Fort Davis Commanders Quarters

by Roger Passman

Title

Fort Davis Commanders Quarters

Artist

Roger Passman

Medium

Photograph - Photographic Prints

Description

Established in October 1854 along the Limpia Creek at Painted Comanche Camp by Bvt. Maj. Gen. Persifor Frazer Smith, Fort Davis was named after Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. "Hoping to protect the garrison from winter northers, Smith tucked the fort into a canyon flanked on three sides by sheer rock walls." Commanding the post, was 8th Infantry Regiment commander Lt. Col. Washington Seawell.

Other forts in the frontier fort system were Forts Griffin, Concho, Belknap, Chadbourne, Stockton, Richardson, Bliss, McKavett, Clark, McIntosh, Inge, and Phantom Hill in Texas, and Fort Sill in Oklahoma. "Sub posts or intermediate stations" also were used, including Bothwick's Station on Salt Creek between Fort Richardson and Fort Belknap, Camp Wichita near Buffalo Springs between Fort Richardson and Red River Station, and Mountain Pass between Fort Concho and Fort Griffin.

From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis was strategically located to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the Trans-Pecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso Road and the Chihuahua Trail, and to control activities on the southern stem of the Great Comanche War Trail and Mescalero Apache war trails.

The fort was evacuated in April 1861 under orders from General David E. Twiggs at the start of the Civil War. During John R. Baylor's invasion of New Mexico, only 20 Confederate States Army troops manned the fort. On the night of 4 August 1861, Mescalero Apaches raided a nearby cattle pen, and during the pursuit on 11 August, Lt. Reuben E. Mays and all but one of his 13-man patrol were killed in an ambush. This defeat convinced Baylor to staff the fort with three officers and 70 enlisted men. The Confederates evacuated the fort and all other posts west of Fort Clark in August 1862.

Fort Davis is important in understanding the presence of African Americans in the West and in the frontier military because the 24th and 25th U.S. Infantry and the 9th and 10th U.S. Cavalry, all-black regiments (known as the buffalo soldiers), which were established after the Civil War, were stationed at the post. Lt. Col. Wesley Merritt led Troops C, F, H and I on the 9th Cavalry in reoccupying the fort on 29 June 1867. They rebuilt the fort, using limestone and adobe, outside the canyon walls. (Wikipedia)

The Fort is typical of Western Frontier Forts. No walls, stockade fences or castle like gun towers in spite of Hollywood's portrayal of these outposts. In the case of Fort Davis, a cliff wall served as one side of the encampment while any threat approaching the fort could be seen from several miles away from ground level. Today, Fort Davis is a well restored example of the Frontier Fort. Some buildings, like the one in this image, however, were not restored and remain in a state of ruin.

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September 30th, 2014

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