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.

This is the hospital.

Several rooms were set up as they would have been used. Let's just say I'm glad I wasn't treated there.

It was a very interesting tour but it was sweltering outside.

Bugles Calling Us to Fort Davis National Historical Site

This was a bonus find to tour another National Site. Fort Davis was established in 1854 to protect travelers on the overland route to California. It is one of the best preserved frontier forts in the American Southwest.

As you can see by our dress, it was cold when we toured.

The fort was named after the Secretary of War of the time, Jefferson Davis. It was established in 1854 and abandoned in 1891.

This is a view of the houses from the back of the museum.

Inside the Visitor's Center and Museum, you will find a whole history lesson. The kids signed up for the Junior Ranger package which gave us all a much better idea of what went on here.

 

In addition to the story boards, there are a lot of historic pieces to tie the story together.

The fort was built to help protect the Overland Mail coaches.

 

 It provided protection against the Kiowas, Comanches, and Apaches.

Lt Henry Flipper was the first black graduate of West Point. He served at Fort Davis in 1881881.

There were costumes for the kids to try on and get pictures. Enthusiasm wasn't high at this point.

 

There were lots of things to look at in the Gift Shop and this is where the kids found out about the Junior Ranger packages and the whole visit turned around.

The layout of the fort. It definitely wasn't a palisade type of fort.

We started with the barracks right behind the Visitor's Center. You can see the docent on the left....a real live person to tell you about the barracks and answer questions.

The fort backed up to this cliff area. Can you see the tiny people right in the center? They climbed the trail behind the fort.

This is the Commissary and it was one of the buildings all furnished with the goods of the day.

This was one of the two-story officers quarters.

Now we are on Officers Row. The buildings all looked good on the outside but several were actually furnished and set up as they were used. This was the Commanding Officers Quarters.

 

There was another docent here to tell stories about the family that lived here. She had tons of information at her fingertips because the Commanding Officer wrote letters every day which contained scads of information.

It was a very nice house. It was easy to picture yourself living there. It had everything except an indoor bathroom.

Our next stop was the Post Hospital but first we looked at the story board. It appears that many more people died from routine occurrences or even treatment rather than combat.

 

There was lots to look at in the Hospital too including offices and instruments of the timel

This guy was looking out the window at us.

Hmmmm........check out the cause of death for all these patients.

After leaving the Hospital behind, we headed to the other house on Officers Row that was furnished as a Bachelor Officers home for several officers.

The rooms were sometimes behind glass so that is why you can see glare.

At the end of our tour, Cameron and Morgan were sworn in as Junior Rangers along with a number of other kids.

It was a real great tour and a definite bonus during our visit to Davis Mountains State Park. We stopped to take a look at this Native American home on our way out.

I also wanted to mention that there were regular bugle calls going on while we were touring. We received a schedule of the bugle calls so they we could tell what they were. Very interesting.