New Mexico Historical Review Volume 16 Number 2 Article 2 4-1-1941 Military Posts in the Southwest, 1848–1860 A. B. Bender Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr Recommended Citation Bender, A. B.. "Military Posts in the Southwest, 1848–1860." New Mexico Historical Review 16, 2 (). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/nmhr/vol16/iss2/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Mexico Historical Review by an authorized editor of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. NEW MEXICO HISTORICAL REVIEW VOL. XVI APRIL, 1941 NO.2 MILITARY POSTS IN THE SOUTHWEST, 1848-1860 By A. B. BENDER RoM THE beginning of our history to the late nineteenth F century, frontier defense formed a chief concern of our government. In dealing with this problem prior to the Mex ican War, various methods were tried. Land was purchased from the red man, an "Indian country" was created, anilUi ties and gifts were furnished the Indian, and a chain of forts was established along the edges of the frontier settlements or in the heart of the Indian country. When the war extended our domain to the Pacific and the California gold discovery attracted new emigrant waves to the Far West, the prob lem of frontier defense became more pressing. The virgin lands of the Far Southwest, which in earlier years had an interest only for traders, trappers, and merchants, now beck oned miners, speculators, adventurous land-hunters, and home seekers from the more populated districts of the East.