Fort Richardson
S of Jacksboro on U.S. 281, Jacksboro, TXFort Richardson, northernmost of the chain of Texas forts, took the place of Fort Belknap, which was abandoned after the Civil War for lack of water (see National Historic Landmark files for Fort Belknap, Texas). Like Belknap, Fort Richardson was the protective fortification for the North Texas frontier during Indian conflicts. In particular, Fort Richardson was instrumental in quelling the Kiowa-Comanche conflicts of the post-Civil War period. Because of its proximity to the Oklahoma border, Fort Richardson, during the Peace Policy programs of President Grant, acted as an Indian overseer and protector. The fort was also a stop for the El Paso stage line, which used the old Butterfield trail.
Much of Fort Richardson has been lost. However, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which acquired the property in 1969, has begun a program of preservation and restoration. Of the original 40-plus buildings at Fort Richardson, only six presently stand. There have been extensive archeological investigations and several buildings and sites have been identified, though no facilities have been constructed for their interpretation. The fort (or historic) area sits in a much larger Fort Richardson State Park. The park is located on the south edge of Jacksboro, Texas, on U.S. 281. The park is open to the public throughout the year.
Founded in 1867 to replace the recently abandoned Fort Belknap as the northernmost-fort-in-the-Texas chain of fortifications, Fort Richardson played an important role in the protection of American lives and property during the days of the Kiowa-Comanche conflict of the post-Civil War period.
From 1870 to 1875, the region around Fort Richardson suffered more than any other part of Texas "From Kiowa and Comanche raids, and the North Texas frontier was all but depopulated as a result. Near Fort Richardson, in 1871, the Indians ambushed and massacred a wagon train led by Henry Warren. General William T. Sherman had just passed over the route, and the experience impressed him with the seriousness of the situation in North Texas. He ordered Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie out of Fort Richardson onto the trail of the hostiles. At the Fort Sill Reservation, the leaders, Satatna, Satank, and Big Tree were arrested and sent to Jacksboro, a settlement only a half mile north of Fort Richardson, for a non-military trial. According to the official report, Satank was shot and killed as he tried to escape while en route to Jacksboro. The trial, resulting in Satanta and Big Tree being sentenced to prison, marked the first time that Indians had been tried in a non-military court and also marked the beginning of the end of the Peace Policy.
Troops from Fort Richardson participated in the Red River War of 1874-75 and in the battle of Palo Duro Canyon in September of 1875. With the conclusion of the war in 1875, the power of the Kiowas and Comanches was broken. The Indian tribes were confined to their reservations in Oklahoma. The need for Fort Richardson had passed. The fort was abandoned in 1878.
Bibliography
Rister, C.C., The Southwestern Frontier, 1865-1881 (Cleveland, 1928).
Rister, C.C., "The Significance of the Jacksboro Indian Affair of 1871, Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXIX (1926).
Nye, W.S., Carbine and Lance, (Norman, 1937).
Toulouse, J.H. and J.R., Pioneer Post of Texas (San Antonio, 1936).
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Special Study on Fort Richardson prepared by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Division, 1975.
War Department, "A Report on the Hygiene of the U.S. Army with Description of Military Posts, Circular No. 8," (Washington, D.C., 1875).
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
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.