US Army fort in Texas, used 1852?1890s
United States historic place
Fort Phantom Hill
, also called the
Camp on the Clear Fork
,
[a]
is a former
United States Army
installation located in
Jones County, Texas
. The fort was established in 1851 as part of a
line of forts
in
Texas
to protect migrants passing through the state on their way to
California
. The US Army abandoned the fort in 1854 and it was shortly thereafter mostly destroyed by fire. In 1858, it became a station of the
Butterfield-Overland Mail route
until it moved out of Texas with the beginning of the
American Civil War
in 1861. During the war, the fort was occupied by
Confederate
frontier troops until the Confederacy's defeat and surrender. Following the US Army's return to Texas after the Civil War, Fort Phantom Hill was used as a
subpost
of the larger, newer
Fort Griffin
until 1875.
After its final abandonment in 1875, a town was established at Fort Phantom Hill that flourished in the 1870s and ceased to exist by 1900. Following the fort's purchase by John Guitar in 1928, there was renewed public interest in the fort that led to its opening to the public in 1972. In 1997, Fort Phantom Hill was transferred to the Fort Phantom Hill Foundation. The ruins of the fort were added to the
National Register of Historic Places
on September 14, 1972.
Use as military outpost
[
edit
]
Fort Phantom Hill was established during the
American colonization of Texas
,
a process that began in the 1820s with the immigration of Anglo-Americans into
Spanish
, later
Mexican
,
Texas
.
[2]
After existing as an
independent republic
for a decade, Texas was annexed by the
United States of America
in 1845,
[3]
which led to the start of the
Mexican-American War
the next year. The United States defeated Mexico, and in the
treaty that ended the war
in 1848,
Mexico ceded
what is presently the
Southwestern United States
in exchange for $15 million (equivalent to $528 million in 2023
[4]
).
[5]
The
United States Army
began to construct outposts and roads in Texas during the war to protect Anglo-American settlements in the state.
In 1849, an unprecedented number of migrants began crossing Texas to reach
California
following the
discovery of gold
there.
Those migrants moved along routes such as the Marcy Trail,
charted by
Captain
Randolph B. Marcy
in 1849,
[10]
through the territory of the
indigenous peoples of the Great Plains
. To protect those migrants, the US Army established a line of forts running for 800 miles (1,300 km) from
Fort Worth
, in the northeast, to
Fort Duncan
, in the southwest, in 1848?49 and then another, 200 miles (320 km) west, from 1850 to 1852.
The forts of this line ?
Belknap
,
Chadbourne
,
Clark
,
Davis
,
Mason
,
McKavett
, Phantom Hill,
Stockton
, and
Terrett
? were established in the early 1850s at places Marcy recommended.
[14]
One of these locations was the
Clear Fork
of the
Brazos River
, which Marcy erroneously noted in 1849 as possessing abundant water and game.
Use as permanent garrison, 1851?1854
[
edit
]
In 1851,
General
William G. Belknap
, commander of the
Seventh Military District
?an area corresponding to the present states of
Arkansas
and
Oklahoma
[16]
?visited the Brazos River valley with Marcy to find locations for outposts. Belknap began construction of what became Fort Belknap,
and identified a nearby tributary, Pecan Bayou, as ideal for a second post on the Brazos.
[14]
On November 3, General
Persifor Frazer Smith
, commander of the
Department of Texas
,
ordered that an outpost be created upon the "Phantom Hill" overlooking the Clear Fork,
[20]
20 mi (32 km) from Pecan Bayou.
I cannot believe that God ever intended white man to occupy such a barren waste.
Lieutenant Clinton Lear, 5th Infantry, 1852
[20]
On November 14, 1851, five
companies
of the
5th Infantry Regiment
, commanded by
Lieutenant Colonel
John Joseph Abercrombie
, arrived on Phantom Hill and established the Camp on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, better known as Fort Phantom Hill.
[14]
[a]
Construction of Fort Phantom Hill began immediately and lasted until June 1852, and it was followed by the creation of a crude road to Fort Chadbourne, to the southwest.
Construction and basic life at the fort was complicated by a lack of usable wood, water, game, and fertile soil. The garrison had to rely on food shipments from
Austin
, 250 miles (400 km) away, that were occasionally seized by indigenous peoples, and the garrison could not abate the water shortage even by digging an 80-foot (24 m) well.
[24]
Pestilences such as
tuberculosis
and
rheumatism
and the poor supply of food and water also plagued the garrison.
[24]
Fort Phantom Hill and the other outposts of the US Army in Texas were unfortified
cantonments
, where troops could recuperate after being on campaign.
Before being razed, the fort buildings consisted of
jacales
with the exception of the officers' quarters, built of timber, and the magazine, guardhouse, and commissary, built of stone.
Each building had a stone chimney. Stone was sourced from a quarry at the Elm Fork on the Brazos River while
blackjack oak
was transported from up to 40 miles (64 km) away.
[14]
The structures of the fort were arranged around a
parade ground
. Officers' quarters lined the north and east sides, opposite the enlisted men's barracks, while administrative structures stood on the west side. Additional buildings, such as the magazine and bakery, were located away from the parade ground and its surrounding structures.
On April 27, 1852, Abercrombie was replaced as commander of Fort Phantom Hill by Lieutenant Colonel
Carlos Waite
. Waite was replaced by
Major
Henry Hopkins Sibley
on September 23, 1853,
[31]
who oversaw the withdrawal from the post of four of its five companies and their replacement by a company of the
2nd Dragoons
.
[14]
In August 1853, the fort was inspected by
Colonel
William G. Freeman, who found it and its garrison in poor condition.
The fort was ordered abandoned on April 6, 1854,
[33]
along with Forts Mason and Terrett.
Shortly after the garrison's departure, the fort was burned, probably by the departing soldiers.
[14]
[33]
Subsequent use, 1854?1871
[
edit
]
Following Fort Phantom Hill's abandonment, it was still frequently visited by travelers and US Army troops. Among the latter was
Robert E. Lee
, who as a lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Dragoons passed by the fort on June 16, 1856, while in pursuit of the
Comanche
leader
Sanaco
.
In February 1861,
Texas seceded from the United States
and joined the
Confederate States of America
.
[36]
Major General
David E. Twiggs
, commander of the Department of Texas since 1857,
[37]
surrendered its equipment and installations in Texas to the Confederacy and abandoned the state as the
American Civil War
began.
On March 4, 1861,
LeRoy Pope Walker
, the Confederate Secretary of War, ordered career soldier
Benjamin McCulloch
to raise a volunteer force of ten companies to defend Texas's frontier. McCulloch passed the task to his brother, Colonel
Henry Eustace McCulloch
, who distributed his forces across the former US Army installations in Texas.
[39]
One of McCulloch's officers, Major
James Buckner Barry
, stationed a portion of his command at Fort Phantom Hill.
[14]
After a campaign against the Comanche in 1861 quieted the frontier,
McCulloch's troops were sent to fight in the
Trans-Mississippi theater
as part of the
1st Texas Cavalry Regiment
.
[39]
They were replaced with the Frontier Regiment, who also encamped at Fort Phantom Hill and were also increasingly pulled away from the frontier as the war continued.
[43]
Use as satellite post, 1871?1875
[
edit
]
Confederate forces began to surrender to the federal government in 1865, heralding the end of the Civil War. In June, the remaining Confederate forces in Texas formally surrendered to the US Army, who reoccupied the state.
[44]
After initially ignoring Texans' concerns about indigenous raiding in favor of reoccupying prewar installations along the border with Mexico, the US Army returned to the frontier and began expanding its presence there in 1866?67.
From 1869 until the end of the
Red River War
in 1875, Fort Phantom Hill's ruins were occupied several times by US Army troops as a subpost of
Fort Griffin
, established in 1867 along the Clear Fork of the Brazos.
[47]
Civilian use
[
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]
White settlement in what became
Jones County, Texas
, began in November 1851 with Fort Phantom Hill and an
Indian agent
named Jesse Stem, who operated a farmstead near the fort until he was killed by
Tonkawa
natives in February 1854.
[50]
As the fort neared completion, more settlers established themselves in the area but not in sufficient numbers to justify its retention by the US Army in 1854.
In 1858, three of the fort's stone buildings were repaired and used for a station of the
Butterfield Overland Mail
along its
route through Texas
until it moved out of the state with the beginning of the Civil War in 1861.
[50]
Jones County was established on February 1, 1858, and during the Civil War it suffered from raids by indigenous peoples that halted white settlement in the county for 15 years.
[50]
After the Red River War, a settlement was formed on Fort Phantom Hill's grounds that primarily serviced
buffalo hunters
roaming the region. The town grew to a population of 546 and briefly was the Jones County
seat
in 1881, but when the
Texas and Pacific Railway
bypassed Phantom Hill in favor of
Abilene
, 14 mi (23 km) to the south, the town began a rapid decline. By 1900, the town had ceased to exist,
[14]
[54]
though the fort continued to be inhabited until at least 1913.
[56]
From July 1918 to August 1919, test wells were dug near the fort by the Fort Phantom Hill Oil Company following the discovery of oil to the south in 1915.
[57]
[58]
Preservation
[
edit
]
In 1928, the grounds of Fort Phantom Hill were purchased by John Guitar, who then sold the land in 1969 to his grandson, Jim Alexander. Guitar's purchase of the fort attracted the attention of Carl Coke Rister, a historian, professor at
Hardin-Simmons University
, and secretary of the West Texas Historical Association, who wrote extensively about the fort to promote its preservation. In 1970, the fort was excavated by the Texas state archaeologist, Curtis Tunnell,
and on September 14, 1972, it was included on the
National Register of Historic Places
following its nomination by the
Texas Historical Commission
on January 31, 1972.
The Alexanders opened the fort to the public in the same year and in 1997 they gifted its grounds to the Fort Phantom Foundation. Another, more complete excavation of the fort's grounds was carried out in 1998 by
Texas Tech University
.
The
Texas Department of Transportation
constructed a rest stop along the southern edge of the fort's grounds in 2012.
[54]
As of December 2022
[update]
, Fort Phantom Hill consists of three stone structures and 12 stone chimneys standing on a 38-acre (15 ha) site.
[14]
[62]
Four historical markers have been placed on the grounds of Fort Phantom Hill or its vicinity by the state of Texas. The first, placed in 1936, generally commemorated the fort and was replaced with another marker after the original disappeared in 2010.
[63]
[64]
Another marker, commemorating the fort's use by Confederate forces, was placed on the grounds of the
Jones County Courthouse
in 1963.
[65]
A marker for the fort's graveyard was placed in the graveyard in 2019.
[66]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
According to Wright and the
Handbook of Texas
, Fort Phantom Hill was referred to in Army correspondence as the "Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos".
[14]
Frazer states that the post was known officially as either Fort Phantom Hill and the Camp on the Clear Fork.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Anglo-American Colonization
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Annexation
.
- ^
1634?1699:
McCusker, J. J.
(1997).
How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda
(PDF)
.
American Antiquarian Society
.
1700?1799:
McCusker, J. J.
(1992).
How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States
(PDF)
.
American Antiquarian Society
.
1800?present:
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
"Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800?"
. Retrieved
February 29,
2024
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Mexican War
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Marcy, Randolph Barnes
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Handbook of Texas Online: Fort Phantom Hill
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Belknap, William Goldsmith
.
- ^
a
b
Alexander & Utley 2015
, p. 71.
- ^
a
b
Alexander & Utley 2015
, p. 74.
- ^
Alexander & Utley 2015
, p. 76.
- ^
a
b
Alexander & Utley 2015
, p. 77.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Secession
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Twiggs, David Emanuel
.
- ^
a
b
Handbook of Texas Online: First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Frontier Regiment
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Civil War
.
- ^
Handbook of Texas Online: Fort Griffin
.
- ^
a
b
c
Handbook of Texas Online: Jones County
.
- ^
a
b
Alexander & Utley 2015
, p. 78.
- ^
"The Story of Fort Phantom Hill"
.
The Houston Post
. March 30, 1913. p. 26
. Retrieved
June 6,
2023
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Syndicate Well Will Drill Deep Test Well at Abilene"
.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
. July 25, 1918. p. 4
. Retrieved
June 6,
2023
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"Fort Phantom Hill Co Drilling at 194 Feet"
.
El Paso Herald
. September 15, 1919. p. 7
. Retrieved
June 6,
2023
– via
Newspapers.com
.
- ^
"About Us"
.
fortphantom.org
. Fort Phantom Hill Foundation.
Archived
from the original on December 9, 2022
. Retrieved
March 1,
2023
.
- ^
"Historical Marker ? 5253002005"
.
Texas Historic Sites Atlas
.
Texas Historical Commission
.
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
- ^
"Historical Marker ? 5253002004"
.
Texas Historic Sites Atlas
.
Texas Historical Commission
.
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
- ^
"Historical Marker ? 5253002006"
.
Texas Historic Sites Atlas
.
Texas Historical Commission
.
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
- ^
"Historical Marker ? 5000022676"
.
Texas Historic Sites Atlas
.
Texas Historical Commission
.
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
Sources
[
edit
]
Books and articles
[
edit
]
- Alexander, Thomas E.; Utley, Dan K. (2015).
Echoes of Glory: Historic Military Sites Across Texas
.
Texas A&M University Press
.
ISBN
978-1-62349-337-0
.
- Graham, Roy Eugene (October 1970). "Federal Fort Architecture in Texas during the Nineteenth Century".
The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
.
74
(2): 165?188.
- Field, Ron (2006).
Forts of the American Frontier 1820?91: The Southern Plains and Southwest
. Fortress.
Osprey Publishing
.
ISBN
978-1-84603-040-6
.
- Frazer, Robert Walter (1965).
Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios, and Posts Commonly Called Forts, West of the Mississippi River to 1898
. University of Oklahoma Press.
ISBN
9780806112503
.
- Robinson, Willard B. (1977).
American Forts: Architectural Form and Function
.
Amon Carter Museum of American Art
.
ISBN
978-0-25200-589-3
.
- Uglow, Loyd (2001).
Standing in the Gap: Army Outposts, Picket Stations, and the Pacification of the Texas Frontier, 1866?1886
.
Texas Christian University Press
.
ISBN
978-0-87565-246-7
.
- Wright, Bill (2013).
Fort Phantom Hill: The Mysterious Ruins on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River
.
State House Press
.
ISBN
9781933337586
.
Texas State Historical Association
[
edit
]
- Anderson, H. Allen (October 22, 2020) [1976].
"Fort Phantom Hill"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on August 17, 2022
. Retrieved
August 17,
2022
.
- Bauer, K. Jack
(March 22, 2016) [1952].
"Mexican War"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on July 8, 2022
. Retrieved
August 18,
2022
.
- Buenger, Walter L.
(February 24, 2021) [1952].
"Secession"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on November 6, 2019
. Retrieved
March 4,
2023
.
- Cutrer, Thomas W.; Smith, David Paul (October 1, 1995) [1952].
"Twiggs, David Emanuel"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on January 26, 2023
. Retrieved
March 4,
2023
.
- Cutrer, Thomas W. (December 9, 2020) [1952].
"Marcy, Randolph Barnes"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on February 21, 2023
. Retrieved
February 21,
2023
.
- Cutrer, Thomas W. (November 13, 2018) [1952].
"Belknap, William Goldsmith"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on February 21, 2023
. Retrieved
February 21,
2023
.
- Dunnam, Robert (November 16, 2009) [1952].
"Frontier Regiment"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on March 4, 2023
. Retrieved
March 4,
2023
.
- Henson, Margaret S.
(January 4, 2021) [1995].
"Anglo-American Colonization"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on July 25, 2022
. Retrieved
August 18,
2022
.
- Lynch, Vernon (July 19, 2016) [1952].
"Fort Griffin"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
- Neu, C. T. (November 1, 1994) [1976].
"Annexation"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on October 19, 2022
. Retrieved
August 18,
2022
.
- Odintz, Mark (November 11, 2020) [1976].
"Jones County"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on August 14, 2022
. Retrieved
March 3,
2023
.
- Smith, David Paul (January 1, 1995).
"First Regiment, Texas Mounted Riflemen"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on March 4, 2023
. Retrieved
March 4,
2023
.
- Wooster, Ralph A. (May 26, 2021) [1952]. Derbs, Brett J. (ed.).
"Civil War"
.
Handbook of Texas Online
.
Archived
from the original on March 5, 2023
. Retrieved
March 5,
2023
.
External links
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]