Fort Lancaster
10 mi. E of Sheffield on U.S. 290, Sheffield, TXFort Lancaster, one in a series of forts erected along the western Texas frontier as the settlement line expanded, had as its primary function the protection of settlers and travelers going between Texas and California. Its location in the Pecos River Valley was strategically placed at the Pecos crossing on the old military road between San Antonio and El Paso -- the Lower Road used by the stage.
When it was initially constructed and occupied in August 1855, the first buildings were crude, makeshift portable shelters. These less substantial buildings were soon to give way to more substantial ones though, so that by 1860, the peak of the fort's existence, most of the buildings were made of stone and/or adobe. Ruins of 29 buildings can be identified at the fort today; the most prominent being a chimney of a soldier's barrack.
Until 1861 Lancaster was a Federal post, then it was abandoned with the secession of Texas from the Union at the onset of the Civil War. For a brief time (December 1861 through April 1862) it served as a Confederate garrison but was soon abandoned for the duration of the war.
In 1871, during the Kiowa-Comanche uprising, the fort was reactivated as a sub-post by the federal government; shortly thereafter, in 1873 or 1874 after the Indian trouble had subsided, the fort was completely abandoned.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.