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When gold was discovered in
California in 1848, frontier entrepreneurs sought overland routes to
the gold fields. One such route, the lower San-Antonio El Paso Road,
was surveyed by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographcal Engineers in
1849. The western end of this road ran through the heart of Apache
and Comanche country, and in 1854 the 8th U.S. Infantry built a fort in
a little box canyon known as Painted Comanche Camp to protect travelers on
it. The post was named Fort Davis, after Secretary of War Jefferson
Davis. The first buildings were built from oak, cottonwood, and
pine; 6 stone barracks were added in 1856. Today only foundations of
the first fort remain.
THE FIRST FORT,
1861
When the Civil War broke
out, Federal troops left the fort. It was briefly occupied by
Confederate soldiers, and then abandoned. Federal troops returned in
1867 when Lieutenant Colonel Wesley Merritt marched up Limpia Creek
with 4 companies of the 9th Cavalry, a newly-organized African
American regiment. Fort Davis was the home of the Buffalo Soldiers
of the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry for the
next 18 years. These African American soldiers compiled a notable
record of military accomplishments, including a successful campaign
against the Apache leader Victorio in 1880.
Construction on the new
fort began in 1867, and by the mid-1880s there were more than 50
stone and adobe buildings at the post, including barracks, stables,
officers’ quarters, a hospital, and a chapel. As many as 600
enlisted men were assigned to the post in the 1880s. Many officers
brought their families with them, and the diaries and letters of
several officers’ wives who lived at the post provide a vivid
picture of living conditions at a frontier fort.
FORT DAVIS PARADE
GROUND & OFFICERS' QUARTERS IN THE 1880s
The Army closed Fort
Davis in 1891. Many of the buildings later served as private
residences for local families, while others slowly crumbled into
ruin. In 1963 the historic buildings and ruins were established as a
unit of the National Park Service, and preservation and restoration
work began. Today historians regard Fort Davis National Historic
Site as one of the best surviving examples of a southwestern
frontier military post.
You can read about the
history of Fort Davis in more detail
here.
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