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Fort Bowie National Historic Site

by Eric Peterson

Browse the article Fort Bowie National Historic Site

Fort Bowie National Historic Site

©National Park Service
While at the Fort visitors can tour the
ruins of Fort Bowie.

A footpath weaves through Fort Bowie National Historic Site, roughly paralleling a historic military wagon road past ruins and reminders of the bloody fight for control of Apache Pass. Apache Spring -- an important source of water in this pass through the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona -- attracted settlers to the area. First came the Apaches, probably in the early sixteenth century. A few centuries later, white emigrants, prospectors, and soldiers began arriving in ever-increasing numbers. AS settlers moved farther west, a mail and stage route was needed through the mountains.

The unfailing water supplied by Apache Spring made Apache Pass the logical place for a stage station, even though it was in the heart of the Chiricahua Apaches' homeland. A station for the Butterfield Overland Stageline was built in Apache Pass in 1858, and its ruins can still be seen there. The national historic site, which was established in 1964, also contains the ruins of Fort Bowie, built after the peace between the Apaches and whites ended when the Apache leader Cochise was wrongly accused of kidnapping a rancher's stepchild.

By 1869, a second, larger fort was built to serve as a base for more ambitious military operations against the Apaches. The fort's cemetery is evidence of the difficult life at the isolated fort, where the food was generally bad and the soldiers were often sick. After the surrender of Apache leader Geronimo at the fort in 1886, the Indian wars ended, and the fort was soon abandoned.

The backdrop of scenery today is little changed since the days of the fort. Apache Pass separates the Chiricahua Mountains to the south from the Dos Cabezas range to the north. Desert grasses and chaparral cover the lower slopes, giving way to oaks, junipers, and pinyon pine on the upper slopes. Willows and cottonwoods follow water sources, and wildflowers explode with color after good winter rains.

Fort Bowie National Historic Site Information

Address: From the town of Bowie, the trailhead is located on Apache Pass Road, 13 miles south, Bowie, AZ
Telephone: 520/847-2500
Hours of Operation: Ruins and trail open from sunrise to sunset; visitor center open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., daily
Admission: Free

Learn more about these other national historic sites:

Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site

Clara Barton National Historic Site

Fort Larned National Historic Site

Grant Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site

Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site

Pennsylvania Avenue National Historic Site

Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Adams National Historic Site

Edgar Allen Poe National Historic Site

Fort Raleigh National Historic Site

Hampton National Historic Site

Lincoln Home National Historic Site

Puukohola Heiau National Historic Site

Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site

Edison National Historic Site

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Harry S. Truman National Historic Site

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Thomas Stone National Historic Site

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Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site

Saint Paul's Church National Historic Site

Thomas Stone National Historic Site

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Fort Vancouver National Historic Site

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Manzanar National Historic Site

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Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site

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Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site

Mary McLeod Bethune House National Historic Site

Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site

Weir Farm National Historic Site

Charles Pinckney National Historic Site

Fort Bowie National Historic Site

Friendship Hill National Historic Site

James A. Garfield National Historic Site

Mc Loughlin House National Historic Site

Sewall -Belmont House National Historic Site

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Chicago Portage National Historic Site

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To learn more about national monuments, memorials, and historic sites, and other travel destinations in North America, visit:

• National Monuments: Learn more about America's national monuments.
• National Memorials: Discover national memorials in the U.S.
• National Historic Sites: Read about American national historic sites.
  
• Arizona State Guide: Learn about Mobil Travel Guide-rated hotels and restaurants in Arizona as well as other recreational activities.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Eric Peterson is a Denver-based author who has contributed to numerous guidebooks about the Western United States.