Fort Crittenden, originally Camp Crittenden, was a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Army post built in 1867 three miles from Sonoita

Sonoita, Arizona

Sonoita is a census-designated place in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 826 at the 2000 census....

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 along Sonoita Creek

Sonoita Creek

Sonoita Creek is a stream in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It originates near and takes its name from the abandoned Pima mission in the high valley near Sonoita...

. It was established for campaigning against the Apache

Apache

Apache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...

 and to protect American pioneer

American pioneer

American pioneers are any of the people in American history who migrated west to join in settling and developing new areas. The term especially refers to those who were going to settle any territory which had previously not been settled or developed by European or American society, although the...

s in the area.

History

Fort Crittenden was named for Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Thomas L. Crittenden, who commanded the 5th Division in the Army of the Ohio

Army of the Ohio

The Army of the Ohio was the name of two Union armies in the American Civil War. The first army became the Army of the Cumberland and the second army was created in 1863.-History:...

 at Shiloh

Battle of Shiloh

The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union army under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant had moved via the Tennessee River deep into Tennessee and...

, the Left Wing of the Army of the Cumberland at Stones River

Battle of Stones River

The Battle of Stones River or Second Battle of Murfreesboro , was fought from December 31, 1862, to January 2, 1863, in Middle Tennessee, as the culmination of the Stones River Campaign in the Western Theater of the American Civil War...

, and the XXI Corps at Chickamauga

Battle of Chickamauga

The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19–20, 1863, marked the end of a Union offensive in southeastern Tennessee and northwestern Georgia called the Chickamauga Campaign...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. It was established on August 10, 1867 at the head of Davidson Canyon. Fort Buchanan

Fort Buchanan

Fort Buchanan is the name of two United States Army forts:* Fort Buchanan, Arizona, is a former United States Army base in Arizona to control land purchased in the Gadsden Purchase* Fort Buchanan, Puerto Rico is the only active U.S...

 was located a half mile from Fort Crittenden in 1856 but was destroyed during a battle

Battle of Fort Buchanan

The Battle of Fort Buchanan, was an 1865 Apache attack on the United States Army post of Old Fort Buchanan in southern Arizona. Though a skirmish it ended with a significant Apache victory when they forced the small garrison of California Volunteers to retreat to the Santa Rita Mountains...

in 1865. The fort was closed on June 1, 1873. Deteriorating adobe walls and dirt mounds mark the site which is on private property.