On 11 March 1869 the old name of Fort Bliss was resumed. The Rio Grande was about a mile south of the camp at that time water was hauled daily by mule team to the camp. Camp Concordia's location was immediately south of what is now Interstate 10, across from Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. Camp Concordia (1868–1876)Īfter May 1867 Rio Grande flooding seriously damaged the Magoffinsville post, Fort Bliss was moved to a site called Camp Concordia in March 1868. The Californians maintained an irregular garrison at Fort Bliss until 1865 when 5th Infantry units arrived to reestablish the post, who were subsequently relieved by the 25th Infantry, Buffalo Soldiers, on 12 August 1866, followed by the 35th Infantry two months later. The Confederate garrison abandoned Fort Bliss without a fight the next year when a Federal column of 2,350 men under the command of Colonel James H. Initially the Confederate Army had success in their attempts to gain control of New Mexico, but following the Battle of Glorieta Pass Confederate soldiers were forced to retreat. Baylor, took the post on 1 July 1861, and used the post as a platform to launch attacks into New Mexico and Arizona in an effort to force the Union garrisons still in these states to surrender. Confederate forces consisting of the 2nd Regiment of Texas, under the command of Col. Isaac Van Duzen Reeve did on 31 March 1861. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, the Commander of the Department of Texas ordered the garrison to surrender Fort Bliss to the Confederacy, which Col. Until 1861 most of these troops were units of the 8th Infantry Brigade. There it remained for the next 14 years, serving as a base for troops guarding the area against Apache attacks. The post became Fort Bliss on 8 March 1854. Alexander, established Post of El Paso at Magoffinsville under orders from Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. On 11 January 1854, Companies B, E, I and K of the 8th Infantry, under the command of Lt. In September 1851, the Post Opposite El Paso and the Post at San Elizario were closed, the soldiers moved 40 miles (64 km) north to Fort Fillmore. With constant Indian raids, garrisons had to be moved frequently to meet the shifting threats. Van Horne also had nominal command of the Post at San Elizario, the former Presidio of San Elizario, seventeen miles downstream from El Paso del Norte. The Post Opposite El Paso del Norte was first established at the site of Coon's Ranch (often erroneously referred to as Smith's Ranch, now downtown El Paso) and, along with Fort Selden and other Southwestern outposts, protected recently won territory from harassing Apaches and Comanches, provided law and order, and escorted the forty-niners. Infantry ('The Old Guard', currently the oldest active duty regiment in the US Army), commanded by Major Jefferson Van Horne, found only four small and scattered settlements on the north side of the Rio Grande. On 8 September 1849, the garrison party of several companies of the 3rd U.S. 58 ordered the establishment of a post across from El Paso del Norte (now Ciudad Juárez). Then on 7 November 1848, War Department General Order no. In 1846, Colonel Alexander Doniphan led 1st Regiment of Missouri mounted volunteers through El Paso del Norte, with victories at the Battle of El Brazito and the Battle of the Sacramento. The garrison's land area is accounted at 1.12 million acres, ranging to the boundaries of the Lincoln National Forest and White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.įort Bliss in 1885. Fort Bliss provides the largest contiguous tract (1,500 sq mi or 3,900 km 2) of restricted airspace in the Continental United States, used for missile and artillery training and testing, and at 992,000 acres boasts the largest maneuver area (ahead of the National Training Center, which has 642,000 acres). The portion of the post located in El Paso County, Texas, is a census-designated place with a population of 8,591 as of the time of the 2010 census. Bliss has an area of about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km 2) it is the largest installation in FORSCOM (United States Army Forces Command) and second-largest in the Army overall (the largest being the adjacent White Sands Missile Range). Named in honor of LTC William Bliss (1815–1853), a mathematics professor who was the son-in-law of President Zachary Taylor, Ft. Matthew Eichburgįort Bliss is a United States Army post in New Mexico and Texas, with its headquarters in El Paso, Texas.
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