Jones County Texas Archives - History of Fort Phantom Hill - 1927 *********************************************************** Submitted by: Dorman Holub Date: 19 January 2020 Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tx/jones/jonestoc.htm *********************************************************** The Stamford Leader November 25, 1927 Fort Phantom Hill by Ray Rector So many requests have come to me here of late for material on the history of Old Fort Phantom Hill, that I am going to give briefly the facts as I have gathered them. About three years ago I gave to the Stamford Leader a two-page article dealing with Robert e. LeeÕs military career in Texas prior to the Civil War. That article contained some information of history of Phantom Hill. A copy is on file in the Carnegie Library. According to records on file in the War Department, Col. Abercrombie established the ÒPost on the Clear Fork of the BrazosÓ known as ÒPhantom Hill,Ó on November 14, 1851. Here were stationed five companies of the 5th United States Infantry. Col. Abercrombie was relieved of his command April 27, 1852 by Lt. Col. C.A. Waite also of the 5th Infantry. These troops composed the garrison until August 24, 1853 when four companies were withdrawn to Ringgold Barracks on the Rio Grande. On Sept. 24, 1853 the remaining company was reinforced by a company of Dragoons who were commanded by Brevet-Major Henry Sibley. These troops remained at the post until April 6, 1854 when the post was abandoned as a military post. It has been erroneously reported that General (then Col.) Robert E. Lee was paymaster in the frontier army at about this time and frequently visited Phantom Hill. However, Albert Sydney Johnston was paymaster in the army in Texas during the period referred to. In a letter addressed to Col. F.B. Larned, paymaster-general, April 8, 1852, Col. Johnston says: ÒI have the honor to report that the district to which I have been assigned has been paid to the 29th of February last. It is constituted as follows: Fort Graham, Brazos River, Fort Worth, Clear Fork of the Brazos, and the Post on the Trinity, Fort Belknap, Salt Fork of the Brazos, and the Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. In March 1854 his son, William Preston Johnston made the trip with him, acting as his clerk, and mentions all the above places including Phantom Hill. Col. Johnston mentions a great hailstorm while on one of these trips on June 9, 1854 and the same year in October he tells of a flight of grasshoppers which were three days passing over a place. On Oct. 18, 1853 he mentions in a letter that his ambulance became a wreck at Phantom Hill. From immediately after the Mexican War until 1852 R.E. Lee was stationed at Baltimore where he was employed in constructing works of defense for the City of Baltimore and vicinity. IN 1852 he was made Supt. of the Military Academy at West Point and remained there until he assumed command as Lieut. Col. of the Second Cavalry April 20, 1855. Albert Sydney Johnston being its Colonel. This regiment of Cavalry was organized and recruited in the summer of 1855 at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. On Oct. 27, 1855 it began its long march to Western Texas. It numbered 750 men and 800 horses. It came to Texas under the command of Col. Johnston, Lee having been detained at Fort Riley, Kansas, on Court Martial duty. Lee arrived in Texas in March 1856 where from San Antonio he writes his first letter home. Lee remained in Texas four years and writes many interesting letters while here, but he never mentions Fort Phantom Hill. His family was living in Arlington, Virginia during his stay in Texas. Fort Phantom Hill By Bernice Thompson Stamford, Texas Foreword I have attempted to give the accurate historical events that are connected with Fort Phantom Hill. There has been much controversy in late years concerning the part that Fort Phantom Hill played in the Civil War. Therefore, I have had some difficulty in selecting material that is considered accurate. However, the material that I have used is based upon sources that seem reliable. Dr. C.C. Rister of Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, has made a careful investigation of this subject, therefore, I owe much to him for the greater part of my material. Then, Ray Rector, of Stamford, Texas, should be given credit for furnishing a part of the historical data. The mention of the name ÒPhantom HillÓ has always made me thoughtful of the origin of the term. People who are interested in history cannot keep from feeling a kind of reverence for the old place because it has about it something of the past which is worthy of our remembrance. I have read different accounts of the army officers stationed at this frontier post while it was occupied by the United States forces, of the manner in which it received its name, and of its importance as a link in the chain of defense against the Indians; but the various opinions are so conflicting that the truth is lost in a maze of uncertainties. Therefore, I have based most of my account upon that which was written by Dr. C.C. Rister, secretary of the West Texas Historical Association. There are various opinions concerning who built Fort Phantom Hill. One authority says that the post was established by Gen. Sam Houston before Texas became one of the States of the Union; another says that Gen. George Thomas established the post while an officer in the Second United States Cavalry; and still another says that Gen. Robert E. Lee not only established the post, but that he was stationed there while he was in Texas, and that one of his children is now buried on the hillside near the old post. However, after looking up the records on file in the old record section of the Adjutant GeneralÕs office at Washington, we find that all these men mentioned in connection with this controversy were stationed at other points during the time that Phantom Hill was occupied by United States forces. Therefore, the legends coupling their names with Phantom Hill should be discredited. Not Connected With Houston It is well to discredit in the beginning the story that Sam Houston established the post and was quite a frequent visitor there. As a Federal garrison the post was in no way connected with Houston. It was not established until 1851 and at that time those having to do with the building of the fort said that nothing was there but the lonely hill when the Government forces arrived. Houston, as a member of the American Congress, did often call the attention of the Nation to the barbarities being perpetrated by the wild Indians on the frontier; but the assertion that Houston had anything to do with the establishing of Phantom Hill can never be sustained from reliable sources. One of the most controversial points having to do with the officers stationed with the military service of Robert E. Lee. Lee was at no time stationed at Phantom Hill, according to records on file in the War Department. He was an engineering officer from the close of the Mexican War up to the time he was sent to Texas with the Second Cavalry, which command he held until just prior to the beginning of the Civil War. From November, 1851, to September, 1852, he was stationed at Baltimore, MD., and on the latter date he was transferred to West Point, New York, where he remained until April, 1854. Since Phantom Hill was not established until Nov. 6, 1851, and was abandoned on April 6, 1854, it was quite impossible for Lee to have been stationed there. When the Second United States Cavalry was sent to Texas in 1856, Lee came with it as Lieutenant Colonel. He writes many interesting letters, some from Ringgold Barracks, Fort Mason, Fort Brown, Indianola and others, but in none of his letters does he once mention Fort Phantom Hill. We find that Lee was stationed at Fort Brown for a time after his arrival in Texas, from which place he wrote to his wife in December, 1856, saying that his only regret in frontier duty was that he was forced to be absent from his family. At this time his wife and children were at Arlington, VA. Thus the story that one of his children was buried on the hillside near Phantom Hill seems to be far-fetched. Some say that General Thomas had a part in the establishment of this post. But General Thomas did not come to Texas until 1856, two years after the abandonment of the post, as Major in the Second United States Cavalry. Thought this officer saw service along our entire frontier, and undoubtedly visited the post while stationed at Camp Cooper, the official records of the War Department show that at no time was he stationed there. Its Name on the Records Phantom Hill in the official records of the War Department is also known as ÒThe Post on the Clear Fork on the Brazos.Ó The occasion for the establishment of a post on the Clear Fork was incident to the carrying out of a policy of locating an interior line of forts in advance of the white settlements, stretching from Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande to Preston on the Red River. At the beginning of the movement the greater part of the United States infantry, under the command of Col. Loomis, was stationed at Fort Belknap, on the Red Fork of the Brazos. This force was divided in the beginning of the winter of 1851, when five companies under the command of Brevet Lieut. Col. Abercrombie were sent to a point about 50 miles southwest from Fort Belknap, with instructions to establish a post near the Clear Fork. Lieut. Col. Abercrombie arrived at a point known locally as Fort Phantom Hill on Nov. 14, 1851, and established the post. Records detailing the establishment of this post explain that at the time of the arrival of troops it was known ÒlocallyÓ as Phantom Hill, so the ghostlike chimneys now standing at the place had nothing to do with giving the place its name. Col. Abercrombie was relieved of his command on April 27, 1852, by Lieut. Col. C.A. Waite of the Fifth Infantry. Different troops were stationed here until April 6, 1854, when the point was wholly abandoned as a military post. We find that the duties of these frontier soldiers were indeed arduous Scouts were kept out continuously hunting down the marauding Indians who constantly depredated on the frontier, killing men, women and children, and driving away stolen stock. Escorts were furnished Government trains, and stage coaches when brought the mail to the soldiers when brought the mail to the soldiers from Fort Belknap, 42 miles to the northeast of Phantom Hill. In the winter time, during the prevalence of northers, from eight to 12 wagons were in constant use hauling firewood from a black jack thicket five miles away. One writer spoke of the fact that timber was so scarce that lumber for building purposes was hauled for a distance of from eight to 40 miles. Even drinking water for the post had to be hauled for a distance of four miles. No Indians Near Post We find from the report of Col. Freeman, that there were no Indians living in the vicinity of the post. They were, however, frequent visitors there for the purpose of trading with the soldiers and settlers in the neighborhood. We also find from reports that Indians did not make any desperate attacks on the fort because of the fact that they were afraid of the two eight pounders, the only artillery of the post. Contrary to the usual conception, there were no strongly fortified redoubts of earthworks at the ÒPost of the Clear Fork of the Brazos.Ó The post was mere cantonment camp where the officers and enlisted men were sheltered. Col. Freeman reported that the buildings which were of a very inferior character, were put up by the labors of the soldiers. Both the officers and the soldiers lived in pole huts daubed with mud of which the inspector wrote: ÒThey are now in a dilapidated condition. The company quarters will, in all probability, fall down during the prevalence of the severe ÔnorthersÕ of the coming winter.Ó Because of the exposure to severe weather encountered both at the post and on escort duty, coupled with the poor food furnished the soldiers much sickness was experienced. There were 360 soldiers of the Fifth Infantry treated at the post hospital during the year of 1853. The sickness was thought to have been brought on by the absence of vegetables from the soldiers diet. To correct this situation Dr. Taylor, the post physician, recommended that pickles be added to the ration of each soldier, and when the vegetables in the post garden failed because of drouths this was done. Scarcity of Water We also find it interesting to note that two of the reasons for the excavation of Phantom Hill as a Government post and the inability of the officers of the fort to supply the men with vegetables from the post garden. The officials thought that these two deficiencies could be more easily supplied at other places where the same protection could be given the settlers therefore, Phantom Hill was excavated. In 1871 Gen. W.T. Sherman camped at Phantom Hill while on a tour of inspection of the Texas posts, and Inspector General Marcy, who accompanied him on this trip made the comment that Òthis fort was destroyed by our troops in 1861,Ó and that all that then remained were two stone buildings and a number of chimneys. However, it is not revealed from official records why and by whom the buildings at the post were burned. After the abandonment of Phantom Hill as a station for Government troops it was then used as a mail station and from time to time small bodies of troops were stationed there to guard the mails or to use the place as a base from which to protect expeditions into the Indian country to the west. From the outbreak of the Civil War up to 1865, the post was often visited by Confederate troops patrolling the frontier, keeping back the hostile savages who sought to take advantage of the disorganization brought about by the excavation of West Texas by Federal troops. For a time after the close of the Civil War no troops were stationed there and the entire region about the post again passed under the control of the marauding Indians. Was a Frontier Protection Phantom Hill as other frontier posts at that time, served a useful purpose and should be remembered as one of the links in the chain of frontier protection. These old ruins, standing as sentinels on the borderland of those days that are past and gone, are harbingers of the prosperous era now dawning in West Texas. Today these old ruins, are in a dilapidated state. The old powder magazine is now used for a cow pen, the commissary for a pigsty and the building where once violators of rules and regulations of the post were imprisoned, today is occupied by a farmer who tills the soil nearby. It would be a fine thing indeed if the patriotic citizens of this portion of the State could buy the site of this historic old post and erect a fitting memorial to the frontier defense and preserve, as far as possible some of the tumbled down walls of the various buildings. The poet-ranchman, Larry Chittenden, describes Fort Phantom Hill vividly in this poem. Old Phantom Hill On the breezy Texas border, on the prairies far way, Where the antelope is grazing, and the Spanish ponies play; Where the tawny cattle wander thru the golden incensed hours, And the sunlight woos a landscape clothed in royal robes of flowers, Where the Elm and Clear Fork mingle, as they journey to the sea, And the night wind sobs sad stories oÕer a wild and lonely lea; When of old the dusky savage and shaggy bison trod; And the reverent pains are sleeping midst drowsy dreams of God. Where the twilight loves to linger, oÕer nightÕs sable robes are cast ÔRound grim ruined, spectral chimneys telling stories of the past, There upon an alry mesa, close beside a whispering rill, There today youÕll find the ruins of ÒOld Fort Phantom Hill.Ó Bibliography ÒFort Phantom Hill,Ó in Western Weekly, newspaper, Oct. 4, 1925, Abilene, Texas. Rector, Ray. Stamford, Texas. Rister, C.C., Abilene, Texas. View of the Chimneys at Fort Phantom Hill. There are 19 standing. There were 100 originally. Some being torn down, but not one ever fell down. The reason they were not torn down for the rock in them is they were built so well that it did not pay to tear them down. The Old Powder Magazine at Fort Phantom Hill, still in good state of preservation. Built about 1851.