Fort Selden Historic Site
Fort Selden was established in 1865 in an effort to bring peace to the south-central Mesilla Valley of New Mexico. Built 18 miles north of Las Cruces amid the remnants of a prehistoric Mogollon village, the site housed United States infantry and cavalry charged with protecting settlers and travelers from desperados and Apache Indians. Some 200 men lived and worked in a bustling tree-ringed adobe garrison of 15 to 20 buildings laid out, in traditional military fashion, in a rectangle around a central parade ground.
By 1891, when the fort was decommissioned and the last troops departed, Fort Selden had been home to such esteemed military figures as the legendary Buffalo Soldiers of the 125th Infantry and a young Douglas MacArthur, a future U.S. Army General whose father commanded the frontier outpost.
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