Visiting The Museum @ Fort Huachuca in Sierra Vista, AZ

Let's take this slow....

Proceed Ahead To

Checkpoint

Eric & I are allowed onto Fort
Huachuca after being cleared

by Security.

We drive past the Old Barracks

whose exteriors have been

preserved.

They were built in the late 

1800s.

The Fort's Museum

The fireplace mantle has
photos of soldiers
stationed here.

The 10th US Cavalry
marker includes a
Masonic Symbol.

The region's Prehistoric past

gives way to Spanish

 exploration & settlements.

Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his expeditionary force came to this region in 1540.  The area didn't contain the cities of silver and gold that the Spaniards sought.   Missionaries, cattle, and horses radically changed the local culture.

U.S. Army troops moved through Huachuca during the Mexican American War.  Arizona came under U.S. control as part of the Gadsen Purchase.

The dress uniform of
a Dragoon from the
mid 1800s

This is the saddle that

Dragoons used in the

mid 1800s. 

In the early 1860s US
troops battled the Apache
after Chief Cochise
escaped from captivity.

The Civil War comes to Arizona.

Without a standard uniform the

Confederates wore captured

Union uniforms, adding to
 confusion on the battlefield.

Permanent Forts were established after the Civil War to protect white settlers from the Apache.  Fort Huachuca established in 1877 with canvas tents housing its troops.

The uniform of a Calvary
Sergeant in the late 1800s












Black and white soldiers served in segregated units during the Civil War and after.

Black Soldiers, the Buffalo
Soldiers,  were sent west
 to Fort Huachuca.

The Apache Wars came to an end in 1886 when the tribe was forced onto reservations.  Geronimo and some of his men escaped and eluded US Soldiers until he surrendered at Skeleton Canyon on September 4, 1886.

As I examine the uniforms I realize that the mannequins are tall for 19th-century soldiers.  The uniforms are perfect.  There are no moth holes, no signs of mending.  These are reproductions.  I checked with the docent and, I'm right.

Apache Scouts have
worked with U.S. 
troops since 1866.

On March 9, 1916 Pancho Villa and 1,500 men attacked Columbus, New Mexico.  

The 10th Cavalry was dispatched,

under the command of General

John "Black Jack" Pershing, to

 hunt down Villa & his men.

The hunt ended on February 7, 1917.  Although Villa and his men were not taken into custody, troops on the expedition were well trained during the campaign.

Buffalo Soldiers went to Europe

& fought in World War I.

They were called to duty
 again in Europe during
  World War II.

Black women enlisted in the
Army to fill the increasing
need for Nurses & other
noncombatant positions.






The 32nd and 33rd Women's Auxilary Corps (WAAC) was stationed here.

Fort Huachuca's Museum does a good job chronicling the Black men and women who trained and served in Arizona and Europe since 1877.

President Harry S. Truman desegregated the Armed Services on July 26, 1948.  The current missions at Fort Huachuca are Army Intelligence, Army Network Technology, and 9th Army Signal Corps.

A shot of Eric & me at the

statue honoring the Cavalry

& Apache Scouts