Fort Bowie National Historic Site
The Butterfield Stage, which carried mail, passengers, and freight across the Southwest in the mid-1800s, followed a route that climbed up and over Apache Pass, in the heart of the Chiricahua Mountains' Apache territory. In 1862, Fort Bowie was established near the mile-high pass to ensure the passage of the slow-moving stage as it traversed this difficult region. The fort was also used to protect the water source for cavalry going east to fight the Confederate army in New Mexico. Later, federal troops stationed at Fort Bowie battled Geronimo until, in 1886, the Apache chief finally surrendered. Today, little more than Fort Bowie's crumbling adobe walls remain, but the hike along the old stage route to the ruins conjures the ghosts of Geronimo and the Indian Wars.
The Butterfield Stage, which carried mail, passengers, and freight across the Southwest in the mid-1800s, followed a route that climbed up and over Apache Pass, in the heart of the Chiricahua Mountains' Apache territory. In 1862, Fort Bowie was established near the mile-high pass to ensure the passage of the slow-moving stage as it traversed this difficult region. The fort was also used to protect the water source for cavalry going east to fight the Confederate army in New Mexico. Later, federal troops stationed at Fort Bowie battled Geronimo until, in 1886, the Apache chief finally surrendered. Today, little more than Fort Bowie's crumbling adobe walls remain, but the hike along the old stage route to the ruins conjures the ghosts of Geronimo and the Indian Wars.
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