The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 2
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
sheep, goats, and cattle, and of substantial farm houses along
the way. Many forgot that the road that they were traveling had
ever been a military road and never dreamed that it would ever
be one again. Only the records in the Courthouse remembered.
The last chapter would tell of war clouds and of the realiza-
tion that the United States needed trained troops, of the search
to find new training grounds, and of the beginning of Fort Hood
in the southern part of Coryell County. More and more troops
were needed and one cantonment site was not enough, so the last
vestige of civilian life was moved out and the area was expanded
toward the old fort. Then would come the story of the building
of North Fort Hood on the Old Fort Gates training field on the
south side of the Leon River just opposite the old fort on the
north, and in the place where the Assistant Surgeon of 1850 said
that Fort Gates should have been built.
This chapter would also tell of tank destroyers, of tanks, of
weapon carriers, and of other instruments of warfare traveling
that same old road. Fort Hood calls it "The East Range and
Sugar Loaf Mountain Road." The records in the Courthouse in
Coryell County call it "The Old Military Road." Of course
there have been changes in the road, because the engineers of
the 196o's go over a mountain that those of 1849 had to go
around, and the modern army builds bridges across streams
where the men of Fort Gates had to find a shallow crossing. The
two roads, however, are basically the same until they reach the
south boundary of Coryell County, and then the East Range
Road turns back toward the west and leaves the old route.
THE FIRST FORT
In 1936, in response to an inquiry directed to the War Depart-
ment in Washington, D. C., the following information was re-
ceived:
In order to protect the citizens of West Texas from marauding
Indians, a line of army posts was established in 1849. The survey of
this line was made by Lieutenant W. H. S. Whiting and corps of
Engineers, in compliance with an order given by Major General
George M. Brooke, commanding the headquarters of the Eighth
Military Department at San Antonio, Texas. The line reached from
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/20/?rotate=270: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.