed reading this book reminding me of the many places I’ve been that played an important role in the Civil War. I’ve decided it would be a great time to re-visit some of the places and share them with you. If I’m writing a blog entry about a place, means I read about it in this great Civil War photo book with nearly 4,000 photographs and I have been there! I’ll continue these Blog postings until I’ve until I do them all in my collection.

 

Today’s subject: Fort Bowie – Arizona…

 

Established during the U.S. Civil War to protect travel along the Tucson-Mesilla road, to protect the Apache Springs and to keep Confederate troops out of the region.

 

You can read all about today’s subject by clicking this link…http://www.discoverseaz.com/Attractions/Bowie.html

 

Fort Bowie and Apache Pass were the focal point of a bitter 30‑year conflict between the U.S. Military and the Chiricahua Apache Indians that ended with the surrender of Geronimo in 1886. The surrendered Chiricahua Apache Indians were moved to reservations in Florida and Alabama.

The post was abandoned 17 Oct 1894, transferred to the Interior Department 14 Nov 1894 and auctioned off to the public about two years later. The post buildings were sold 20 Jun 1911 and only the stone walls remained.

 

Although no major Civil War battles were fought here, Fort Bowie became famous because of the Battle of Apache Pass.

 

You can read about the Battle of Apache Pass by clicking this link…https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Apache_Pass

 

I took these photos in November, 2007…

As always you may left click upon an image to see an enlarged view and then click once again to see an even larger view…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To see the other 10 photos in this Picasa web album, click the below photo…

 

Fort Bowie NHS, AZ

 

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THE PHOTOS.

Yesterday was a mostly sunny and 75 degrees. Forecast for today is cloudy with a shower and 70 degrees.

Enjoying nice weather is another joy in the life of a full-time RVer!

The red dot on the below map shows my approximate location in the State of Washington. You may double left-click the map to make it larger…

 

 

 

 

Enjoying 65-75 degree temperatures with low humidity most of the year is a primary joy in the RVing lifestyle!

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving”…Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

On October 27, 2012, I created a two-minute video titled America The Beautiful. The music America The Beautiful is by Christopher W. French. The photos, which I randomly selected, are from the states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Tennessee, Washington and West Virginia (not shown in that order)…are mine. Yup, That’s me standing in front of the Post Office in Luckenbach, Texas…Y’all!

Click this link to start the video. Make sure you have your speakers turned on and go to full screen asap.
http://youtu.be/FfZUzEB4rM8

If you would like to see my YouTube videos, click this link… http://www.youtube.com/user/JimJ1579/videos

There are more than 600 photo albums in my Picasa Web Albums File. To gain access, you simply have to click this link… https://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver

If you have not checked out my Ramblin Man’s Photos Blog, you can do so by clicking this link…http://ramblinmanphotos.wordpress.com/

For more information about my books, click this link:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/panamaorbust

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2015

Chiricahua – Day 3

Yesterday Mary and I took the Bronco about 25 mile North to Apache Pass, the site of Fort Bowie. It was here the U.S. Army took on pursuit of the Apache Indians with Geronimo finally surrendering in 1877.

We walked a 1.5 mile trail to get there and along the way passed, among other things, an old miners cabin, the remains of the old Butterfield Stage Coach station, a cemetery, the Indian Agency Building, an Apache Wikiup, the original fort, the second fort and the natural water springs without which there might have been no interest in this area at all. However, Apache Pass was at that time the lowest known crossing of the Chiricahua Mountains which westbound settlers had to cross on their way Westward.

Taken at the Fort Bowie Cemetary.

To see the other 28 photos I took along the way, click this link…
http://picasaweb.google.com/jimjrver/Chiricahua2010Day3#

Here’s a Wikipedia infromational link…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Bowie_National_Historic_Site

We will depart later this morning. Our next scheduled overnight stop is Deming. New Mexico about 210 miles distant. Depending on what time we get rolling this morning, a stop at a museum in Willcox, AZ…we may not make it to Deming by tonight.

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
For more information about my three books, click this link:
http://www.panamaorbust.com

FORT BOWIE AND THE APACHE WARS

The trail we hiked was quite rough in places and steep in others. High desert, inhospitable to all but those who called it home, the Chiricahua Apache. They adopted the horse from incursions of Spaniards and made their last stand here against the American Calvary for life as they had known it.

The Apache allowed the Butterfield Stage to trek across their lands. They didn’t see them as a threat. It was a tense trip because the Butterfield drivers knew the Apache could be unpredictable. This pass was a direct link to the only southern route into California by way of the Yuma crossing which moved men and goods across the mighty Colorado river. Above is a trace of the stage road leading down into the valley and beyond.

This pass was chosen because it had the only dependable, year around source of water, Apache Springs. The Apache way of life was to ride into the valley and bag deer. The women kept the children, collected berries, prickly pear and other edibles to complete their way of life. When settlers began intruding, the Apache raided them. Everyone coveted the water.

The U.S. established Fort Bowie to protect the pass and its settlers from the Apache. They sent in soldiers and an uneasy co-existence was maintained for many years between the U.S. and the Apache by way of talks with their leader, Cochise. The U.S. established an Indian Agent to assist with peace-keeping promises. Skirmishes with indians and settlers were common with fear and mistrust ruling reason on both sides.
A shared cemetery.

Then the Bascom affair led to eleven years of all out war when the Apache were accused of kidnapping Mickey Free. Bascom was sent in to rectify things and during a meeting with Cochise he committed the unforgiveable sin of grabbing Chochise and imprisoning him during a peace talk. The new Apache leader was the renegade, Geronimo.
The U.S. sent in more and more troops. Expanded Fort Bowie and brought in Cannon to fight the Indians. They eventually succeeded in getting the Apache to surrender. They moved Cochise and Geronimo with their people to reservations.
It struck me how accurately some of the western movies I’ve seen over the years portrayed these events. Its also ironic that just 120 miles north, at Tuscon, are the studios that produced most of those movies on Arizona land.

The remains of the expanded, second Fort Bowie above. The hike takes you to both forts. The visitor center nearby has wonderful books on the Apache and a small, but good museum.

In this museum sits the tent shaped stove above. A soldier invented it and canvas covered tents, claiming he got the idea from examining indian tents. He signed a contract with the U.S Government to supply the tents for a royalty on each one sold. It is estimated he would have made 250,000 in royalties had they paid him. It was his misfortune to side with the Confederates.