soldiers were unaware that they had encroached on private property, which was part of the Mora Grant. The following year Colonel Edwin Vose Sumner expanded the fort to an area of eight square miles by claiming the site as a military reservation. In 1868, President Andrew Johnson declared a timber reservation, encompassing the entire range of the Turkey Mountains (part of the Sangre de Cristo range) and comprising an area of fifty-three square miles, as part of the fort. The claimants of the Mora Grant immediately challenged the government squatters and took the case to court. By the mid-1850s, the case reached Congress. In the next two decades, the government did not give any favorable decision to the claimants, until 1876 when the Surveyor-General of New Mexico reported that Fort Union was "no doubt" located in the Mora Grant. But the army was unwilling to move to another place or to compensate the claimants because of the cost. The Secretary of War took "a prudential measure", protesting the decision of the acting commissioner of the General Land Office. He argued that the military had improved the area and should not give it up without compensation. This stalling tactic worked; the army stayed at the fort until its demise in 1891, not paying a single penny to legitimate owners. Gallery See also National Register of Historic Places listings in Mora County, New Mexico List of national monuments of the United States References External links Santa Fe Trail Research Site American Southwest, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary National Park Service National Monuments in New Mexico Union Museums in Mora County, New Mexico Military and war museums in New Mexico New Mexico Territory Closed installations of the United States Army History of Mora County, New Mexico 1851 establishments in New Mexico Territory 1890s disestablishments in New Mexico Territory Union Protected areas of Mora County, New Mexico Protected areas established in 1954 1954 establishments in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in Mora County, New Mexico Santa Fe Trail