Founded in 1866, the fort at first provided security (mainly by African-American "Buffalo Soldiers") against Native American attacks on settlers during the settlement of the region in the 19th century.

The property is now the Fort Bayard Medical Center, a long-term nursing care facility operated by the state of New Mexico.

[2] Fort Bayard was established as a United States Army installation in 1866 to protect miners and other settlers in the area along the Apache Trail.

Corporal Clinton Greaves, stationed at Fort Bayard with C Company, 9th Cavalry Regiment, received the Medal of Honor for his actions against Apache raiders on January 24, 1877.

However, U.S. Army Surgeon General George Miller Sternberg, noting the excellent health record of the post, chose Fort Bayard as an Army tuberculosis hospital and research center (Lectures on tuberculosis made at the fort are archived at the National Library of Medicine).