Distant For Good Reasons

Distant For Good Reasons. The Arsenal. In the distance you can still see the adobe remnants of the Fort Union Arsenal. This ordnance depot stored and issued the weapons and ammunition needed for all Army operations throughout the Southwest for 30 years. Longstanding Army practice was to keep these large quantities of gunpowder and bullets safeguarded far from the troops and heavy traffic found here on the Post., Duties of the Soldiers and Civilians of the Arsenal , Here a small crew of skilled specialists tested new weapons, both large and small, that came in overland from the large federal depots in the East. They fixed broken guns and loaded munitions. They built ammunition boxes from pine boards, and made leather slings, belts, and even harness. These armories were crucial to the ability of the frontier Army to fight here in the Southwest., Arsenal workers operated under a separate command, distinct from the Post or Quartermaster Depot, and they lived in a world apart. Sometimes friction flared up between the three Fort Union departments. For example, the Arsenal commander refused to let his men help haul drinking water for the general needs of the Post. In that captain’s view of the military world, such a lowly task was work fit only for the most common of soldiers., ”I shall endeavor to keep my Depot as separate and distinct from the other departments as possible.” , , William Shoemaker, captain of ordnance department, 1851-1882