In the Summer 2016 issue of Preservation, we share a story about the remote adobe forts in the Southwest that tell a story of trade, conflict, and an ongoing battle against rain and wind. Here, we share four more adobe forts throughout the region that illuminate the area's history.

Fort Craig, New Mexico

A major site in New Mexico's Civil War History, Fort Craig's ruins still sand along the west bank of the Rio Grande outside of Socorro, New Mexico. Built in 1854, it was the site of the first encounter between Confederate and Union soldiers in February 1862. Like Fort Union, it was abandoned in the 1880s after thirty years housing U.S. troops fighting local Native Americans; the site was transferred to the Bureau of Land Management in 1981. Visitors can tour it on a well-maintained pathway that winds through the remains of fort storehouses, barracks, and walls, as well as protective earthworks.

Fort Selden, New Mexico

Built on the east bank of the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico and along the El Camino Real (whose ruts run through the middle of the fort complex), Fort Selden has a very similar history to Forts Craig, Union, and Garland: it housed Civil War soldiers and then "Buffalo Soldiers" and other U.S. military personnel who policed the area during the volatile years of the Indian Wars. Abandoned in 1891, the fort's ruins have been declared a New Mexico State Monument.

El Pueblo Fort, Colorado

A trading fort established in 1842, El Pueblo was, like Bent's Old Fort, a crossroads of Anglo, Mexican, and Indian trade. It was abandoned in 1854 after Utes and Jicarilla Apaches attacked and burned it. Archaeologists discovered the remains of El Pueblo in a 1989 excavation, near Union Avenue and First Street in downtown Pueblo. El Pueblo History Museum has been established nearby.

Fort Bowie, Arizona

The first fort established in the Southwest during the American Civil War, the first Fort Bowie was built in July 1862 in order to defend Apache Pass from Chiricahua Apaches; U. S. Army soldiers built the second Fort Bowie in 1868, a massive adobe fort complex whose ruined walls still stand at the top of the pass. Visitors can hike the trails around this National Historic Site, which includes adobe fort ruins as well as the stone foundations of the first Fort Bowie and a mail stage station.