The Post Cemetery predated the establishment of Fort Bowie, when soldiers of the California Column were interred here in 1862. The area was unfenced until 1878, when a four-foot adobe wall was erected to protect the graves from desecration by post livestock. In early 1885, a picket fence replaced the adobe wall and by 1887, headstones replaced the wooden headboards. Some simply read: "Unknown. Killed by Apaches."
Of the most decorated was Medal of Honor recipient O.O. Spence. Also interred here were military dependents, civilian employees, emigrants, mail carriers, and three Apache children, one of which was Geronomino's two-year-old son.
Five months after the fort's closure, the remains of 72 soldiers, dependents and "Unknowns" were removed for reinternment at the San Francisco National Cemetery. Twenty-three civilian graves remain.
(Photo Caption)
"Knowing that persons now living have friends buried there, it may be a source of consolation to them to know that the graves of their departed friends at Camp Bowie are marked with slabs and that green grass grows upon every mound."
John H. Marion, 1870
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