Fort Martin Scott State Historic Site

Fort Martin Scott State Historic Site, operated by the Texas Historical Commission, was established in 1848—the first of Texas’ early frontier Army forts, where it remained active until 1853. During the Civil War, the post served as the headquarters for the 2nd and 3rd Frontier Districts for the Confederacy, mustering station for Texas State Troops, as well as a temporary prisoner-of-war camp for women and children related to suspected Unionists in the Hill Country. 

 

Confederate authorities at Fort Martin Scott did not trust the Germans in Gillespie and Kerr Counties and declared martial law in early 1862. A vigilante war was waged between neighbors with ‘hangebund’ (hanging bands) and guerillas persecuting the neutral and pro-Union citizens under the cover of darkness during the first few years of the Civil War. These hostilities culminated in the Nueces Massacre on August 10, 1862, with the death of thirty-seven German-Texans while fleeing to Mexico to escape conscription.

 

Later, the fort served as a camp for the Texas Rangers and was then repurposed as a farm by the Braeutigam family.