Fort Bowie National Historic Site

Fort Bowie History

Hike back to the site of an old Butterfield stage stations, Apache Wells, and Fort Bowie.

3203 South Old Fort Bowie Road
Bowie, AZ 85605
Phone: (520) 847-2500

General James Carleton ordered his troops to protect travelers and his troops as they marched against Confederate forces in Southern Arizona through Apache Pass. The pass was the only reliable water supply in the area. Carleton decided to protect it at all cost against Confederate forces and Chiricahua Apache attacks.

Major Theodore Coult, 5^th California Volunteer Infantry garrisoned the site overlooking the spring. He named the post Fort Bowie for his commanding officer Colonel George W. Bowie. It was the site of the Bascom Affair, a wagon train massacre, and the battle of Apache Pass, where a large force of Chiricahua Apaches under Mangus Colorados and Cochise fought the California Volunteers.

On May 7, 1866, Captain W. Harvey Brown leading Company G, 14^th Infantry relieved the California volunteers stationed at the post.

The heavy Civil War traffic across southern Arizona kept Indian attacks to a minimum. However, the arrival of regular troops the situation changed. The small regular garrison found it impossible to protect the area around their own posts. On November 5, 1867, Apaches killed 1^st Lieutenant John C. Carrol, 32^nd Infantry. He was only three miles from Fort Bowie.

The post saw its peak activity during the Geronimo campaign into Mexico. By 1894, the Army abandoned the post.

The National Park Service maintains the 1,000-acre site. Its history displays the bitter conflict between the Chiricahua Apaches and the United States military. The post ending culminated in the surrender of Geronimo in 1886 and the Chiricahuas’ banishment to Florida and Alabama.

The National Park Service carefully preserves Fort Bowie. From the plateau, you view the adobe walls of the various post buildings and the ruins of a Butterfield Stage Station.

Visitor center with historic exhibits, book sales on the Apache campaign, the Butterfield mail route, and military history during this period.

Access to the fort is by a one and one-half mile trail (three miles round trip), moderately strenuous. Special access for (get remaining information)