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Progress: Save America's Treasure Grant
 
Established in 1854 to protect travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, Fort Davis is located in the town of Fort Davis in the Davis Mountains of west Texas. Authorized as a unit of the National Park Service in 1961, the historic buildings and ruins of Fort Davis are regarded by historians as one of the best surviving examples of a southwestern frontier military post.

A fundraising campaign for a major restoration project is underway. Part of the Post Hospital will be restored and refurnished. The Friends organization has acquired a collection of 19th-century medical instruments, which will be displayed in the refurnished hospital. For more information, or to learn how you can help with this project, please contact us.
 


This rifle and carbine were adopted in 1873 and remained the primary small arms weapons of the U.S. military for 20 years. The single-shot breechloading rifle was chambered to accept the .45/70 metallic cartridge. A carbine was created for cavalry use and was chambered for the .45/55 metallic cartridge. Most of the troops at Fort Davis, beginning about 1874 and continuing until the fort’s closure in 1891, were armed with either the rifle (infantry) or the carbine (cavalry). Both the rifle and carbine were powerful and accurate. The infantry rifle was accurate to 1,000 yards, while the carbine was capable of killing at 600 yards. As a comparison, the popular civilian-purchased, lever-action Winchester Model 1873, caliber .44/40, had an effective range of only 200 yards

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