Нью-Мексикодағы Форт Уингет тарихы

Fort near Gallup, New Mexico

Fort Wingate was a military installation near Gallup, New Mexico, United States. There were two other locations in New Mexico called Fort Wingate: Seboyeta, New Mexico (1849–1862) and San Rafael, New Mexico (1862–1868). The most recent Fort Wingate (1868–1993) was established at the former site of Fort Lyon, on Navajo territory, initially to control and "protect" the large Navajo tribe to its north. The Fort at San Rafael was the staging point for the Navajo deportation known as the Long Walk of the Navajo. From 1870 onward the garrison near Gallup was concerned with Apaches to the south, and through 1890 hundreds of Navajo Scouts were enlisted at the fort. Fort Wingate supplied 100 tons of Composition B high explosives to the Manhattan Project for use in the first Trinity test and became an ammunition depot "Fort Wingate Depot Activity" from World War II until it was closed by the 1993 Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Environmental cleanup of UXO, perchlorate, and lead as well as land transfer continue to the present day.

Ojo del Oso, in Spanish (meaning "Eye of the Bear" or "Bear Spring"), was a Navajo place visited for good grazing and water.

1849: A hay camp was set up near Seboyeta, New Mexico and was called Fort Wingate. It was named for Major Benjamin Wingate, 5th U. S. Infantry, who died on 1 June 1862 from wounds he received during the Battle of Valverde. 1860: Fort Fauntleroy was established at Bear Springs (Ojo del Oso) as an outpost of Fort Defiance. Colonel Thomas T. Fauntleroy named the fort for himself. 1868: Navajo people returning from Bosque Redondo were temporarily settled at the Oso Del Ojo Fort Wingate before spreading out into the newly established Navajo Reservation. 1873–1886: The fort's troops participated in Apache Wars with troops and recruited Navajo Scouts. 1878: Fort Wingate had 137 troops. 1868–1895: Fort Wingate troops often settled disagreements between Navajo and "citizens" in New Mexico. 1891: Fort Wingate troops assisted Arizona units against angry Hopis.

1907: Two troops of the 5th Cavalry went from Fort Wingate to the Four Corners area after some armed Navajo. This was the last armed expedition the US Government made against the Navajo. One Navajo was killed and the rest escaped. 1911: A Ft. Wingate company of cavalry went to Chaco Canyon and camped there several days to quell a possible uprising by Navajo. 1914: During the Mexican Civil War over 2,000 Mexican soldiers and their families took refuge at the fort. 1918: Fort Wingate focus turned from Navajo to World War I. 1940: Fort Wingate became an ammunition depot from World War II until 1993. 1944: Fort Wingate supplied 100 tons of Composition B high explosives to the Manhattan Project for use in the first Trinity test. 1950: Bureau of Indian Affairs was given part of the polluted land for an Indian boarding school. 1960–67: Redstone and Pershing 1 missiles were tested among others at Wingate. 1971: DoD Placed Fort Wingate on reserve and re designated as "Fort Wingate Depot Activity" or FWDA. 1988: the Base Realignment and Closure round 1 decided to close the Fort. Environmental restoration activities at FWDA began in 1989. In December 2005, the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) issued the Army a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Permit. and Wingate High School. the Wingate Elementary dormitory is a former military barracks that also houses students at Wingate High. In 1968 the girls' dormitory had 125 girls; the Associated Press stated that the dormitory lacked decoration and personal effects and was reflective of a campaign to de personalize Native American students. At the time the school strongly discouraged students from speaking Navajo and wanted them to only speak English. Circa 1977 it opened a 125 student $90,000 building which used a solar heating system. The non BIE school district is Gallup McKinley County Public Schools. It is zoned to Indian Hills Elementary School, Kennedy Middle School, and Hiroshi Miyamura High School.