Fort Bowie National Historic Site

Fort Bowie was built in 1862 in the Chiricahua Mountains to protect the U.S. Mail route and settlers heading west to the California gold fields. The fort served as the base of operations during the Apache Wars (1861-1886), the ...

National Historic Landmark - Fort Bowie and Apache Pass

Commanding the eastern entrance of Apache Pass, Fort Bowie (1862) was a focal point in Army operations against the Chiricahua Apache in the 1860s and 1870s. A much-traveled mountain crossing of strategic value due to the presence of spring water, ...

Camp Bowie in World War I

Headquarters, 36th Division, United States Army, 1917-1919. Established to train Texas National Guard and Oklahoma National Guard, after the U.S. entered World War I, April 1917. Named for James Bowie (1795-1836), one of the commanders who died at the Alamo ...

Fort Bowie

National Historic Site

A Regional Legacy

Cochise. Geronimo. Though their reputations were fierce, the Chiricahua Apaches didn't stop explorers, prospectors, settlers, and merchants from Westward immigration. To establish a lifeline between the East and California, the Butterfield Overland Trail was built in ...

Bowie Family Memorial

Erected by the descendants of

Abraham Bowie, born in Scotland

and settled in Durham Parish,

Charles County, Maryland, about

1700 A.D. The family of his grandson

Rhody Bowie, moved to Abbeville

County, South Carolina about 1800.

Eli Bowie, son of Rhody Bowie,

established Gilgal Church in 1817.

This church ...

Old Fort Bowie

Guardian of Apache Pass

Established 1862 following the battle of Apache Pass, largest conflict in Arizona Indian Wars. Massed Apaches under Cochise and Mancas Coloradas were routed by howitzers fired by California volunteers attacked in the pass. Fort Bowie overlooked only ...

Bowie

Christian Pioneers

[Front (East) Inscription]

Abraham Boey came from Sterlingshire, Scotland to Charles County, Md. about 1700. His son John had six sons, one being Rhodi who married Ann Price. Rhodi's six children moved to Abbeville County, S.C. ca. 1802-1815. Four are ...

First Fort Bowie

To your right, a spur trail follows a military road 300 yards to the first Fort Bowie ruins.

On July 28, 1862, a 100-man detachment of the 5th California Volunteer Infantry began construction of the primitive fort, completing it two weeks ...

The Bowie Caboose

A caboose was the accustomed conclusion to any freight train, and served many roles. It allowed crewmen to keep a lookout for how the freight cars were functioning as the train moved along. It provided a place to rest and ...

Bowie Railroad Station Museum

The Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, chartered in 1853, inaugurated train service on July 2, 1872 with a line to Washington, and on January 1, 1873 opened the Pope's Creek line to southern Maryland. At the junction of the two lines ...