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Fort Concho
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Fort Concho
Fort Concho is a former United States Army installation and National Historic Landmark District located in San Angelo, Texas. It was established in November 1867 at the confluence of the North and South Concho Rivers, on the routes of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route and Goodnight–Loving Trail, and was an active military base for the next 22 years. Fort Concho was the principal base of the 4th Cavalry from 1867 to 1875 and then the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry from 1875 to 1882. The troops stationed at Fort Concho participated in Ranald S. Mackenzie's 1872 campaign, the Red River War in 1874, and the Victorio Campaign of 1879–1880.
The fort was abandoned in June 1889, and over the next 20 years was divided into residences and businesses, with the buildings repurposed or recycled for their materials. Efforts to preserve and restore Fort Concho began in the 1900s and resulted in the foundation of the Fort Concho Museum in 1929. The property has been owned and operated by the city of San Angelo since 1935. Fort Concho was named a National Historic Landmark on July 4, 1961, and is one of the best-preserved examples of the military installations built by the US Army in Texas.
The Fort Concho Historic District covers the fort's original 40-acre (16 ha) grounds and 23 buildings, some of which are the oldest in San Angelo. As of August 2019[update], about 55,000 people visit the fort annually.
Fort Concho was established during the American colonization of Texas in the 19th century, a process that began in the 1820s with the immigration of Anglo-Americans into Spanish, later Mexican, Texas. Europeans first reached the Concho River valley in the 16th century. The Spanish established contact and then traded with the Jumano people, who inhabited the valley until they were driven out of it by the Apache peoples in the 1690s. The Apache were themselves expelled by the mid-18th century by the Comanche. However, in 1849, American colonists began crossing West Texas in large numbers to reach California, where gold had been discovered. To protect its citizens, the United States Army ordered the construction of a string of forts along the frontier's routes of travel from 1850 to 1852. Among those forts was Fort Chadbourne, established on October 28, 1852, and among those avenues was the Butterfield Overland Mail route, established in 1858 with Fort Chadbourne as one of its stations.
The beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 ended both enterprises. The Butterfield route moved out of Texas, and the federal government ceded its Texas forts to the Confederate States of America. Confederate Texas was unable to secure its territories, so as a consequence, white settlers retreated eastward throughout the war. After the end of the war in 1865, though, immigrants from the war-torn Southern States decamped for Texas. Many of these immigrants became cattle herders and followed routes such as the Goodnight–Loving Trail, established in 1866 on the Butterfield route – which brought large volumes of cattle through the Concho Valley.
Major General Philip Sheridan, appointed to command the postwar military district covering Texas and Louisiana on March 19, 1867, at first ignored reports of raiding by indigenous peoples, but later that year, the US Army was ordered to reoccupy its pre-war billets in Texas, and that May, Fort Chadbourne was reoccupied by the 4th Cavalry. Fort Chadbourne was, however, poorly supplied with water. The US Army decided to replace Fort Chadbourne with a new installation. They identified the junction of the Concho Rivers as an ideal site because of its proximity to the routes it was to guard and nearby grazing land, and the abundance of water.
In mid-1867, Major John Porter Hatch, commanding the 4th Cavalry, dispatched Lieutenant Peter M. Boehm to establish a camp on the Middle Concho, 50 miles (80 km) to the south of Fort Chadbourne. Captain Michael J. Kelly and 50 troopers established this camp, albeit on the North Concho, and remained there over the summer of 1867. On November 28, 1867, the 4th Cavalry's H Company departed from Fort Chadbourne for the Conchos. H Company's commander, Captain George G. Huntt, named the site of the new fort "Camp Hatch", but changed it at Hatch's request to "Camp Kelly" in January 1868 to honor Kelly, who had died on August 13, 1867, of typhoid fever. Construction of a permanent outpost began on a site north of the camp, which was named Fort Concho in March 1868 by Edward M. Stanton, United States Secretary of War.
Captain David W. Porter, assistant quartermaster of the Department of Texas, was tasked with constructing Fort Concho on December 10, 1867. Progress was slow, as all building materials had to be shipped in and there was frequent bickering among the fort's officers, Huntt and Porter included. Porter employed civilian masons and carpenters, but also oversaw the construction of Forts Griffin and Richardson. As such, he was often not present at the fort to direct building work. In March 1868, Porter was replaced at Fort Concho by Major George C. Cram, who built a temporary guardhouse. Cram was also frequently absent from the fort, and in the year of his arrival had the regional mail line superintendent, Major Ben Ficklin, arrested. The United States Postmaster General intervened and by August, Cram was reassigned and construction was handed to Captain Joseph Rendlebrock, the 4th Cavalry's quartermaster. By the end of the year, Rendlebrock had completed the commissary, quartermaster's storehouse, and a wing of the hospital.
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Fort Concho
Fort Concho is a former United States Army installation and National Historic Landmark District located in San Angelo, Texas. It was established in November 1867 at the confluence of the North and South Concho Rivers, on the routes of the Butterfield Overland Mail Route and Goodnight–Loving Trail, and was an active military base for the next 22 years. Fort Concho was the principal base of the 4th Cavalry from 1867 to 1875 and then the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the 10th Cavalry from 1875 to 1882. The troops stationed at Fort Concho participated in Ranald S. Mackenzie's 1872 campaign, the Red River War in 1874, and the Victorio Campaign of 1879–1880.
The fort was abandoned in June 1889, and over the next 20 years was divided into residences and businesses, with the buildings repurposed or recycled for their materials. Efforts to preserve and restore Fort Concho began in the 1900s and resulted in the foundation of the Fort Concho Museum in 1929. The property has been owned and operated by the city of San Angelo since 1935. Fort Concho was named a National Historic Landmark on July 4, 1961, and is one of the best-preserved examples of the military installations built by the US Army in Texas.
The Fort Concho Historic District covers the fort's original 40-acre (16 ha) grounds and 23 buildings, some of which are the oldest in San Angelo. As of August 2019[update], about 55,000 people visit the fort annually.
Fort Concho was established during the American colonization of Texas in the 19th century, a process that began in the 1820s with the immigration of Anglo-Americans into Spanish, later Mexican, Texas. Europeans first reached the Concho River valley in the 16th century. The Spanish established contact and then traded with the Jumano people, who inhabited the valley until they were driven out of it by the Apache peoples in the 1690s. The Apache were themselves expelled by the mid-18th century by the Comanche. However, in 1849, American colonists began crossing West Texas in large numbers to reach California, where gold had been discovered. To protect its citizens, the United States Army ordered the construction of a string of forts along the frontier's routes of travel from 1850 to 1852. Among those forts was Fort Chadbourne, established on October 28, 1852, and among those avenues was the Butterfield Overland Mail route, established in 1858 with Fort Chadbourne as one of its stations.
The beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 ended both enterprises. The Butterfield route moved out of Texas, and the federal government ceded its Texas forts to the Confederate States of America. Confederate Texas was unable to secure its territories, so as a consequence, white settlers retreated eastward throughout the war. After the end of the war in 1865, though, immigrants from the war-torn Southern States decamped for Texas. Many of these immigrants became cattle herders and followed routes such as the Goodnight–Loving Trail, established in 1866 on the Butterfield route – which brought large volumes of cattle through the Concho Valley.
Major General Philip Sheridan, appointed to command the postwar military district covering Texas and Louisiana on March 19, 1867, at first ignored reports of raiding by indigenous peoples, but later that year, the US Army was ordered to reoccupy its pre-war billets in Texas, and that May, Fort Chadbourne was reoccupied by the 4th Cavalry. Fort Chadbourne was, however, poorly supplied with water. The US Army decided to replace Fort Chadbourne with a new installation. They identified the junction of the Concho Rivers as an ideal site because of its proximity to the routes it was to guard and nearby grazing land, and the abundance of water.
In mid-1867, Major John Porter Hatch, commanding the 4th Cavalry, dispatched Lieutenant Peter M. Boehm to establish a camp on the Middle Concho, 50 miles (80 km) to the south of Fort Chadbourne. Captain Michael J. Kelly and 50 troopers established this camp, albeit on the North Concho, and remained there over the summer of 1867. On November 28, 1867, the 4th Cavalry's H Company departed from Fort Chadbourne for the Conchos. H Company's commander, Captain George G. Huntt, named the site of the new fort "Camp Hatch", but changed it at Hatch's request to "Camp Kelly" in January 1868 to honor Kelly, who had died on August 13, 1867, of typhoid fever. Construction of a permanent outpost began on a site north of the camp, which was named Fort Concho in March 1868 by Edward M. Stanton, United States Secretary of War.
Captain David W. Porter, assistant quartermaster of the Department of Texas, was tasked with constructing Fort Concho on December 10, 1867. Progress was slow, as all building materials had to be shipped in and there was frequent bickering among the fort's officers, Huntt and Porter included. Porter employed civilian masons and carpenters, but also oversaw the construction of Forts Griffin and Richardson. As such, he was often not present at the fort to direct building work. In March 1868, Porter was replaced at Fort Concho by Major George C. Cram, who built a temporary guardhouse. Cram was also frequently absent from the fort, and in the year of his arrival had the regional mail line superintendent, Major Ben Ficklin, arrested. The United States Postmaster General intervened and by August, Cram was reassigned and construction was handed to Captain Joseph Rendlebrock, the 4th Cavalry's quartermaster. By the end of the year, Rendlebrock had completed the commissary, quartermaster's storehouse, and a wing of the hospital.