Part 4

Some of the limestone houses at Fort McKavett are still being occupied, and many of the other old fort buildings are outlined by roofless walls. Several of the original buildings of Fort Stockton still remain and have been converted into gracious homes. Fort Davis is a line of stone and adobe shells, the timbers of the overhanging porches being long gone except where the late Andrew Simmons restored a few, and built a creditable museum in one building.

Fort Clark, rising by the beautiful Las Moras Springs, is a combination of the old and the new, having seen service in the last World War. It is interesting to observe that in its case, it is unfortunately the new and not the old that is missing.

The old Spanish Fort (presidio) on the San Saba River? Enough of the rubble remains to outline the outer wall of the large courtyard. This was a massive stone fortification and each of its four corners was protected by a protruding circular stone tower. The State Highway Department has restored one of these towers and a part of the outer wall. The old Mission, San Saba de la Cruz, across and down the river from this presidio, disappeared along with its administering priests during the great Comanche attack against the Spaniards and their Apache allies, back in 1758, or thereabout.

The preservation of the existing buildings of Fort Concho, and the restoration of the destroyed ones, were begun in 1930 by Mrs. Ginevra Wood Carson, a gracious and far-sighted lady of San Angelo. She had already started the West Texas Museum in about 1928, and it was located in the new Tom Green County Court House, where it soon outgrew its housing facilities She therefore turned her attention towards the old Fort. The original Administration or G.H.Q. Building of Fort Concho was privately owned but in excellent condition, and it stood at the Eastern end of the old Quadrangle. Mr. R. Wilbur Brown, Sr. of San Angelo recognized the far-sightedness of Mrs. Carson. He bought the Administration Building from its owners and deeded it toward a museum of pioneer days and the preservation of old Fort Concho.

Mrs. Carson then moved the museum collection from the Court House into the Administration Building and changed the name of West Texas Museum to Fort Concho Museum.

The history of Fort Concho since its abandonment in 1889, when the garrison lowered the flag for the last time, and marched away, its band playing “The Girl I Left Behind Me,” had not been spectacular. It could easily have become a rock quarry, as had Lancaster, Mason and others. Actually, some of the barracks buildings on the North Side of the Quadrangle did suffer that inglorious fate. But the houses on Officer’s Row, the Administration Building, Hospital and Chapel were, for many years, the finest buildings in the surrounding area. In 1905, the Concho Realty Company was formed by certain citizens of San Angelo, and the fort grounds, with all the structures were bought by the company from the Adams and Wickes Estate for $15,000.00. A real estate addition was then organized and the various buildings sold to private individuals.

The most elaborate of these had been the Post Hospital. It occupied a position outside, and just off the Southeast corner of the Quadrangle. This building burned in 1910, and some years later its remaining stone walls, partitions and chimneys were cleared away.

The Fort Concho Museum Board, a group of citizens, works to purchase, preserve and restore the buildings of the Fort, and collect the display items of interest that pertain to pioneer days in the Southwest.

Up to the present time the accomplishments of the Board have been considerable. The items relating to pioneers have overflowed the Administration Building. Further space has been gained for them by the restoration of two Barracks Buildings and their Mess Halls on the North side of the Quadrangle. The Powder House, once located on the banks of the Concho River, has been removed and rebuilt, stone by stone, at a position just North of the restored Barracks. The Post Chapel, beautifully preserved, and a part of the Museum, stands at the Eastern end of Officer’s Row. Six of the original nine Officer’s homes have been bought by the Board with money contributed by individuals and from small Museum revenues. The old Parade Ground, occupying the center of the Quadrangle is marred and hidden from view by recent structures on its Western end and a large 1907 school house now occupies its center. A Comanche war-party (assuming one existed today, one bent on the destruction of Fort Concho) would return baffled to its portable village for the simple reason that the Indians, like any other visitors, could not find Fort Concho, even though years back having been designated a National Historic Landmark.

There are other fort buildings standing nearby that are owned and used today as warehouses by different San Angelo firms. Their beautiful stone is usually covered by applications of various colored stucco, but you can still identify them by their alignments and shapes.

Some years back the Santa Fe Railroad presented the City with one of its steam locomotives. This “Iron Horse” of bygone days is now resting on its rails near one of the restored Barracks. It is a part of the Museum, and is a valuable item; therefore, it is hoped that its longevity against the ravages of rust will be secured by the erection of a suitable structure over and around it.

Now take your time and browse through the Fort Concho Museum. Drive through the City over streets that bear the names of Beauregard, Mackenzie, Shafter, Grierson and Chadbourne. It is all worth it, because without it, there would soon be little to show us of the comparative life that existed in our Southwest only a few short years ago.

Footnotes

[1]Comancheros: Renegade Mexicans, half breeds and outlaw Americans who lived in Mexican settlements in New Mexico, from whence they traveled in small bands, usually by wagon or oxcart, to the Llano Estacado where they met the Comanches, Kiowas or other Indians and traded guns, ammunition, whiskey and other desirable items for the products of the raids. (Robert T. Neill, San Angelo, Texas.)

[2]Perhaps this was Limpia Creek.—Dr. R. T. Hill.

[3]On June 19, 1865, Major General Gordon Granger, U.S.A., landed at Galveston and issued a general order declaring that “in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”

[4]The Negro regiments on the Texas frontier during these Indian times were the 9th and 10th Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry.

[5]During the Civil War the cattle on the open Texas ranges increased many fold with the loss by the Confederacy of control of the Mississippi River. After that war they so far exceeded local demand that cattle drives on a much larger scale than ever before attempted, got under way. The Chisholm and Western Trails, “from anywhere in Texas,” on north through the western part of the Indian Territory entrained cattle in Kansas for the Eastern feedlots. The Goodnight-Loving Trail running west along the Middle Concho River, thence north along the Pecos and on parallel to the Front Ranges, supplied cattle for the new ranches being opened from New Mexico to the Canadian Border.

Obviously the Comanche and Kiowa did not overlook this opportunity for cattle rustling.

[6]Captain Lewis Johnson, 24th Infantry, related, “That was the year in which I changed stations twice, marching from Fort Stockton all the way to Fort Brown. On my way,—in March, 1872, I think, occurred an attack on a freight-train at Howard’s Well. (Grierson Springs, Reagan County). It was a train from San Antonio, intended for Fort Stockton.” Testimony before House Committee on Military Affairs, 45th Congress, 2nd Session, Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 1877.

[7]The Salt Creek Massacre took place near the town of Graham.

[8]When, at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in present Montana, June 25, 1876, General George A. Custer and his entire command were massacred by the Sioux Indians, that command was composed of elements of the 7th United States Cavalry. The massacre took place about three years after the 7th marched into Fort Richardson. There is no evidence of Custer having been at Richardson. At this time, he was probably somewhere on the Missouri River.

[9]This action was not a pursuit following a “fresh trail” into Mexico. It was a carefully planned attack on Indian villages in that country, the locations of which had been accurately ascertained beforehand.

Later on, during 1876 and 1877, Lt. John L. Bullis acting under the command of Colonel Shafter, conducted six such raids into Mexico, all on the upper Rio Grande from Laredo to points southwest of the mouth of the Pecos River. Bullis was a very brave and competent soldier and was awarded a sword by the Texas Legislature. Camp Bullis, near San Antonio, was named for him in 1917.

[10]A regiment of cavalry on the Texas frontier after the Civil War could, at maximum strength, muster about 929 men. A company of maximum strength could muster about 90 men.

A regiment of infantry varied in number more than a similar cavalry unit, and was smaller, mustering generally about 460 men, while a company varied from 25 or 30 men, on up to 60 or 65 men.

[11]“A large trade has sprung up in Western Texas in cattle, which are driven up into Kansas to the railroad at or near Fort Dodge. They go up by what is termed the Pan Handle of Texas—. Fort Elliott is established there for the purpose of aiding cattle merchants who buy cattle in Texas and drive them up to the railroad; and thence the cattle are taken to Ohio or Illinois and fed until spring, when they are sent East. The trade amounts to two or three hundred thousand annually.” Statement of General W. T. Sherman, November 21, 1877, before the Committee on Military Affairs, in relation to the Texas Border Troubles, House of Representatives, 45th Congress, 2d Session.

Transcriber’s Notes

—Silently corrected a few typos.

—Retained publication information from the printed edition: this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.

—In the text versions only, text in italics is delimited by _underscores_.