Historical Fort Bowie Trail
- Fort Bowie, AZ–photo Richard Elliott
The bumpy stagecoach-like ride over unpaved Apache Pass Road, to the trail head leading to Fort Bowie, is the time portal transporting visitors to Arizona’s Apache Pass area of the 1860s-1880s. In stepping from the parking lot onto the dusty 1.5-mile (3-mile round-trip) trail is to stroll deeper into a land filled with history. The pathway meanders through the brushy, forested, rolling hills of the Chihuahuan Desert. Along the journey, the dusty pages of history are turned with each stop at an informational historical plaque, revealing the tales behind the interactions between the local Indians, U.S. Army, settlers and more.
“Fort Bowie commemorates the bitter conflict between Chiricahua Apaches and the U.S. military,” according to the National Park Service, who oversees Fort Bowie. “It provides insight into a “clash of cultures,” a young nation in pursuit of “manifest destiny,” and the hunter/gatherer society fighting to preserve its existence.”
Before arriving at Fort Bowie, hikers encounter ruins, cross over the original wagon road of the Butterfield Overland Mail; pass a cemetery, Apache Spring–vital to both Indians and settlers, and one source of conflict–and other historical sites along the trail.
Following an 1861 conflict between settler John Ward and Indians that he thought were under the leadership of Cochise, and along with the actions of the U.S. Army, these situations lead to the establishment of Fort Bowie, in 1862.
According to Wikipedia.com, “Lieutenant George Nicholas Bascom and fifty-four men” were dispatched by the U.S. Army to confront Chocise, the Apache leader. The conflict is known as the “Bascom Affair.” Cochise was captured, yet escaped, resulting in random “fighting between Cochise’s warriors and Army troops,” continuing for several years.
According to Wikipedia, “The second major engagement was the Battle of Apache Pass, fought from July 15 to July 16, 1862. A Union regiment under Brigadier General James Henry Carleton was ambushed by a band of Apaches, while en route from California to New Mexico, where they were to confront Confederate troops.”
In 1868, a second Fort Bowie was erected on a large plateau, 300-yards southwest of the first fort. The original fort was more like a fortified encampment. The second fort served more as a compound, complete with adobe barracks, wooden houses, corrals, a Trading Post, hospital and much more. The much improved fort was needed, due to the ongoing conflicts between settlers and the Army with the local Indians, in the Apache Pass area.
In 1886, hostilities ceased in the region, with the surrender of Geronimo at Fort Bowie and the banishment of the Chiricahua Indians to Florida and Alabama. No longer being needed, Fort Bowie was abandoned in 1894.
Today, approximately 10,000 people a year visit the preserved ruins of Fort Bowie, nestled on the rolling hills between 4,550 to 5,250-feet elevation. There is a lovely visitor center/museum at the fort complex. The Fort Bowie and Apache Pass area became a National Historical Landmark, in 1960. The fort was named in honor of Colonel George Washington Bowie, commander of the 5th California Infantry.
There are two ways to reach Fort Bowie from Interstate 10. From Wilcox, AZ on I-10, go south on State Route 186, approximately 33 miles to Apache Pass Road (signed/unpaved), to the parking lot (with restroom facilities). From I-10, near Bowie, AZ, go south on Apache Pass Road.
A visit to Fort Bowie provides a glimpse and feel for the “clash of cultures,” and what life was like in the Old West of the Apache Pass region. Truly, a trail into the past.
