Fort Wingate
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 | |
|---|---|
| McKinley County, near Gallup, New Mexico | |
Fort Wingate in the 1870s | |
| Coordinates | 35°06′45″N 107°52′58″W |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by | New Mexico |
| Condition | ammunition depot, storage facility |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1862 |
| Built by | United States |
| In use | 1862 - 1993 |
| Battles/wars | Apache Wars Navajo Wars |
| Garrison information | |
| Past commanders | Kit Carson William Redwood Price |
| Garrison | Navajo Scouts Apache Scouts 4th Cavalry 8th Cavalry 9th Cavalry and 13th Infantry 15th Infantry |
| Occupants | United States Army |
Fort Wingate Historic District | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
NM State Register of Cultural Properties | |
| Location | NM 400, Fort Wingate, New Mexico |
|---|---|
| Area | 27 acres (11 ha) |
| Built | 1868 |
| NRHP reference No. | 78003076 |
| NMSRCP No. | 403 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 26, 1978 |
| Designated NMSRCP | August 22, 1975 |
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.