Jones County Texas Archives - The Line of Frontier Forts - 1929 *********************************************************** 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 American Thursday, March 7, 1929 The Old Line of Texas Forts by William C. Stewart The leading officers of the Confederacy cut their war-teeth in Texas. The elastic line of frontier forts, ever advancing westward, proved a valuable training school for the gray and the blue in the conflict between the States. Lee, Johnston, Forrest, Sherman, Longstreet, and a host of other Civil War officers saw service in Texas at one time or another in the two decades preceding the war. Today all but two or three of these forts are crumbling piles of ruins, mute reminders of a pictureesque past, when the Indian was a national problem. From the time when Texas became a State until the 1880s the United States govenrment maintained these outposts to guard settlers. The line of forts drew back during the Civil War but immediately thereafter bounded forward again. Two or four companies occupied each fort, with commissary officers’ quarters, barracks, hospital and magazine. Noted Officers of the Texas Forts Fort Phantom Hill and Fort Belknap, both in North Central Texas, were established in 1851, and Fort Chadbourne, named for Theodore L. Chadbourne, was constructed the following year. General Fitzhugh Lee and Major George Thomas were noted commanders at Chadbourne. Fort Chadbourne, located in Runnels county, in Central Texas, was on the Butterfield stage line from St. Louis to San Francisco, and saw palmy days during the California gold rush, only to be abandoned during the Civil War. Fort Concho was established in an adjoining county, then known as Tom Green, and was the headquarters for cattle trail drives and buffalo hunters. Col. J.J. Abercrombie was the first commander of Fort Phantom Hill, around, which many legends have been woven, and was succeeded by Col. Carlos Waite, Major Cable Sibley and Lieut. C. Givens. A waning water supply caused abandonment of the fort in 1854. Given bred famous fox hounds, which were sold all over the United States. The fort was given its name because it could be seen for 40 or 50 miles on the bleak alkali mesa of Jones county and to many approaching travelers appeared to be a mirage. A soldier set fire to it the night it was abandoned; his reason for doing so is unknown. But the tall chimneys remained standing, gaunt and forbidding, to be heartily cursed by many deluded travelers. “Old Phantom Hill” In Old Phantom Hill, Larry Chittenden, the cowboy poet, tells of ghosts being seen one night each years around “grim, ruined spectral chimneys, telling stories of the past, and that “pale bivouas fires are lighted, and those gloomy chimneys glow, while the grizzled veterans muster from the taps of long ago, waiting for their last review. General W.G. Belknap, laid out Fort Belknap in June, 1851, and soon afterward started for Indian Territory, but died 11 days later. The fort overlooked the Brazos River, and many Argonauts on their way to the Gold Coast tired, discouraged, abandoned their long trek and settled there. The Brazos Indian Reservation was placed a short distance southwest. Mark Rapier and other famous gentlemen gamblers stayed for a time at Belknap and enlarged the store of anecdotes told this day by frontiersman. From here, General Albert Sidney Johnston, to be heard from later in the Civil War, started to Utah to aid in stamping out the Mormon Rebellion. The revolt was over before he reached Utah, but U.S. soldiers were stationed in that section. Belknap was abandoned during the Civil War. Camp Colorado Camp Colorado was established in 1856, six miles north of the Colorado River, on the road from Fort Belknap to Fort Mason nd the following year was moved over to Jim Ned Creek in Coleman county. Many prominent soldiers were stationed at Camp Colorado, and only a single officer espoused the cause of the United States when the Civil War broke out. He was Lieut. Richard W. Johnson, made a major at Chickamauga. Major Earl Van Dorn, veteran of the Mexican War, was there until the Mormon trouble arose. Capt. Theodore OÕHara, author of “The Bivouac of the Dead,” was a Camp Colorado officer. Gen. John B. Hood, famous Texas leader in the Civil War, was a second lieutenant at Camp Colorado. Other men who were stationed there at various times include Capt. E. Kirby Smith, later Confederate General; Gen. Fitzhugh Lee, Confederate leader and later governor of Virginia, Spanish American War leader and Governor General of Cuba; Brig. Gen. James p. Major, Confederate; Gen. George B. Crosby, Confederate. Major Comes to Rescue of Ross It was Major who shot an Indian about to kill Captain L.S. Ross after Ross had been shot in the raid on the Comanche Indians at which time Cynthia Ann Parker was captured. The Parker Expedition, with Ross and Van Dorn leading, was organized at Camp Colorado. There were a number of other important Texas forts, with location and date of establishment as follows: Fort Bliss, El Paso County, 1848 Fort Davis, Jeff Davis County, 1855 Fort Stockton, Pecos county, 1859 Fort McKavett, Menard, 1853 Fort Mason, Mason county, 1848 (uncertain) Fort Clark, on the border, 1850 Fort McIntosh, on the border, 1850 Fort Inge, Uvalde county, 1850 Fort Concho, Tom Green county, 1870 Fort Griffin, Shackelford county, 1867, re-established 1878 Fort Gates, Coryell county, 1849-1853 Fort Graham, Hill county, 1848-1853 Fort Worth, Tarrant County, 1848 Fort Richardson, Jack County, 1867-1876 Fort Elliott, Panhandle, 1876 In addition to the forts there were many camps and quarters. Virtually all of them were abandoned during the Civil War, and a few were reoccupied after hostilities ceased, although new forts were established. Of these Fort Griffin, in Shackelford county, was important as a buffalo hunting center. Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate chief, then a topographical engineer, came to Texas in 1846. From San Antonio to the Rio Grande and crossed the river at Presidio, of San Juan Bautista. Oct. 11, 1846, en route to Monclova, Mexico. He was one of the engineers, including Gen. Beauregard, who cleared a way for the United States army under General Winfield Scott to advance through Cerro Gordo Pass after the capture of Vera Cruz during the Mexican War. Santa Anna was entrenched in the rocky pass which barred the way to Mexico City. Lee and Beauregard found a way around, and Santa Anna was attacked, defeated with great losses, and driven from his stronghold. Lee Campaigns Against the Comanches Advanced from captain of Topographical Engineers to Lieut. Col. of Second Dragoons, Lee in 1856 left San Antonio for Fort Mason, to join Col. Albert Sidney Johnston. During the same year he camped with Major Hardee and six companies on the Clear Creek forkof the Brazos and later was at Camp Cooper in Jones County, campaigning against the Comanches. In October he raced 730 miles across the State to Ringgold Barracks, now Fort Ringgold, at Rio Grande City, to be a member of a general court martial. His quarters there are still in existence. Lee returned to Fort Mason, and then in 1859, granted a leave of absence to attend to personal affairs, went back to Arlington, near the national capital. While there he was ordered to take charge of a battallion of marines and troops of the regular army and march to Harper’s Ferry, where John Brown, of abilitionist fame, was holding forth and defying the government. Back to Texas, he came in February, 1860, relieving General Twiggs at San Antonio of the command of the Department of Texas. A year later he was called to Washington, offered the command of the United States army, but refused it. April 20, 1861, he offered his resignation and Jefferson Davis placed him in command of the Army of Virginia seven days later. General Albert Sydney Johnston General Albert Sydney Johnston, a man of attainments mateching those of Lee, according to Hergesheimer, “lived and died under a lonely and dark star the sign of an early harassed Texas which ultimately became its symbol in the United States. Johnston, native of Kentucky, was educated at West Point, refused leadership of several revolutionary armies, offended General Winfield Scott - Old Fuss and Feathers - and eventually was sent to Jackson Barracks, below St. Louis. He married, fought in the Black Hawk war, went to New Orleans and resigned his commission at the request of his wife, an “immeasurable calamity. Stephen F. Austin and Mr. Dangerfield went to Louisville, told of the struggles of Texas. Johnston gave them money. On July 13, 1936, he crossed the Sabine River, and proceedeing to Nacogdoches, met General Sam Houston and offered his sword to Texas. He joined the cavalry as a private, being one of the few soldiers possessing a horse. General Thomas J. Rusk offered him post of adjutant general. President Burnet made him a colonel and Houston appointed him major. Johnston was sent to New Orleans and Rusk resigned his command to Felix Huston. Burnet reduced Huston and put Johnston in charge of the army. When Johnston returned from Louisiana Huston challenged him to a duel. Johnston was wounded in the hip during the exchange of shots, and was lame for the remainder of his life. Johnston resigned in 1840, returned to Kentucky, married again — his first wife having died and fought in the Mexican War, came back to Texas and lived at China Grove, on his plantation in Brazoria County. Johnston Joins Confederacy Old Rough and Ready Taylor became president and Johnston again entered the service of the United States, in 1849. When Pierce became president and Jefferson Davis was secretary of war, Johnston was made colonel of Second Cavalry and sent to Fort Mason. The Mormon Rebellion broke out and Johnston was sent to utah in 1857. In Los Angeles he resigned with the approach of the Civil War, and in 1860, havign been almost a prisoner, escaped over the desert and reported at Richmond, Va., where he was made a full general and given charge fo the Confederate Second Department. He was killed at Shiloh, buried in New Orleans and later his body brought to Houston, Texas. His funeral almost caused a riot at Houston because of the attempt on the part of General Sheridan to disperse the marchers in the funeral procession. General Nathan Bedford Forrest, whom General Sherman called the most remarkable man produced on either side, dashing Confederate cavalry leader in 1841 joined a company in Texas for their struggle for independence. The troops disbanded at New Orleans but Forrest pushed on to Houston. His money ran short and he went home, not being able to secure a commission. For a decade after the Civil War, when Texas was still a frontier State, the old line of Texas forts flourished, only to be abandoned and many of them dismantled when they were no longer needed.