Union Army Fort McRae was first established by
California Volunteers of the
Union Army during the
American Civil War on April 3, 1863. It was located east of the
Rio Grande on the south side of
Canyon del Muerto, (now known as
McRae Canyon), at an elevation of in the southern
Fra Cristobal Range, 3 miles northeast of
Elephant Butte, in
Sierra County, New Mexico. It was located nearby to the west of the
Ojo del Muerto, a spring in the Canyon del Muerto, one of the few reliable water sources along the route of the
Jornada del Muerto. Fort McRae was established to protect the area of new settlements and road on the west bank of the
Rio Grande Valley and in the road across the
Jornada del Muerto from
Navaho and
Apache raiders. It also blocked the Apache and Navajo from using the Canyon del Muerto gap through the Fra Cristobal Range and also from using the Ojo del Muerto spring. The post was originally founded by California Volunteers of the Union Army in 1863 to the protect settlements of
Alamosa and
Canada Alamosa, and the travelers on the
Fort Craig - Fort Thorn Wagon Road and
Jornada del Muerto from
Apache raids. Later settlements of
Alamocita,
Plaza del Rio Palomas, in 1867 and
Cuchillo Negro in 1871, were added to the Fort's protection duties. The Volunteers manned it until they were relieved by soldiers of the regular U.S. Army during the aftermath of the
American Civil War in 1866.
U. S. Army Fort McRae was the only outpost within a radius of , except for the other U.S. Army forts;
Fort Craig which was away to the north and
Fort Selden which was 60 miles away to the south. In 1867, Alamocita, a small New Mexican town was established on the east bank about six miles up the Rio Grande from the fort, some from Alamosa, three miles away on the west bank that had been destroyed by the flooding earlier that same year. That year too, the
Plaza del Rio Palomas, later more commonly called Las Palomas, was founded twenty miles down river from the fort on the west bank, at the confluence of
Palomas Creek with the Rio Grande. The population thought it easier to defend from Apache attacks, and easier to reinforce from Fort McRae, than their former home in Alamosa. Between 1868 and 1871,
Cuchillo Negro was settled by pioneering New Mexican farmers from Alamosita. After a peace was made Fort McRae provided the garrison at the Apache reservation at
Ojo Caliente on the upper Cañada Alamosa. In October 1876, the fort was decommissioned and abandoned, the garrison withdrawn and their responsibilities taken over by Fort Craig. ==The Site Today==