06/04/2026
Greetings from Fort Selden!
Did you know, Fort Selden got its name from a Colonel that never even saw the fort? The fort itself is named after Colonel Henry Raymond Selden, a Union officer from Vermont that served in the United States Army from his commission in 1843 to his death in 1865 at Fort Union, NM.
During the Civil War, Colonel Selden assisted in the defense of Fort Craig in 1861, and commanded regiments at Valverde, Pigeon’s Ranch, and Peralta. From 1862-1863, he was appointed Superintendent of Recruiting Service and the Disbursing Officer for the Department of New Mexico.
After serving for more than 20 years in the Army’s 1st, 5th, and 13th Infantries, Selden was promoted to Colonel as commander of the 1st New Mexico Volunteers on April 25, 1864. He would only serve for about 9 months in this rank before contracting illness and ultimately passing while serving as commander of Fort Union on February 2, 1865, at the age of 44.
On April 25, 1865, Special Orders No. 12 ordered that a military post would be established at “Roblero[sic] N.Mex” and that it would be known as Fort Selden “to perpetuate the memory of the late lamented Col. Henry R. Selden.”
These images from the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives show Fort Union as it likely would have been when Colonel Selden was there.
📸 (1) Officers' quarters, Fort Union, NM, ca. 1864-1869. Duhem Bros. Neg. no. 138014. (2) Military personnel, Fort Union headquarters, 1880? Unknown creator. Neg. no. 160566. (3) US Army Signal Corps. Repair workshops at Fort Union, 1866. “Souvenir of New Mexico” album. Collection of John Gaw Meem. Neg. no. 001839.
