Fort Arbuckle was constructed by the US Army in 1850 to counter raids by Plains Indian tribes on immigrant trains heading west to California and on the settlements of Choctaw and Chickasaw nations in

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

.L. David Norris. "Fort Arbuckle", ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''. Retrieved June 6, 2013.
/ref> Captain

Randolph B. Marcy Randolph Barnes Marcy (April 9, 1812 – November 22, 1887) was an officer in the United States Army, chiefly noted for his frontier guidebook, the ''Prairie Traveler'' (1859), based on his own extensive experience of pioneering in the west. This p ...

was assigned to select the site and oversee construction of the fort, named to honor the recently deceased General

Matthew Arbuckle Matthew Arbuckle (1778–1851) was a career soldier in the US Army closely identified with the Indian Territory for the last thirty years of his life. Biography Early life He was born 28 December 1778 in Greenbrier County, Virginia (now West Vir ...

. The site was inside the boundary of the Chickasaw Nation and on the bank of the

Washita River The Washita River () is a river in the states of Texas and Oklahoma in the United States. The river is long and terminates at its confluence with the Red River, which is now part of Lake Texoma () on the TexasOklahoma border. Geography The ...

, west and north of the present town of

Davis, Oklahoma Davis is a city in Garvin and Murray counties in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 2,683 at the 2010 census. History Davis is named after Samuel H. Davis, who moved to Washita in what was then Indian Territory in 1887. At the time ...

. The overall size of the post was originally by , allowing enough room for friendly tribes to camp under the protection of the post. RootsWeb."Ft. Arbuckle, C.N., I.T." Retrieved June 6, 2013.
/ref> Marcy and his men constructed a rectangular fort, with barracks on opposite sides and the quartermaster and commissary facilities at opposite ends. Eventually the fort consisted of thirty buildings constructed of hewn logs, with stone chimneys. Major

William H. Emory William Hemsley Emory (September 7, 1811 – December 1, 1887) was a prominent American surveyor and civil engineer in the 19th century. As an officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers he specialized in mapping the United State ...

of the First Cavalry was appointed commander of both Fort Arbuckle and Fort Washita in 1858. He found the facilities at the fort inadequate. Many of the buildings were in a poor state of repair; ordnance stores were depleted; and surplus ammunition and gunpowder had to be buried in order to be weather protected. But before the troops could remedy these faults, they received orders to build another fort, this one named

Fort Cobb Fort Cobb was a United States Army post established in what is now Caddo County, Oklahoma in 1859 to protect relocated Native Americans from raids by the Comanche, Kiowa, and Cheyenne. The fort was abandoned by Maj. William H. Emory at the beginn ...

. On May 3, 1861, after the Civil War broke out, Major Emory ordered the three forts under his command to be evacuated, with the troops going to

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth, Kansas, Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., an ...

in Kansas, which supported the Union. The government of the Chickasaw Nation had already decided to support the Confederacy. Although Fort Arbuckle was briefly occupied by Confederate troops, no battle occurred in the vicinity, and it played no part in the war. After the war, the post was garrisoned by troops from the Sixth Infantry and Tenth Cavalry. The United States began to undertake campaigns against the Plains Indians west of here. In 1868 General

Philip Sheridan General of the Army Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 – August 5, 1888) was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close as ...

planned to use Fort Arbuckle as a supply depot for his campaigns against the

Comanche The Comanche or Nʉmʉnʉʉ ( com, Nʉmʉnʉʉ, "the people") are a Native American tribe from the Southern Plains of the present-day United States. Comanche people today belong to the federally recognized Comanche Nation, headquartered in La ...

. By the following spring, a great store of hay and grain had been brought by the river to Fort Gibson and then by wagon to Fort Arbuckle. Sheridan sent many of his horses to the fort to be fed. Four companies of the Tenth Cavalry came to Fort Arbuckle for this purpose. Fort Arbuckle was strategically obsolete by 1869, when

Fort Sill Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (136.8 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark ...

was constructed farther west. Most of the Arbuckle garrison were sent there, after their horses had consumed the remaining supplies. The post was permanently abandoned in 1870. A single stone chimney is one of the only relics remaining of the old fort.

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External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Garvin County, Oklahoma Arbuckle 1850 establishments in Indian Territory 1870 disestablishments in the United States Indian Territory Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma Arbuckle National Register of Historic Places in Garvin County, Oklahoma

See also

References

External links