Texas Almanac, 2004-2005 Page: 18
672 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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18 Texas Almanac 2004-2005
The names of soldiers are carved in the ruins at Fort Chad-
bourne in Bronte, Coke County. File photo.
night they slept either upon the ground or in tents, and
alcoholic liquors were used in excess."
Fort Terrett, on the North Fork of the Llano River,
was under construction, too. The fort's barracks were
"mere shelters" without doors, floors or windows. The
best thing Freeman found at Fort Terrett was the band,
which "though small, is quite good, and does much to
relieve the monotony of garrison life at an isolated, fron-
tier station."
Rustic Conditions
Freeman returned to Fort McKavett, then departed
for Fort Chadbourne, 95 miles to the northwest on Oak
Creek, a small tributary of the Colorado. It was a four-
day journey. Except for the officers, who lived in "two
or three rude, jacal huts," the troops there were still liv-
ing in tents.
"The Comanches are the only Indians who have vis-
ited the post since its establishment," he wrote. "I could
obtain only a vague estimate of their numbers. They
have no permanent camps, but for the last year the band
of San-a-co, one of the principal chiefs, has lived within
50 or 60 miles of the post."
At Fort Phantom Hill, between the Elm and Clear
Forks of the Brazos River near present-day Abilene, the
soldier's life was no better than at McKavett. "The
aspect of the place is uninviting," Freeman wrote. "No
post visited, except Fort Ewell, presented so few attrac-
tions."
He couldn't even review the troops because nearly
all of them were raw, untrained recruits who hadn't yet
learned how to march, and 50 of them didn't yet even
have weapons. To complete the dismal scene: "The
officers and soldiers are living in pole huts built in the
early part of last year. They are now in a dilapidated
condition. The company quarters will, in all probability,
fall down during the prevalence of the severe northers of
the coming winter."
At Fort Belknap, on the Clear Fork of the Brazos
northeast of Phantom Hill, the prospect was brighter.
There was plenty of good stone and brick clay for con-
struction; the post stood over a field of bituminous coal
that could be dug for fuel, and excellent springs were
only a few hundred yards away.
The post had been visited recently by small bands of
Caddos, Anadarkos, lonies, Wacos, Keechies and Tawa-
konis, as well as 300 Comanches under the ubiquitous
Buffalo Hump and San-a-co. "Their camps are move-The old powder magazine still stands at Fort Phantom Hill,
north of Abilene. File photo.
able," Freeman wrote, "but during the winter they live
within 40 miles, on the Clear Fork."
From Belknap, Freeman swung eastward to a small
collection of log buildings called Fort Worth, at the
mouth of the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. "The near-
est towns or villages are Dallas, with 350 inhabitants, 38
miles east, and Birdville and Alton, with a population of
50 each, distant 9 and 35 miles respectively."
Fort Worth had been established in 1849. When
Freeman arrived there in September 1853, its com-
mander had gotten orders to abandon the post and move
his troops to Fort Belknap.
"I was gratified to find - it was the solitary excep-
tion throughout my tour - the Guard House, that sad-
dest of all places in a garrison, without a single prisoner.
Bvt. Maj. Merrill informs me that most of his men
belong to the temperance society, and that he has rarely
occasion to confine any one of them."
The last two forts on Freeman's tour - Fort Gra-
ham, 56 miles southwest of Fort Worth, and Fort Cro-
ghan, in the center of Texas 50 miles northwest of
Austin - also were in the process of shutting down.
With a few exceptions, most of the other posts he visited
would follow them into oblivion within a few years. Set-
tlers already were pushing the frontier miles beyond
their usefulness.
They hadn't been a deterrent against Indians raids
anyway. They never had enough troops or the right
equipment to perform their mission. Most of their troops
were infantry. To expect them to chase down on foot the
greatest horsemen in the world was sheer governmental
folly. The Comanches and Kiowas who visited the forts
and took a look around must have had a good laugh
when they returned to their camps.
Why did the army keep its mounted troops at its
eastern forts, far from the frontier, while sending its
infantry to the western posts, where the Indian horse-
men roamed? Brevet Gen. Persifor Smith, commander
of the Department of Texas, had decided to quarter his
horses where the forage was best. And there was more
grass in the east.
The Trans-Pecos Posts
In late 1848, the War Department also had autho-
rized the establishment of a post at the western tip of
Texas, across the Rio Grande from the Mexican village
of El Paso del Norte (present-day Ciudad Juarez, Chi-
huahua). Its mission would be to defend the border and
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Alvarez, Elizabeth Cruce. Texas Almanac, 2004-2005, book, 2004; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162511/m1/18/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.