The fort sits at the base of the Huachuca Mountains four miles west of the town of Sierra Vista, on AZ 90 in Cochise County, Arizona.

[1] In 1540, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado led an expedition and passed through the area in search of transportable riches, rumored to be in the "Seven Cities of Cibola".

Coronado and his men were the first Europeans to explore the area, however the "Seven Cities of Cibola", whose structures were supposed to be made of gold, was only a myth.

The early settlers and travelers were under constant attack by the Chiricahua Apaches who would proceed to escape to sanctuary in Mexico via the routes through the San Pedro and Santa Cruz valleys.

[5][3][4] In February 1877, Col. August V. Kautz, commander of the Department of Arizona, ordered that a camp be established in the Huachuca Mountains.

First Lieutenant Charles B. Gatewood, who had studied Apache ways, succeeded in negotiating a surrender, under the terms of which Geronimo and his followers agreed to spend two years on a Florida reservation.

[6][3][4] After the surrender of Geronimo, trouble continued to brew with renegade Native-Americans, Mexican bandits; especially with the followers of Pancho Villa, and American outlaws and freebooters.

A detachment of 10th Cavalry fought one of their last battles of the Apache Wars north of Globe at the Salt River during an expedition on March 7, 1890.

[7] General John Pershing used the fort as a forward logistics and supply base from 1916 to 1917 in his expedition against Pancho Villa and his men.

[8][3][4] Upon his return from Mexico, then-Lieutenant Colonel Young established a school for African American enlisted men at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

He foresaw the coming of future wars and was determined that men of his race would be prepared to enter an officers’ training camp if one should be established.

[11] Also buried in the cemetery is Colonel Louis A. Carter, the only African-American chaplain, who served with all four of the black regiments of the Regular Army.

The "Mourning Hearts, A Soldier's Family", a bronze sculpture by Jessica McCain and presented by the Huachuca Museum Society in 1996, is situated inside the cemetery.