Fort Huachuca

We arrived at Kartchner Caverns State Park for our two night stay only to discover that the cavern tours were all booked until the morning that we are leaving.  We went ahead and booked that tour (more on that later), but now we had a free day.  Suzanne's husband, Charlie, also an archaeologist, suggested that we visit Fort Huachuca (wa-CHOO-ka).  He spent several years overseeing the restoration and renovation of the officer's quarters lining the parade grounds.  So off to the fort we headed.

The fort was founded in 1877 when Capt. Samuel M. Whitside led a column of the 6th U.S. Cavalry from Tucson into the shelter of the Huachuca Mountains to establish a temporary camp. The location provided excellent views of both the Santa Cruz and San Pedro valleys which were the Chiricahua Apache escape routes into Mexico.

The parade grounds and view of the valleys below.

The original camp was canvas tents but a bid for permanent post status was made by Army officials in the early 1880s.  The General of the Army visited Fort Huachuca in 1882 and recommended to the Secretary of War that permanent buildings be erected. When the Indian Wars ended most of the stations in the Southwest were closed, but Fort Huachuca survived. The Old Post area has remained essentially as it was more than a century ago.  

During WWII, two African-American infantry divisions were trained on Huachuca's ranges. In the latter half of the 20th century, the post has been a proving ground for electronic weaponry, the home station for the U.S. Army's emergency communications units, the headquarters of the Army's major communications command, and most recently the center for all military intelligence training.

There are two museums located at that base of the parade grounds, the Fort Huachuca Museum which tells the story of the U.S. Army on the Southwestern frontier and the U.S. Army Intelligence Museum which explains the evolution of Army intelligence over the last 200 years.  Unfortunately, both museums were closed for renovations and are not scheduled to open until late spring.

Today's 3 Fun Facts:

1. Fort Huachuca was designated a National Historic Site and National Historic Landmark on November 20, 1974.
2. Fort Huachuca was the headquarters of the 4th Cavalry patrols that hounded Geronimo in 1886 resulting in his eventual surrender to Gen. Nelson A Miles.
3. The Intelligence Museum has WWII German Enigma machine and a piece of the Berlin Wall.