Editing Fort Wingate (section)

== History ==
*Ojo del Oso (in Spanish meaning "Eye of the Bear" or "Bear Spring") was a Navajo place visited for good grazing and water.

===19th century===
*1849: A hay camp was set up near [[Seboyeta, New Mexico]] and was called Fort Wingate.<ref name="NMForts">[http://newmexicohistory.org/places/fort-wingate Fort Wingate] @NewMexicoHistory.org</ref> It was named for Major Benjamin Wingate, 5th U.S. Infantry, who died on 1 June 1862 from wounds he received during the [[Battle of Valverde]].<ref name=frazier>{{cite book |author= Fraizer, Robert Walter|title= Forts of the West |year= 1965|publisher= University of Oklahoma Press |location= Norman |isbn= 0-8061-1250-6 }}</ref>
*1860: Fort Fauntleroy was established at Bear Springs (Ojo del Oso) as an outpost of [[Fort Defiance, Arizona|Fort Defiance]]. Colonel [[Thomas T. Fauntleroy (soldier)|Thomas T. Fauntleroy]] named the fort for himself.<ref name="NMForts"/>
**1861: Fort Fauntleroy was renamed Fort Lyon for Brig. Gen. [[Nathaniel Lyon]], a Unionist, when Fauntleroy left New Mexico to join the [[Provisional Army of Virginia]] after the state seceded from the Union. Fort Lyon was closed on 10 September 1861 at the start of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref name="NMForts"/> 
*1862: Fort Wingate was moved near a large spring at [[San Rafael, New Mexico]], also known as "Bikyaya" or "El Gallo" (the rooster).<ref name=frazier/><ref name="NMForts"/> It was designed to house four companies of troops.
**1864: [[Edward Canby]] ordered Colonel [[Kit Carson]] to bring four companies of the ''First New Mexico Volunteers'' to the fort to "control" the Navajo.
** 1864–1866: It was the staging point for the Navajo deportation known as the [[Long Walk of the Navajo]].
**1865: The New Mexico Military District had 3,089 troops, 135 of them at Fort Wingate.
*1868: Fort Wingate was moved back to the former site of Fort Lyon at Ojo del Oso.<ref>James H. Defouri, ''[https://archive.org/details/TheCatholicChurchInNM Historical Sketch of the Catholic Church in New Mexico]'' (1887) p. 81</ref>
**1868: Navajo people returning from Bosque Redondo were temporarily settled at the Oso Del Ojo Fort Wingate before spreading out into the newly established Navajo Reservation.
**1873–1886: The fort's troops participated in [[Apache Wars]] with troops and recruited [[Navajo Scouts]].
**1878: Fort Wingate had 137 troops.
[[File:Lt. Cornelius C. Smith 1895.jpg|thumb|right|'' In 1895 Second Lieutenant [[Cornelius C. Smith]], a [[Medal of Honor]] recipient, posed with his favorite horse, Blue, in front of his quarters.'']]
**1868–1895: Fort Wingate troops often settled disagreements between Navajo and "citizens" in New Mexico.
**1891: Fort Wingate troops assisted Arizona units against angry [[Hopi]]s.

===20th century===
*1907: Two troops of the [[5th Cavalry Regiment (United States)|5th Cavalry]] went from Fort Wingate to the [[Four Corners]] area after some armed Navajo. This was the last armed expedition the US Government made against the Navajo. One Navajo was killed and the rest escaped.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}}
*1911: A Ft. Wingate company of cavalry went to [[Chaco Canyon]] and camped there several days to quell a possible uprising by Navajo.
*1914: During the [[Mexican Revolution|Mexican Civil War]] over 2,000 Mexican soldiers and their families took refuge at the fort.
*1918: Fort Wingate focus turned from Navajo to [[World War I]].
*1940: Fort Wingate became an [[ammunition depot]] from World War II until 1993.
*1944: Fort Wingate supplied 100 tons of [[Composition B]] high explosives to the [[Manhattan Project]] for use in the first [[Trinity test]].
*1950: [[Bureau of Indian Affairs]] was given part of the polluted land for an Indian boarding school.
*1960–67: [[Redstone (rocket)|Redstone]] and [[Pershing 1]] missiles were tested among others at Wingate.
*1971: DoD Placed Fort Wingate on reserve and re-designated as "Fort Wingate Depot Activity" or FWDA.<ref>[http://www.ftwingate.org/about.html About FWDA], n.d. retrieved 17 June 2017</ref>
*1988: the [[Base Realignment and Closure]] round 1 decided to close the Fort.
*Environmental restoration activities at FWDA began in 1989.<ref name=IAP/>{{rp|11}}
* January 1993: the [[Base Realignment and Closure Act]] (BRAC) closed the post.

===21st century===
*Though the fort's mission ended, the [[Missile Defense Agency]] (MDA) continues to use 6,465 acres for launching target rockets to [[White Sands Missile Range]] (WSMR).<ref name=IAP>[http://www.ftwingate.org/docs/pub/FWDA_IAP_Current.pdf FY2016 Fort Wingate Depot Activity Base Realignment & Closure Installation Action Plan] 29 November 2016, 41 pp</ref>{{rp|6}}
*In December 2005, the [[New Mexico Environment Department]] (NMED) issued the Army a [[Resource Conservation and Recovery Act]] (RCRA) Permit.<ref name=IAP/>{{rp|6}}
*As of 2016, FWDA spread across 21,131 acres, occupied 15,280 acres of land and a BRAC acreage of 14,666.<ref name=IAP/>{{rp|6}}
*Environmental cleanup and land transfer{{when|date=June 2017}} to the surrounding community continues to the present, through at least 2022. 5,854 acres have already been transferred to the Department of Interior.<ref name=IAP/>{{rp|6}} Explosives, [[perchlorate]]s and nitrates are the primary contaminant in the northern groundwater plumes which have not migrated off-post, all other sites consist of relatively minor soil or building contamination without groundwater issues but with explosives, [[SVOCs]], and metals like lead.<ref name=IAP/>{{rp|11}}