Merrill, Paul

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The U.S. Army established Fort Fauntleroy (later Fort Lyon) in what is now McKinley County, N.M., in 1860, and opened Fort Wingate about sixty miles away, near San Rafael, in 1862. Fort Lyon was reestablished as Fort Wingate in 1868. The fort garrisoned soldiers during the Civil War. Until its deactivation in 1911 the duties of the soldiers stationed there primarily included patrols, military surveys and escort functions. In 1914 the fort housed Mexican Federalist troops and their families who had fled the Pancho Villa uprising.

The Army renamed the deactivated fort "Fort Wingate General Ordnance Depot" in 1918, and it served as an ordnance depot until the early 1990s. A school for Native American children opened there in 1925, and a portion of the military reservation was transferred to the Department of the Interior for that purpose.

Among the soldiers associated with the fort were Christopher "Kit" Carson, John "Black Jack" Pershing, Douglas MacArthur, who was born there, and several Navajo Code Talkers.

The Army opened the Fort Wingate Trading Post in 1860 as a canteen and commissary. It closed in 1910 and was reopened as a civilian enterprise in 1920. Paul Merrill bought the business in 1946 and operated it until the early 1990s. The town of Fort Wingate grew up around the fort and trading post and exists today.

From the guide to the Fort Wingate, N.M. Collection, 1934-1991, (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
creatorOf Fort Wingate (N.M.) collection, 1934-1991. University of New Mexico-Main Campus
creatorOf Fort Wingate, N.M. Collection, 1934-1991 The University of New Mexico, University Libraries, Center for SouthwestResearch
referencedIn Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1828-1869. Charles Blanchard deeds, 1828-1869. Maine Historical Society Library
Role Title Holding Repository
Relation Name
associatedWith American Legion corporateBody
associatedWith Blanchard, Charles, fl. 1828-1869. person
associatedWith Fort WIngate Community Association corporateBody
associatedWith Fort Wingate Trading Post corporateBody
associatedWith Merrill, Patricia Vogt person
associatedWith United States. Army corporateBody
Place Name Admin Code Country
New Mexico
Fort Wingate (N.M.)
Subject
Community organization
Historic buildings
Home economics extension work
Indians of North America
Trading posts
Veterans
World War, 1939-1945
World War, 1939-1945
Occupation
Activity

Person

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