Fort Selden was established in 1865 and named for Capt. Henry R. Selden
(later colonel) who distinguished himself at the battle of Val Verde,
February 21, 1862. The fort was beside the Rio Grande nine miles north
of the settlement of Doña Ana. The site is located along U.S. Highway 85
about seventeen miles north of present-day Las Cruces.
Fort Selden was one of a chain of forts established to control the
Apaches. It was on the Butterfield Trail and provided protection for the
government rope ferry which crossed the Rio Grande at nearby Leasburg.
The summit of Mt. Robledo, across the river to the west, was used as a
heliograph station, flashing messages between Fort Selden and Fort Bliss
at Franklin (El Paso, Texas).
The buildings of the fort were one-story adobe structures with walls two
feet thick. The installation included barracks for enlisted men, two
double officers’ quarters, a ten-bed hospital, stone guard house,
storehouses, workshop, bake shop, corrals, and a magazine with stone
walls three feet thick. The fort was rectangular in ground plan, the
buildings enclosing a parade ground.
Fort Selden was abandoned in 1879 when the railroads began to draw
travel away from the overland trails. It was reoccupied in 1881 when the
Apache Chiefs Victorio, Nana, and later Geronimo were on the warpath.
With the passing of the Indian problem, Fort Selden was permanently
abandoned in 1892. During World War I, the grounds of the fort were used
for cavalry maneuvers by units stationed at Fort Bliss.
A rather famous American once lived at Fort Selden. Gen. Douglas
MacArthur, as a child of four, moved with his family to the fort in
1884, following the assignment of his father, then an infantry captain,
to that post. The family remained at Fort Selden until late in 1886.
Now only crumbling adobe walls mark the site of Fort Selden, once a
welcome sight to travelers in southern New Mexico. The wind, rain, and
sun have taken their toll, aided in no small way by man himself. In
1963, through the efforts of the Doña Ana Historical Society, Fort
Selden was made a State Monument by the New Mexico legislature. It is to
be hoped that the fort will now be protected from further weathering and
vandalism so that the remnants of this old outpost will stand for many
years to come as a monument to the men who once manned it.