Fort Lancaster and Battlefield State Historic Site

Fort Lancaster State Historic Site and Battlefield, operated by the Texas Historical Commission, was established as Camp Lancaster in 1855. One year later, the infantry post was designated as a permanent fort. 

 

One of the most isolated posts in Texas; Fort Lancaster’s only civilian activities were a sutler and a stage stop for mail. Soldiers maintained the post, patrolled and protected the road, and occasionally came in contact with Native Americans. 

 

In early 1861, before the beginning of the Civil War, the U.S. Army ordered the evacuation of all federal troops in Texas. Delayed by a lack of transportation, the soldiers at Fort Lancaster, finally abandoned the post on March 19, 1861. For a time, Texan and Confederate troops attempted to maintain the frontier defense. The forts along the Lower San Antonio–El Paso Road were manned by companies of the Second Regiment, Texas Mounted Rifles, under Col. John S. Ford.  A revised defensive system in 1862 left Fort Lancaster and other far western forts deserted for the remainder of the war.

 

Fort Lancaster was reoccupied in 1867 to serve as a sub-post for the Buffalo Soldiers’ 9th U.S. Cavalry Regiment assigned to Fort Stockton. In December 1867, 60 soldiers and officers of Company K held off estimated 1200 Kickapoo and allies. Three soldiers were killed in the battle. The fort was permanently abandoned in the late 1870s.