Fort Richardson, Texas
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Fort Richardson was an active United States Army installation near Jacksboro, Texas. It was named in honor of Union General Israel B. Richardson, who died in the Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War. It was active from 1867 to 1878.
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[edit] Location
One mile south of downtown Jacksboro, Jack County, Texas, on U.S. Route 281.
[edit] History
As much as any frontier army installation, Fort Richardson was responsible for the Anglo settlement in north central Texas. It was one installation in a system of forts along the Texas frontier to protect and encourage settlement in north central and west Texas. Other forts in the frontier fort system were Fort Griffin, Fort Concho, Fort Belknap, Fort Chadbourne, Fort McKavett, Fort Clark, and Fort Phantom Hill in Texas, and Fort Sill in Oklahoma.
The original site selection was ordered for a location near Buffalo Springs in Clay County approximately 20 miles north of Fort Richardson. The location proved untenable and unfit for the establishment of a semi-permanent installation. The area lacked timber, adequate water resources, and was still completely hostile territory, with Native Americans often wreaking havoc in the area. In 1862, the entire town of Henrietta, Texas, northwest of Buffalo Springs was abandoned due to lack of security. In short, the area was more than inhospitable. As a result, the Sixth United States Cavalry moved south to the present location of Fort Richardson.
In 1867, construction began on the 300-acre site along Lost Creek at a cost of $800,000. It became the anchor of the frontier fort system, and the last army outpost in north Texas along the military road to Fort Sill. In 1872, it was listed as the largest U.S. Army installation in the United States with a population of 666 officers and men[1].
Units that occupied the fort included the U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment, U.S. 4th Cavalry Regiment, and the U.S. 11th Infantry Regiment, along with elements of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment and 24th Infantry Regiment (United States) (both Buffalo Soldier regiments)[2].
Life was hard for a soldier at Fort Richardson, and routine duties included long, arduous patrols along the Texas frontier from Clay and Jack Counties west to Palo Duro Canyon near present-day Amarillo. Battles with Comanche and Kiowa Indians became commonplace as the cavalry and infantry units sought to prove their ability to repel Indian attacks and allow settlement.
In 1871 while on a tour of the frontier fort system, General William T. Sherman stayed at Fort Richardson and narrowly missed the Warren Wagon Train Raid. Once General Sherman arrived at Fort Sill, he arrested Kiowa chiefs Satanta and Big Tree and had them sent to Jacksboro to stand trial for their role in the massacre. In July 1871, they were tried, convicted, and sentenced to death (sentence later commuted to life in prison). They were the first Indians tried and convicted in the Texas civil court system.
Following these events, General Sherman authorized the commander of the Fourth Cavalry, Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie, to begin offensive operations against Comanches and Kiowas in the Texas Panhandle. One of these scouting parties fought the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon in September 1874, an absolute U.S victory that ended the Red River War with Quanah Parker's Comanches and Red Warbonnet's Kiowas. The cavalry captured so much of the tribes' provisions, they were forced to move back to the reservations in Oklahoma before winter. This battle and the total victory for MacKenzie's forces are largely responsible for the end to Comanche and Kiowa violence along the Texas northern frontier.
[edit] Abandonment and Reuse
Following this decisive victory, the army no longer saw a need to maintain Fort Richardson and abandoned the post in May 1878. The 55 buildings, many made of stone and cottonwood lumber, fell into disrepair. Thanks to an intrepid group of Jacksboro residents, the fort was declared a state historic site in 1963 and came under the management of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. In 1968 extensive renovations began and in 1973, the fort reopened as the Fort Richardson State Historic Park. Today it is Fort Richardson State Park, Historic Site & Lost Creek Reservoir State Trailway [3].
