Camp Verde: The Fort That Became a Town
Near Jerome, Arizona
Camp Verde sits in the Verde Valley between Phoenix and Flagstaff, and it owes its existence entirely to the United States Army.
In eighteen sixty-five, settlers in the valley petitioned the military for protection against Tonto Apache and Yavapai raids on their farms. A tent camp appeared along West Clear Creek by August of that year, manned first by Arizona Volunteers and then by regular Army troops. The post was renamed Camp Verde in eighteen sixty-eight, and after malaria forced a move to higher ground, construction of a permanent Fort Verde began in eighteen seventy-one. Twenty-two buildings went up, housing cavalry and infantry. The army officially redesignated it Fort Verde in eighteen seventy-nine.
Fort Verde served as General Crook's base during the Apache campaigns of the eighteen seventies and eighties. The post closed in eighteen ninety-one, and the civilian town grew up around what remained. Today Fort Verde State Historic Park preserves four of the original officers' quarters.
