Camp Rucker

United States of America

Situated in Cochise County, Arizona, Fort Rucker began its life under two earlier names — Camp Supply and Camp Powers — before the War Department officially renamed it on October 1, 1878. The honour fell to Lieutenant John Anthony 'Tony' Rucker, a man whose final act had already cemented his memory:

on July 11, 1878, just three weeks before the renaming, Lieutenant Rucker drowned in an unsuccessful bid to save Lieutenant Austin Henley after both men attempted to ford a nearby river that had swollen violently following a rainstorm. The camp's original mission was defensive — protecting settlers in a volatile frontier region — and it housed mounted cavalry units tasked with patrolling the surrounding terrain. In the summer of 1880, the fort found itself entangled in the colourful criminal underworld of the Arizona frontier: on July 21, six mules were stolen from the Camp Rucker stables, allegedly by none other than William 'Curly Bill' Brocius alongside two others said to be Ike Clanton and Calico Jones. A search party led by Lieutenant J. H. Hurst, accompanied by the legendary lawman Virgil Earp and his deputies, eventually traced the stolen animals to the ranch of Tom and Frank McLaury — names that would echo through the myths of the American West. During the 1880s the post was elevated to fort status and became one of the more important military stations in the US Army's campaign against the Apache tribes, specifically those led by the formidable Geronimo and the Chiricahua

Listen to the audio guide for Camp Rucker Free on WIP — starts by itself when you arrive, even with the screen off