Annoying the fish and visiting the fort.

We decided to stay and extra day here.  The park is great and very quiet.

We went fishing in the morning.  The fish were annoyed but not impressed with our lures.  They did tease us by splashing the water every few minutes.
     
After the fishing we decided to go to the Fort.  Fort Sumner was used by the government from 1863 to 1868 to oversee the 1,000,000 acre reservation for the Mescalero Apache and Navajo Indians held there.  The two tribes were kept separated.  The larger group of  over 10,000 Navajo were on the same side of the river as the fort.  The smaller group of under 900 Apache on the other side.

After a few years the Apache decided they would escape and left 9 braves to keep fires burning to fool the troops. The rest of the tribe split up and most were able to escape capture.

In 1868 the government released the Navajo and closed the fort.

Two years later much of the land and all the buildings were sold to the Maxwell
family.  The same year 1870s Maxwell's son became friends with Billy the Kid, and it was in the Maxwell house that Billy was killed by Pat Garrett. Billy the Kid is buried in the old military cemetery the Fort.  The grave is, ironically, surrounded by what looks like a jail cell.  It was placed around the grave to prevent it from being desecrated.

The turkeys came to visit again tonight.

Tomorrow we leave here for BlueWater State Park which is in the far west side of New Mexico.  We are only supposed to have Verizon so call Mom's phone if you need to get to us. I don't think we will have any internet so no posts until we move further west.