I've written about Fort Bayard's history before. You can read all about it here.
Fort Bayard has been on my mind a lot lately. I had intended to go down and revisit it during spring break this year. Travel restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to that. So, instead, I did as much research as I could online. I found some good information, but nothing is as good as actually being in a place.
Fort Bayard ceased to be a military post when the last detachment of the 9th U.S. Cavalry departed on January 12, 1900. That doesn't mean that the site was abandoned. The War Department had already issued an order issued on August 28, 1899 that authorized the Surgeon General to establish the first military sanatorium dedicated to the treatment of Army officers and enlisted men suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Major Daniel M. Appel, an Army surgeon, arrived at Fort Bayard on October 3, 1899 to organize the hospital.
Fort Stanton had undergone a similar conversion, becoming a sanatorium for tubercular merchant seamen in April 1899. Fort Stanton was transferred to the Department of Interior in 1896, and then to the U.S. Marine Hospital Service, a bureau within the Treasury Department, in 1899, Fort Bayard remained within the Army under the auspices of the Army Medical Department.
. The Spanish-American War. drove the need for sanatorium for the Army's soldiers and veterans. In the humid, tropics of Cuba, more soldiers succumbed to disease than enemy fire. Many soldiers serving in the Philippines returned with pulmonary disease. At 6,100 ft. and with a dry, sunny climate, Fort Bayard seemed a perfect place to restore health to diseased lungs. Fresh air and sunshine was considered so important to healing that patients who were ambulatory stayed outdoors at least eight hours daily throughout the entire year, and dormitory windows remained open. By March 1902, over 600 patients had been treated at the sanatorium.
World War I created another upsurge in the need for a hospital dedicated specifically to injuries and illnesses of the lungs. The cold, damp trenches of Northern France were breeding grounds for pneumonia, and gas warfare damaged thousands of dough boy lungs. The Great Influenza of 1918-19, often referred to as the Spanish Flu, also contributed to pulmonary disease.
By 1920, the Army involvement with medicine for veterans was changing. In May the War Department closed the sanatorium and transferred most of its corpsmen, physicians and patients to other facilities in an effort to consolidate services. Most patients were moved to Denver.
Fort Bayard has been on my mind a lot lately. I had intended to go down and revisit it during spring break this year. Travel restrictions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic put a stop to that. So, instead, I did as much research as I could online. I found some good information, but nothing is as good as actually being in a place.
Fort Bayard ceased to be a military post when the last detachment of the 9th U.S. Cavalry departed on January 12, 1900. That doesn't mean that the site was abandoned. The War Department had already issued an order issued on August 28, 1899 that authorized the Surgeon General to establish the first military sanatorium dedicated to the treatment of Army officers and enlisted men suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis. Major Daniel M. Appel, an Army surgeon, arrived at Fort Bayard on October 3, 1899 to organize the hospital.
Fort Stanton had undergone a similar conversion, becoming a sanatorium for tubercular merchant seamen in April 1899. Fort Stanton was transferred to the Department of Interior in 1896, and then to the U.S. Marine Hospital Service, a bureau within the Treasury Department, in 1899, Fort Bayard remained within the Army under the auspices of the Army Medical Department.
. The Spanish-American War. drove the need for sanatorium for the Army's soldiers and veterans. In the humid, tropics of Cuba, more soldiers succumbed to disease than enemy fire. Many soldiers serving in the Philippines returned with pulmonary disease. At 6,100 ft. and with a dry, sunny climate, Fort Bayard seemed a perfect place to restore health to diseased lungs. Fresh air and sunshine was considered so important to healing that patients who were ambulatory stayed outdoors at least eight hours daily throughout the entire year, and dormitory windows remained open. By March 1902, over 600 patients had been treated at the sanatorium.
World War I created another upsurge in the need for a hospital dedicated specifically to injuries and illnesses of the lungs. The cold, damp trenches of Northern France were breeding grounds for pneumonia, and gas warfare damaged thousands of dough boy lungs. The Great Influenza of 1918-19, often referred to as the Spanish Flu, also contributed to pulmonary disease.
By 1920, the Army involvement with medicine for veterans was changing. In May the War Department closed the sanatorium and transferred most of its corpsmen, physicians and patients to other facilities in an effort to consolidate services. Most patients were moved to Denver.
Jennifer Bohnhoff lives in the mountains of central New Mexico and writes historical fiction. Her novel, A Blaze of Poppies, is set in Southern New Mexico and France during the 1910s. Some of the action takes place at Fort Bayard. Available October 2021, you can preorder this book now.
