Editing Fort Bliss (section)

==== 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}}