Ft. Union National Monument is located on NMHwy-161 just off of I-25 north of Watrous. The site preserves the second of three forts constructed on the site beginning in 1851, as well as the ruins of the third. The fort served as the headquarters of the 8th Cavalry in the early 1870s and as the headquarters of the 9th Cavalry (the "Buffalo Soldiers") in the late 1870s during the Apache Wars. The soldiers at Fort Union guarded the Santa Fe Trail which allowed millions of dollars of commercial traffic to flow between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The Union troops that were involved in the Battle of Glorieta Pass were dispached from Fort Union.

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