  fort sumner is a village in de baca county, new mexico, united states. the population was 1,249 at the 2000 census. it is the county seat of de baca county. fort sumner is the spring and fall home of the columbia scientific balloon facility, and is home to the alleged burial site of famed outlaw of the american west billy the kid. ==history== named after former new mexico military governor edwin vose sumner, fort sumner was a military fort charged with the internment of nearby navajo and mescalero apache populations from 1863 to 1868. the federal government closed the fort in 1868, and sold its buildings to lucien maxwell, a prominent new mexico landowner, in 1870. maxw
County_seats_in_New_Mexico Villages_in_New_Mexico