History and culture - Eastern Plains
Fort Lyon, near Las Animas, is where Kit Carson died
Fort Lyon, east of Las Animas near the mouth of the Purgatoire River, was a frontier army post where Kit Carson died in 1868, and it later became a veterans hospital and a national cemetery.
Published June 10, 2026 - Last verified June 10, 2026
A few miles east of Las Animas, near where the Purgatoire River joins the Arkansas, stands the site of Fort Lyon, one of the oldest threads in Bent County’s history.
The post began under a different name and was renamed during the Civil War for a Union general. Floods at its first location pushed the army to rebuild it on higher ground at its later site. For years it was a frontier military fort on the southern plains, near the trails and rivers that carried people across this part of Colorado.
Fort Lyon is best known to many for one event: Kit Carson, the former trapper, scout, and Indian agent who had settled at nearby Boggsville, died here in 1868. A chapel was later built in his honor and still stands.
The fort did not stop being useful when the frontier era ended. In the early 1900s it became a medical site, first a navy sanitarium for treating tuberculosis in the dry plains air, and later a hospital for veterans. A cemetery started there grew into Fort Lyon National Cemetery, now cared for by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
This is layered ground, tied to the army, to Native nations, and to the people buried there, so it is worth treating with care and reading the record rather than the legend. For the documented history and visitor details, check the Bent County Historical Society, History Colorado, and the National Cemetery Administration.