Fort Grant began its life in August 1860 in the
Arizona Territory as an
Old West outpost named
Fort Breckinridge, at the junction of
Aravaipa Creek and the
San Pedro River. Fort Breckinridge was destroyed and the site was abandoned in 1861, following removal of the
Union garrison at the start of the
American Civil War. The site of Fort Breckinridge was reoccupied as Fort Stanford, or Camp Stanford, from 1862 to 1865 by troops of the
California Column. When the U.S. Army proper finally reoccupied the site, it was renamed
Camp Grant between 1865 and 1872. In 1872, after the
Camp Grant Massacre, the United States Army post at "old" Camp Grant (at the confluence of Aravaipa Creek and the San Pedro River) was relocated to the southwestern slope of
Mount Graham in what is now
Graham County. The new fort was strategically placed so as to protect settlers who were constantly harassed by
Apache warriors. It played a prominent role in the
Apache Wars of the 1880s. Henry McCarty, better known as "
Billy the Kid", reportedly settled in the vicinity of Fort Grant in 1876, working as a ranch hand and tending sheep nearby. In 1877, McCarty killed a local blacksmith at a saloon and gambling house that is now called the Bonita Store, located a few miles from Fort Grant. McCarty was taken into custody at the Fort Grant stockade, but escaped to the
New Mexico Territory before he could be tried. Fort Grant was also the departure point for the pay wagons carrying currency during the
Wham Paymaster robbery of 1889.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was stationed at Fort Grant in 1896 as an enlisted man after failing the entrance exam for the
United States Military Academy at West Point. He was discharged in 1897 after being diagnosed with a heart condition that made him ineligible for a commission. The fort was repurposed in 1900 as a staging point for soldiers going to the
Philippines to fight in the
Philippine–American War. Fort Grant was abandoned by the Army in 1905, which transferred all troops to
Fort Huachuca and left the fort unoccupied except for a
caretaker. In 1912, Arizona gained
statehood, and the fort was occupied by the State Industrial School for Wayward Boys and Girls, which modernized most of the buildings. In 1968, the state of Arizona officially assigned the site to the
Department of Corrections, and in 1973, Fort Grant became a state prison for male convicts. In 1997, the prison became a unit of an
Arizona State Prison complex headquartered in
Safford. The main road to and from Fort Grant is
Arizona State Route 266. An abandoned general-aviation airport,
Angel Field, is immediately south of the prison. ==Fort Grant Historical Museum==