Fort Davis National Historic Site

West Texas Trading Post

A key post in the Indian defense system of west Texas, Fort Davis played a major role in the history of the Southwest. From 1854 until 1891, troops stationed at the post protected emigrants, freighters, mail coaches, and travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso road. Today, Fort Davis is one of the best remaining examples of a frontier military post. It is a vivid reminder of the significant role played by the military in the settlement and development of the western frontier.

The fort was established on the eastern side of the Davis Mountains, in a box canyon near Limpia Creek, where wood, water, and grass were plentiful. It consisted of primitive structures and was located behind the present-day Officers’ Row. (The foundations of several buildings from this earlier fort can still be seen today.) Named after Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, the fort was first garrisoned by Lt. Col. Washington Seawell and six companies of the Eighth U.S. Infantry. From 1854 to 1861, troops of the Eighth Infantry spent much of their time in the field pursuing Comanche, Kiowa, and Apache Indians who attacked travelers and mail stations. With the outbreak of the Civil War and Texas’s secession from the Union, the federal government evacuated Fort Davis. The fort was occupied by Confederate troops from the spring of 1861 until the summer of 1862 when Union forces again took possession. They quickly abandoned the post, and Fort Davis lay deserted for the next five years.

Few of the structures remained when Lt. Col. Wesley Merritt and four companies of the newly organized Ninth U.S. Cavalry reoccupied Fort Davis in June 1867. The building of a new post, just east of the original site, began immediately. By the end of 1869, a number of officers’ quarters, two enlisted men’s barracks, a guardhouse, temporary hospital, and storehouses had been erected. Construction continued through the 1880s. By then Fort Davis had become a major installation with more than 100 structures and quarters for more than 400 soldiers.

Comanche and Apache

Fort Davis’s primary role of safeguarding the west Texas frontier against the Comanche and Apache continued until 1881. Although the Comanche were defeated in the mid-1870s, the Apache continued to make travel on the San Antonio-El Paso Road dangerous. Soldiers from the post regularly patrolled the road and furnished escorts for wagon trains and coaches. The last major military campaign involving troops from Fort Davis occurred in 1880. In a series of engagements, units from Fort Davis and other posts, under the command of Col. Benjamin Grierson, forced the Apaches and their leader Victorio into Mexico. There Victorio and most of his followers were killed by Mexican soldiers.

With the end of the Indian Wars in west Texas, garrison life at Fort Davis became more routine. Soldiers occasionally escorted railroad survey parties, repaired roads and telegraph lines, and pursued bandits. In June 1891, as a result of the army’s efforts to consolidate its frontier garrisons, Fort Davis was ordered abandoned, having "outlived its usefulness."

The Indian Challenge

By the 1820s, raiding the villages of northern Mexico had become a way of life for the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches. It provided a source of food and animals and a means of attaining rank and status in the tribe. With the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War, the United States pledged to halt these raids. As a result, the U.S. Army engaged in open hostilities against these highly mobile, lightly equipped, and courageous warriors. The Indian resistance gradually declined due to growing settlement and development of the region.