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- Feb 23, 2013
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- East Texas
Part I- The First Line of Forts
U. S. Cavalry reenactors practicing mounted drill on the parade ground at Fort Richardson near Jacksboro.
With the end of the U. S. - Mexican War and the signing of the Treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the still-young United States assumed new responsibilities begun in 1845 with the Annexation of Texas. Now not only must the frontier be protected from hostile Indian raiders, there was a built-in obligation to Mexico to contain those same raiders. Further complicating the issue was the discovery of gold in far-off California resulting in the great Gold Rush of 1849; the southern trail to the gold fields crossed the wastes of West Texas into the New Mexico Territory and likewise needed protection from Indians.
Map adapted from one by E. M. Schiwetz in the 1958 Texas Sketchbook.
The government's answer was the creation of a line of forts, camps, and cantonments along what was then the Texas frontier, indicated on the map above by the dotted line at the right. As will be shown, this remedy was to prove temporary at best, soon to be replaced in the 1850's by a second line of posts indicated by the line to the left. Almost nothing remains today of the forts along the first line; I propose to concentrate therefore in this series on those both antebellum and post-war along that second line and which are indicated in red.
Post of San Antonio
The United States Army early established a presence in the town of San Antonio but built no permanent fort there until well after the Civil War. However, that didn't stop it from becoming the center of the Department of Texas, serving as both headquarters and a major supply center for posts farther west. In 1849 the army acquired a tumble-down ruin that had been built originally by Spanish friars as the chapel of Mission San Antonio de Valero. The unfinished and roofless church had been part of the "fort" used by both Mexican troops in 1835 and Tejanos in 1836 and is now familiar worldwide as the Alamo. The U. S. Army essentially preserved it for posterity by remodeling it for use as a supply warehouse; soldier graffiti from that period of its history may still be seen in out-of-the-way places inside. Indeed the famous "hump" on the facade as well as the vaulted barrel roof both date from the improvements made by army engineers!
Fort Martin Scott, 1848-61; 1865-66
The first of the new posts to be established was Fort Martin Scott, named in honor of a major of the 5th Infantry who had been killed in the Battle of Molino del Rey outside Mexico City. It was located on Barton's Creek about two miles east of the new settlement of Fredericksburg which had only recently been founded by German immigrants. According to Robert Frazier in Forts of the West, "the post was frequently occupied by a very small garrison and served more as a forage depot than a defense post." It wasn't abandoned by the army until the beginning of the Civil War but was reoccupied only very briefly afterwards. During the war it saw intermittent use by Texas Confederate troops. Only the buildings and historical marker shown here have been restored and remain today, but that is more than survives of most of the forts in the first tier.
Fort Worth, 1849-53
One of the first forts established was Fort Worth, named for General William Jenkins Worth, commanding the department. Originally it was built as Camp Worth on the floodplain of the Trinity River which proved to be a bad idea, remedied by relocating it to the high bluff overlooking the river. The spot was so desirable that once the army left, the remaining buildings became home to a growing community that gave birth to the city of today. The impressive Tarrant County Courthouse now occupies the area once home to the fort, nothing of which now remains other than the bronze plaque seen here. The artist seems to have portrayed the log fort as a pioneer settlement rather than the more typical military outpost it likely was.
Among the officers of the Old Army who had perhaps the greatest influence over the Texas forts considered here were the men pictured above, left to right: Lt. Col. William W. Belknap of the 5th Infantry who selected the site for the fort later named in his honor and who died while on campaign Nov. 1, 1851; Col. William Jenkins Worth of the 8th Infantry (pictured here as a general during the Mexican War) who was commanding the department when he died on May 7, 1849, and for whom Fort Worth was named; Capt. William H. C. Whiting (seen here later as a Confederate general); and Capt. Joseph K. F. Mansfield. It is largely due to the latter gentlemen of the U. S. Corps of Engineers that so much is known about the early Texas posts, due to their reports based on inspection tours. Whiting foresaw as early as 1849 the need for more forts with heavier garrisons, recommending the use of a powerful and mobile cavalry force which could range far and fast, instead of slow infantry. Mansfield's tour of the western forts, including those in Texas, was made in 1853 - 54 and provides a great deal of information about them, including detailed descriptions, maps, and plats.
Fort Graham, 1849-53
Another of the early Texas forts was Fort Graham, located in 1849 northwest of what became the town of Hillsboro. Graham was established by Capt. Ripley A. Arnold of the 2d Dragoons and named for Lt. Col. William Graham of the 11th Infantry who had also been killed in the battle of Molino del Rey. Graham was only in service until it was abandoned in 1853 when, like most of the others in the first tier it was seen to have been bypassed by frontier settlement and outlived its usefulness. As with Fort Worth, nothing remains but the stone marker seen above; the actual site of the fort now lies beneath Lake Whitney, like almost all lakes in Texas, an artificial reservoir.
The soldiers who largely built and manned these early outposts on the Texas frontier were occasionally dressed somewhat like their counterparts in uniform plates like these by famous military artist and historian Henry C. Ogden. At left are the campaign and fatigue uniforms of infantry and dragoons of the era of the Mexican War in the 1840's into the early 1850's. These were slowly replaced in the 1850's by those shown at center and at right which depict dragoons, cavalry, infantry, and artillery. These are dress uniforms which were supplemented by more practical wear for campaign. Even so, all soldiery was at least theoretically to have this order of dress for the evening and Sunday parades that were a normal part of army life, even at remote posts on the frontier like these.
All of the forts that will be featured here are accessible and open to the public, and though some are state, county, or community parks; others are owned by various organizations or even individuals. Most of those along the second tier of frontier forts are connected by the Texas Forts Trail, one of the markers for which is seen above near Fort Chadbourne south of Abilene, Texas.
Next, Part II - Fort Phantom Hill
U. S. Cavalry reenactors practicing mounted drill on the parade ground at Fort Richardson near Jacksboro.
With the end of the U. S. - Mexican War and the signing of the Treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the still-young United States assumed new responsibilities begun in 1845 with the Annexation of Texas. Now not only must the frontier be protected from hostile Indian raiders, there was a built-in obligation to Mexico to contain those same raiders. Further complicating the issue was the discovery of gold in far-off California resulting in the great Gold Rush of 1849; the southern trail to the gold fields crossed the wastes of West Texas into the New Mexico Territory and likewise needed protection from Indians.
Map adapted from one by E. M. Schiwetz in the 1958 Texas Sketchbook.
The government's answer was the creation of a line of forts, camps, and cantonments along what was then the Texas frontier, indicated on the map above by the dotted line at the right. As will be shown, this remedy was to prove temporary at best, soon to be replaced in the 1850's by a second line of posts indicated by the line to the left. Almost nothing remains today of the forts along the first line; I propose to concentrate therefore in this series on those both antebellum and post-war along that second line and which are indicated in red.
Post of San Antonio
The United States Army early established a presence in the town of San Antonio but built no permanent fort there until well after the Civil War. However, that didn't stop it from becoming the center of the Department of Texas, serving as both headquarters and a major supply center for posts farther west. In 1849 the army acquired a tumble-down ruin that had been built originally by Spanish friars as the chapel of Mission San Antonio de Valero. The unfinished and roofless church had been part of the "fort" used by both Mexican troops in 1835 and Tejanos in 1836 and is now familiar worldwide as the Alamo. The U. S. Army essentially preserved it for posterity by remodeling it for use as a supply warehouse; soldier graffiti from that period of its history may still be seen in out-of-the-way places inside. Indeed the famous "hump" on the facade as well as the vaulted barrel roof both date from the improvements made by army engineers!
Fort Martin Scott, 1848-61; 1865-66
The first of the new posts to be established was Fort Martin Scott, named in honor of a major of the 5th Infantry who had been killed in the Battle of Molino del Rey outside Mexico City. It was located on Barton's Creek about two miles east of the new settlement of Fredericksburg which had only recently been founded by German immigrants. According to Robert Frazier in Forts of the West, "the post was frequently occupied by a very small garrison and served more as a forage depot than a defense post." It wasn't abandoned by the army until the beginning of the Civil War but was reoccupied only very briefly afterwards. During the war it saw intermittent use by Texas Confederate troops. Only the buildings and historical marker shown here have been restored and remain today, but that is more than survives of most of the forts in the first tier.
Fort Worth, 1849-53
One of the first forts established was Fort Worth, named for General William Jenkins Worth, commanding the department. Originally it was built as Camp Worth on the floodplain of the Trinity River which proved to be a bad idea, remedied by relocating it to the high bluff overlooking the river. The spot was so desirable that once the army left, the remaining buildings became home to a growing community that gave birth to the city of today. The impressive Tarrant County Courthouse now occupies the area once home to the fort, nothing of which now remains other than the bronze plaque seen here. The artist seems to have portrayed the log fort as a pioneer settlement rather than the more typical military outpost it likely was.
Among the officers of the Old Army who had perhaps the greatest influence over the Texas forts considered here were the men pictured above, left to right: Lt. Col. William W. Belknap of the 5th Infantry who selected the site for the fort later named in his honor and who died while on campaign Nov. 1, 1851; Col. William Jenkins Worth of the 8th Infantry (pictured here as a general during the Mexican War) who was commanding the department when he died on May 7, 1849, and for whom Fort Worth was named; Capt. William H. C. Whiting (seen here later as a Confederate general); and Capt. Joseph K. F. Mansfield. It is largely due to the latter gentlemen of the U. S. Corps of Engineers that so much is known about the early Texas posts, due to their reports based on inspection tours. Whiting foresaw as early as 1849 the need for more forts with heavier garrisons, recommending the use of a powerful and mobile cavalry force which could range far and fast, instead of slow infantry. Mansfield's tour of the western forts, including those in Texas, was made in 1853 - 54 and provides a great deal of information about them, including detailed descriptions, maps, and plats.
Fort Graham, 1849-53
Another of the early Texas forts was Fort Graham, located in 1849 northwest of what became the town of Hillsboro. Graham was established by Capt. Ripley A. Arnold of the 2d Dragoons and named for Lt. Col. William Graham of the 11th Infantry who had also been killed in the battle of Molino del Rey. Graham was only in service until it was abandoned in 1853 when, like most of the others in the first tier it was seen to have been bypassed by frontier settlement and outlived its usefulness. As with Fort Worth, nothing remains but the stone marker seen above; the actual site of the fort now lies beneath Lake Whitney, like almost all lakes in Texas, an artificial reservoir.
The soldiers who largely built and manned these early outposts on the Texas frontier were occasionally dressed somewhat like their counterparts in uniform plates like these by famous military artist and historian Henry C. Ogden. At left are the campaign and fatigue uniforms of infantry and dragoons of the era of the Mexican War in the 1840's into the early 1850's. These were slowly replaced in the 1850's by those shown at center and at right which depict dragoons, cavalry, infantry, and artillery. These are dress uniforms which were supplemented by more practical wear for campaign. Even so, all soldiery was at least theoretically to have this order of dress for the evening and Sunday parades that were a normal part of army life, even at remote posts on the frontier like these.
All of the forts that will be featured here are accessible and open to the public, and though some are state, county, or community parks; others are owned by various organizations or even individuals. Most of those along the second tier of frontier forts are connected by the Texas Forts Trail, one of the markers for which is seen above near Fort Chadbourne south of Abilene, Texas.
Next, Part II - Fort Phantom Hill
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