Editing Fort Bliss (section)

===Early locations===

====Post opposite El Paso del Norte (1849–1854)====
[[File:Fort Bliss ca. 1885.jpg|thumb|Fort Bliss in 1885. Photo courtesy of [[Southern Methodist University|SMU]].]]
[[File:Fort Bliss 1948 Issue-3c.jpg|thumb|180px|{{center|Fort Bliss [[U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps|100th Anniversary Issue]] of 1948}}]]

In 1846, [[Colonel (United States)|Colonel]] [[Alexander Doniphan]] led [[Mexican American War campaigns#Monterrey, 21 September 1846|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]]. On 7 November 1848, War Department General Order no. 58 ordered the establishment of a post<ref name=Metz>{{cite book |last=Metz |first=Leon Claire |author2=Tom Lea |author3=Jose Cisneros |year=1988 |title=Desert Army: Fort Bliss on the Texas Border |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ASfJAAAACAAJ&q=Desert+Army:+Fort+Bliss+on+the+Texas+Border |edition=1st paperback |publisher=Mangan Books |location=El Paso, Texas |isbn=0-930208-36-6 |access-date=9 October 2008}} NOTE: At the time of its creation, the first post occupied territory that was considered to be part of [[New Mexico]], and the post remained the strongest military encampment in New Mexico until the [[32nd parallel north]] was designated the official boundary between New Mexico and Texas in 1850.</ref> across from [[Ciudad Juárez|El Paso del Norte, now Ciudad Juárez]].<ref name=LavenHistory>{{cite web |url=http://www.lavenpublishing.com/history1.html |title=History of Fort Bliss |access-date=14 December 2008 |work=Post Guide and Telephone Directory |publisher=Laven Publishing Group |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505161100/http://www.lavenpublishing.com/history1.html |archive-date=5 May 2009}}</ref> On 8 September 1849, the garrison party of several companies of the [[3rd United States Infantry Regiment (TOG)|3rd U.S. Infantry]], 'The Old Guard', currently the oldest active duty regiment in the US Army, commanded by [[Jefferson Van Horne|Major Jefferson Van Horne]], found only four small and scattered settlements on the north side of the [[Rio Grande]].<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|21}}

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, Texas|El Paso]]<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|21}} It, along with [[Fort Selden]] and other Southwestern outposts, protected recently won territory from harassing [[Apache]]s and [[Comanche]]s, provided local law and order, and escorted the [[California Gold Rush#Forty-niners|forty-niners]].<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|17}} [[Jefferson Van Horne|Van Horne]] also had nominal command of the [[San Elizario, Texas|Post at San Elizario]], the former ''Presidio of San Elizario'', seventeen miles downstream from El Paso del Norte.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|9,17}} With constant Indian raids, garrisons had to be moved frequently to meet the shifting threats. In September 1851, the Post Opposite El Paso and the Post at San Elizario were closed, and the soldiers were moved {{convert|40|mi|km}} north to [[Fort Fillmore]].<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|20–21}}

==== Post of El Paso (1854), Fort Bliss, (1854–1868) ====
On 11 January 1854, Companies B, E, I and K of the [[8th Infantry Regiment (United States)|8th Infantry]], under the command of Lt. Col. [[Edmund B. Alexander]], established Post of El Paso at Magoffinsville under orders from [[Secretary of War]] [[Jefferson Davis]].<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|23}}<ref>Frank Mangan (1971), in ''El Paso in Pictures'', Texas A&M Press, {{ISBN|978-0-87565-350-1}} locates the Magoffinsville post at the intersection of Magoffin and Willow streets, based on photographic inspection of the contours of [[Franklin Mountains (Texas)|Mount Franklin]] in a photograph of Fort Bliss.</ref> The post was named 'Fort Bliss' on 8 March 1854, in honor of Lt. Col. [[William Wallace Smith Bliss]], a veteran of the Mexican War (1846–1848) who was cited for gallantry in action.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|23}}

Fort Bliss remained there for the next 14 years, serving as a base for troops guarding the area against Apache attacks. Until 1861 most of these troops were units of the 8th Infantry Regiment.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bliss.army.mil/Museum/FortBlissTexas.htm |title=Information taken from the Fort Bliss Museum website |access-date=21 September 2006 |publisher=United States Army  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714142816/https://www.bliss.army.mil/Museum/FortBlissTexas.htm |archive-date=14 July 2007 }}</ref> At the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]], [[David E. Twiggs]], the Commander of the [[Department of Texas]], ordered the garrison to surrender Fort Bliss to [[Confederate States of America|the Confederacy]], which Col. [[Isaac Van Duzen Reeve]] did on 31 March 1861.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|29}} Companies B, E, F, H, I, and K were captured by the Confederacy and remained prisoners of war until 25 February 1863 in Texas. Company A returned safely to the North with their Colors on 26 May 1861.<ref name=wilson>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080620034855/http://www.history.army.mil/books/R&H/R&H-8IN.htm Lt. Richard H Wilson, Adjutant, The Eighth Regiment of Infantry.]</ref>

Confederate forces consisting of the 2nd Regiment of Texas, under the command of Col. [[John R. Baylor]], took the post on 1 July 1861,<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|29}} and used it as a platform to launch [[Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War#Confederate Territory of Arizona and Federal New Mexico Territory|attacks into New Mexico and Arizona]] in an effort to force the Union garrisons still in these states to surrender. Initially the Confederate Army had success in their attempts to [[New Mexico Campaign|gain control of New Mexico]], but following the [[Battle of Glorieta Pass]], the Confederate soldiers were forced to retreat when their supply lines were cut.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20060215163002/http://texashistory.unt.edu/permalink/meta-pth-6112 ''Forty years at El Paso, 1858–1898; recollections of war, politics, adventure, events, narratives, sketches, etc.''], by W. W. Mills, hosted by the [http://texashistory.unt.edu/ Portal to Texas History]</ref>

In 1862, the Confederate garrison abandoned Fort Bliss without a fight when a [[California Column|Federal column of 2,350 men]] under the command of Colonel [[James H. Carleton]] advanced from California.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|30}} The Californians maintained an irregular garrison at Fort Bliss until 1865, when [[5th Infantry Regiment (United States)|5th Infantry]] units arrived to reestablish the post. These were relieved by the [[25th Infantry Regiment (United States)|25th Infantry]], [[Buffalo Soldier]]s, on 12 August 1866, followed by the 35th Infantry two months later.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|33, 35}}

====Camp Concordia (1868–1876)====
After May 1867 [[Rio Grande]] flooding seriously damaged the Magoffinsville post, Fort Bliss was moved to a site called 'Camp Concordia' in March 1868.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|35}} Camp Concordia's location was immediately south of what is now [[Interstate 10]], across from Concordia Cemetery in El Paso. The [[Rio Grande]] was about a mile south of the camp at that time. Water was hauled daily by mule team to the camp. On 11 March 1869 the old name of Fort Bliss was resumed.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|36}}

Water, heating, and sanitation facilities were at a minimum in the [[adobe]] buildings of the fort. Records reveal that troops suffered severely from [[dysentery]] and [[malaria]] and that supplies arrived irregularly over the [[Santa Fe Trail]] by [[wagon train]]. In January 1877, the Concordia post was abandoned.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|36}} After the troops left, El Paso was without a garrison for more than a year. By that time, El Paso and its environs on the north side of the river had swelled to a population of almost 800.

==== Hart's Mill (1878–1893) ====
[[File:Aerial view Fort Bliss 1968.jpg|thumb|An aerial view of Fort Bliss, 1968, with Northeast El Paso in background]]

On New Year's Day 1878, Fort Bliss was established as a permanent post.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|36}} The Company L [[Buffalo Soldier]]s of the [[9th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|Ninth Cavalry]] and Company C of the [[15th Infantry Regiment (United States)|15th Infantry]], were sent to Fort Bliss to prevent further [[San Elizario Salt War|trouble over the salt beds]] and the usage of Rio Grande water for irrigation purposes.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|36,39}} Prior to this date, the government had a policy of leasing property for its military installations. A tract of {{convert|135|acre|km2}} was purchased at Hart's Mill on the river's edge in the Pass, near what is today the [[University of Texas at El Paso|UTEP]].<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|50}}

With a $40,000 appropriation, a building program began. The first railroad arrived in 1881, and tracks were laid across the military reservation, solving the supply problems for the fort and the rapidly growing town of El Paso. By 1890, Hart's Mill had outlived its usefulness, and Congress appropriated $150,000 for construction of a military installation on the mesa approximately {{convert|5|mi|km}} east of El Paso's 1890 city limits.<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|50}} Although no money was appropriated for the land, $8,250 was easily raised by the local residents, who realized the economic benefit to the area.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Harris |first=Major Kevin L. |title=Guardian of the Pass: the story of the U.S. Army in El Paso }}</ref>

[[File:PoloField,FtBliss.JPG|thumb|Ruhlen's 1893 buildings, currently offices still stand at Fort Bliss, as do the officers' quarters.]]

==== Present site (1893–today) ====
The present site of Fort Bliss on La Noria mesa,<ref>{{cite news | first = Virginia | last = Resa | date = 1 March 2007 | url = http://www.fbmonitor.com/monitor/2007/03%20March/030107/PDF/22.pdf | title = Marker denotes Fort Bliss' rich history | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110710230851/http://www.fbmonitor.com/monitor/2007/03%20March/030107/PDF/22.pdf |archive-date=10 July 2011 | newspaper = The Monitor | location = Fort Bliss }}</ref><ref>The [[Arroyo (watercourse)|arroyo]] below La Noria [[mesa]], now occupied by the Patriot Freeway, was once the site of a large military display, 2 February 1920, which was held in honor of General John J. Pershing. The parade was witnessed by El Pasoans seated on the slopes of the mesa. All elements of Fort Bliss took part, including a parade of all 4500 troopers of the Eighth Cavalry, mounted 48 horses abreast.—Trish Long (Dec 2014), "[http://blogs.elpasotimes.com/morgue/2014/12/ 1920: No Better Military Show Ever Staged Than That At Fort Bliss, Asserts Officer With Pershing Party] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150119173135/http://blogs.elpasotimes.com/morgue/2014/12/ |date=19 January 2015 }}" ''El Paso Times'' morgue. accessdate=2015-01-19</ref> was laid out by Captain John Ruhlen from 1891 to 1892. In October 1893, it was occupied by four companies of the [[18th Infantry Regiment (United States)|18th Infantry]].<ref name=Metz/>{{rp|50}}<ref>Additional information about the construction of Fort Bliss, 1890–1940 (with appendix detailing more information up to 1960) can be found in [https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA277986.pdf Perry Jamieson (1993), ''A Survey History of Fort Bliss'', Historic and Natural Resources Report No. 5, Cultural Resources Management Program, Directorate of Environment, United States Army Air Defense Artillery Center, Fort Bliss]</ref>