Traveling with the Longdogs: 2023-9-12 Fort Davis National Historic Site

Check in for the rally wasn't until Tuesday afternoon so Elaine and I headed over to Fort Davis National Historic Site. This whole area was new to Elaine but I have been here before although I didn't spend any time in Alpine.

The Fort is very interesting. It was established in 1854 to protect emigrants, mail coaches, and freight wagons on the TransPecos portion of the San Antonio-El Paso road. the Federal Government evacuated Fort Davis in 1861 when Texas succeeded from the Union. It was occupied by Confederate troops until Union forces again took control in 1862. They abandoned it again and it sat vacant for 5 years. Not many of the structures existed in 1867 when it was reoccupied. New construction continued through the 1880s. the Federal government raised the number of troops and many of those positions were filled by black enlisted men known as Buffalo soldiers.

We started our tour by watching an interesting video about the history of the fort. Next up was a walk through a building containing equipemtn and uniforms of the day.

The next building was set up as a dormitory used by the enlisted men.

There are ruins of some of the earliest buildings as well as some of the later buildings like the commissary, more dormitories, etc. This is one of the higher ranking officers family homes.

The chapel ruins are marked and there is an interesting story about the first black graduate from West Point and his experiences at the fort.

This was probably the commander's home as it is the largest.

There was a big sign talking about the treatment of various ailments at the post hospital.

But first, we saw the row of other officers family quarter. About three of them are fitted out with furniture and set up as the families would have used them. The entrances are open but covered by hard plastic so it was difficult to take pictures with the glare.