Frontier Forts that Still Speak Today

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For more than three decades I have lived within an hour’s drive of an historic frontier fort, and I never visited until about three weeks ago. Maybe it’s because we have our own historic fort ruins in Abilene (Fort Phantom) that diluted the lure, but the more likely culprit of this oversight is laziness on my part. I started writing a new series set in Albany, Texas, which is just a few miles from the where the fort was located, so when I took a research trip to Albany, I added Fort Griffin on for good measure.

I arrived early in the morning, and basically had the entire fort to myself–perfect conditions for an introverted researcher!

Fort Griffin was established on a high plateau overlooking the Clear Fork of the Brazos in 1867. Most of the structures were little more than temporary “picket” huts and rough frame buildings. Both materials and funds were scarce and the soldiers were so busy protecting area settlers that few improvements were made over the 14 years the fort was in use. Only six of the more than ninety structures in the garrison were built of stone.

The first stop on my tour was the mess hall. When in service, the fort had four mess halls for feeding the enlisted men. Meals generally consisted of beef, bread, and coffee. Not much variety. Sometimes soldiers would supplement their rations by fishing or hunting or by purchasing canned food in the sutler’s store.

Next came the barracks. Such a small space! Cots for four, a small hearth, a couple chairs and some clothes hooks. These huts were constructed from uncured cottonwood lumber and it often warped and split as it dried leaving the buildings drafty, leaky, and cold in the winter.

I moseyed past a few stone chimneys that testified to where the officers’ quarters had stood then made my way to the Sutler’s Store.

Sutlers were civilian merchants who sold goods not provided by the military. Originally, the sutler’s store for Fort Griffin consisted of six buildings, but only remnants of one still stands today. I decided to do a little shopping while there.

This was my favorite discovery! Not much remains other than a few foundation  stones, but here once stood the Fort Griffin Library! They had a collection of over 100 titles. That makes my heart so happy. A much more productive way to pass the time than gambling or drinking. Records indicate that the building was also used occasionally as a chapel and a school.

Next came the administration building. This served as the fort’s headquarters and was one of the largest buildings. The commanding officer and his adjutant would have worked here.

The next stop on my tour was the bakery. This was one of the most substantial buildings on the post, and the one that is in the best shape. Bread was the main staple of the soldiers’ diets, and this bakery produced 800 loaves per day. That’s a lot of bread!

It’s a little hard to read, but they included the 1876 roster of enlisted men assigned to the post bakery. They also included the instructions for making the bread. I could almost smell it baking in the ovens.

The powder magazine was kept on the outskirts of the fort due the explosive nature of its contents. This is where they stored firearms, ammunition, and gunpowder.

As I made my final circle, I passed the place where the laundress would have worked then found myself in the company of some handsome longhorns. Only they were ranging free. No fence between me and those giant horns. Umm . . . I decided to give them a wide berth while still snapping a couple photos.

Fort Griffin was part of the Great Western Cattle Trail from San Antonio to Dodge City, Kansas. Thousands of Texas longhorns passed by the fort from 1876 to 1885. The herd that ranges at Fort Griffin honor that tradition.

The town of Fort Griffin that sprang up outside the military post was considered one of the five wildest towns of the west. Known as “The Flat,” it was filled with soldiers, buffalo hunters, drovers, gamblers, saloon girls, outlaws, merchants, and ranchers. Notorious characters such as Wyatt Earp, John H. “Doc” Holliday, “Bat” Masterson, John Larn, John Selman, “Big Nose” Kate Elder, or “The Poker Queen” Lottie Deno were all known to have walked those streets.

After the railroad came through nearby Albany in 1881, however, the fort closed and the wild town slowly dwindled away.

Do you have historic places near you that you’ve never visited?
Have you ever visited a historic fort?

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For those who love to smile as they read, bestselling author Karen Witemeyer offers warmhearted historical romance with a flair for humor, feisty heroines, and swoon-worthy Texas heroes. Karen is a firm believer in the power of happy endings. . . and ice cream. She is an avid cross-stitcher, and makes her home in Abilene, TX with her husband and three children. Learn more about Karen and her books at: www.karenwitemeyer.com.

50 thoughts on “Frontier Forts that Still Speak Today”

  1. It’s been a LONG time, but we visited Ft. McHenry when I was a kid (I grew up in MD). Hearing the Star Spangled Banner still brings it to mind…

  2. Thanks so much for sharing that! Love exploring the old forts in the southwest. The bakeries are always impressive.

  3. I’m such a history buff that I’ve visited every historical site close to me and many across the country. I’ve also visited numerous historic forts. I would estimate somewhere in the twenties if not thirties.

    • That’s so wonderful, Janice! I’m always fascinated when I visit these places, but I’m such a home-body that I don’t go exploring as much as I should. Maybe one of these days when I finaly retire from the day job I’ll have more time and fewer excuses. 🙂

  4. I’ve went to some of the historical sites, but there are some I’ve never been to and I’ve went to a historical fort in Michigan.

  5. I live in an area ripe with historic sites, but have actually visited very few. Maybe one day I will get to play tourist and personally walk the forts and battlefields.

  6. I’ve lost track of the number of historic forts I’ve been to across the country. About 10 miles west of where I live is, “the largest and best known military post on the Northern Plains”, Fort Laramie. The fort was a stopping point for travelers headed west on the Oregon, California and Mormon Trails. It was the sight of dealings with the Plains Indians that shaped the face of the territory. Many buildings are said to be “haunted” by those who were here. I always get the feeling that an unknown presence is lurking the grounds and buildings when I visit the site.

  8. I still haven’t seen the Marshal’s Museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas, although it’s only about 25 minutes from my house. I’ve been to the site of the old fort in Fort Smith though, and to Judge Isaac Parker’s courthouse there.

    • Maybe you’ll get to that Marshal’s Museum one day soon, Kim. If I can do it, you can too. 🙂 We should start a support group for negligent local researchers or something. 🙂

  9. I’ve visited St Augustine and Fort Christmas here in FL. I visited Ft Oglethorpe in GA when I was a child, and I’ve been to Andersonville twice as an adult. The other “historical” places in FL I haven’t visited yet.

  10. I’ve been to Ft. McHenry. I’ve also been to Ft. Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River–one of the most haunted places. Valley Forge. New Market and other battlegrounds in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Mostly Revolutionary War and Civil War places.

    • Very cool, Denise. I haven’t done much on the east coast. My husband and I visited Baltimore once and visited a few historical places there. I remember the Star-Spngled Banner house and I think we saw Fort McHenry from a distance. We didn’t have much time to explore all the rich history there.

  11. We have visited Fort Griffin several times. I believe it is considered a fairly decent night sky park, too (for those who enjoy photography). Fort Richardson near Jacksboro is very nice and has more of the original buildings, including a great hospital building with medical equipment of the era. Also, Fort Davis, which is a National Historic Site, albeit a longer distance, is good to visit if one is also visiting Big Bend. The nearby Davis Mountains State Park has an interesting old lodge, Indian Lodge. The CCC built the first section of the lodge in the 1930’s. We stayed there while traveling in the area.

    Always enjoy your books and your interesting historical postings!

      • You can order (or view online) the Texas Heritage Travel Guide from the Texas Historical Commission website. It includes the Forts Trail. There is a publication on just the forts, The Texas Forts Trail, that used to be available as a little brochure, but I believe is only available online now.

  12. Ft Wayne, Indiana…..the old fort, we took a tour in elementary school and I absolutely loved it. I think part of the walls are gone now but it looks like they still have some events there. There is also the fort in Fort Recovery, Ohio that we went to on a school trip that was really cool. I enjoy historic trips over amusement trips so forts are fun to go visit.

    • Those sound like wonderful places to visit, Naomi. I love that school children get a taste for history in field trips to these places. Hopefully, other little girls and boys will be as affected as you and grow up with an appreciation for our history.

  13. I visited Fort Concho in San Angelo, Texas a few years ago. I really enjoyed it.

    Near where I live in Ohio we have a history museum about how the black swamp was developed by pioneers. I have been there lots of times.

  14. My husband has always wanted to visit Gettysburg and even we traveled within 50 miles of it, we never stopped. He had to have been disappointed at the time. He could be considered a historian. He is always reading up on the history of so many different wars, national events and miscellaneous places. When you get him in a battleground or when we visited downtown historic Boston, you will join in on all the reading, at his pace, or get extremely bored. I am not into battle scenes. Historic houses are my items of interest. We have lots of miles on us and we also have seen lots and lots of historic places. I would be here all day naming them.

  18. Here where I live in Fort Stockton, actually used to be a Fort. And every year we has a Living Fort Day and it is for 3 days. About a month ago we visited Fort Davis which is about an hour and a half away from where we live , it is a really nice one also. I love visiting Forts.

  19. Karen, I used to go by there really often on my way to Abilene from Wichita Falls. Albany hasn’t changed a lot from the 1800s. At least the last time I was through there. And I drove up the hill to the fort a time or two but back then there wasn’t much up there. Sitting up high like that, they sure had a good view of below. I’ve always been interested in that history both in the fort and Albany. I never would’ve guessed they had a library. Amazing. Loved seeing the pictures.

  20. Really enjoyed reading about this old fort and all the interesting facts you uncovered. We did visit one on a in trip out west with some friends of ours but I can’t remember the name of it. lol We have visited the Alamo. Have also visited Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines on the coast of Alabama and Fort Washington in Maryland. Had forgotten about all these until I read your email. lol Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

  21. Hi Karen. I love this!!!!!!!!!! I have a restored fort near me, Fort Atkinson, north of Omaha, Nebraska, that does reenactments all through the summer, the first weekend each summer month. Very cool place, made MORE cool because it was built in Nebraska in 1820. The next place was St Louis. That’s how isolated it was. I love that place. The re-enactors are very passionate about the history of the place.
    I also once went to Fort Randall, which is in South Dakota. I was far less restore and to me it really had a haunted feeling to it. signs up, a lot like the signs you have on your blog. I don’t believe in ghosts but, in that place, I almost could.

  22. This area of NE TN has many historic sites. We have visited many, but not all. Andrew Johnson National Historic Site is less than 20 miles from our house in a town we frequently visit. It consists of a visitors’ center, the presidential museum, Andrew Johnson’s original 1830’s Tailor Shop, the early home and the original homestead. We have lived here 32 years and driven past the site, but never visited it. We keep thinking we would visit it when we have company that is interested, but that hasn’t happened.
    We have visited Fort Ticonderoga in northern New York State multiple times. It dates from 1755 by the French and changed hands between the French, British, and Americans. It has been extensively restored and has wonderful living history exhibits and reenactments. We have been several times and will be going again to see what more they have done since our last visit about 10 years ago. We have visited many forts all over the country and in Canada. We have been to Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park of Florida. An interesting trip. One other interesting trip was to Ft. Davis in Texas. Not what we expected of a western fort. We would like to go back to see how much more they have accomplished with the restoration. Close to home here in TN, we have Fort Watauga. It is a reproduction of a pioneer Revolutionary War era fort that was located at the site of Sycamore Shoals State Park. We have been there many times for events. One other was the Fortress of Louisbourg, the largest reconstructed 18th-century French fortified town in North America. It was founded in 1713 on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It was an interesting visit.

  23. I have visited Ft Laramie and Ft Robinson in Nebraska.Many of the original buildings still remain at Ft Robinson and give you a feel of what it must have been like so many years ago. I grew up between Ft William Henry (French and Indian War) and the Saratoga Battlefield and Ft Ticonderoga was only an hour drive from us. We did visit all of them which sparked my interest in history.

    I enjoyed your “tour” of Ft Griffin

  24. On the East coast I’ve visited several forts but none had a library… one of my favorite is Fort Ticonderoga in NY state… I’ve never visited the SW states & found your description & photos interesting; forts on the East coast aren’t as spread out.

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