Fort Croghan was the third of the first four

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

s established by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

government to protect settlers from hostile Indians along the

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

frontier. From its establishment on March 18, 1849, by Lt. C.H. Taylor (Company A, Second Dragoons) until it was abandoned in 1855, Fort Croghan was home to Company C, 8th Infantry, U.S.A. (mounted), and eventually became the headquarters of the Second Dragoon Regiment. Part of a chain of forts extending from

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

Fort Inge Fort Inge was a frontier fort in Uvalde County, Texas, United States. History Established as Camp Leona on March 13, 1849, Fort Inge was garrisoned intermittently until March 19, 1869. The fort served as a base for United States Army troops assign ...

near present-day Uvalde, the fort was named for Colonel

George Croghan George Croghan (c. 1718 – August 31, 1782) was an Irish-born fur trader in the Ohio Country of North America (current United States) who became a key early figure in the region. In 1746 he was appointed to the Onondaga Council, the governin ...

. The fort originally covered some near the present-day city of

Burnet, Texas Burnet ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Burnet County, Texas, United States. The population was 6,436 at the 2020 census. Both the city and the county were named for David Gouverneur Burnet, the first (provisional) president of the Repu ...

, extending from Hamilton Creek up and over Post Mountain. Today, a small section exists due to the efforts of the Burnet County Historical Society, which raised money in the 1960s to purchase this portion of the old fort.Crimmins, M.L., 1943, The First Line of Army Posts Established in West Texas in 1849, Abilene: West Texas Historical Association, Vol. XIX, pp. 121-127

Early history

In the 1840s, upon the

annexation Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

of Texas to the United States, the federal government became responsible for the protection of frontier settlers from Indian raids. Several companies of Texas Rangers, financed by the federal government, were stationed along the frontier. In December 1847, a company of Rangers under the command of

Henry Eustace McCulloch Henry Eustace McCulloch (December 6, 1816 – March 12, 1895) was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, and a brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. Early life McCulloch was born i ...

took up a position about 3 miles (5 km) south of present-day Burnet. Samuel E. Holland purchased a grant there in 1848, including the land on which the Ranger station was located. His residence built on that land is said to have been the first permanent home in Burnet County. The

indigenous peoples of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

had occupied this region for thousands of years, but did not build or live in permanent homes, theirs being a migratory culture. In the late 1840s, the lure of free and cheap land had thrust many settlers far beyond the protection of civilization. More and more settlers arrived, many of them from foreign countries. Some came expecting to acquire good

farmland Agricultural land is typically land ''devoted to'' agriculture, the systematic and controlled use of other forms of lifeparticularly the rearing of livestock and production of cropsto produce food for humans. It is generally synonymous with bot ...

near the Texas coast. They soon learned that they would have to move hundreds of miles inland and the only land left was marginal

rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savannas ...

. Indians who had been peaceful due to treaties and the presence of the United States soldiers during the U.S.-Mexican War now began to come into conflict with these newcomers. 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 ...

and

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

were particularly incensed at this intrusion into their ancient hunting grounds. At first, the government wanted to build Fort Croghan near Holland Springs. Burnet County's first white resident, Sam Holland, objected strenuously to a military post being located near his home. They then decided to locate the fort a few miles north on Hamilton Creek. No consideration was more important than a year-round source of abundant, clean water, needed for many uses and as drinking water for people and animals. All the necessary buildings, including a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

bakery A bakery is an establishment that produces and sells flour-based food baked in an oven such as bread, cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, and pies. Some retail bakeries are also categorized as cafés, serving coffee and tea to customers who ...

, officers' quarters, enlisted men's huts, powderhouse, horse and mule lots,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shop, storage buildings, and a lookout building on top of Post Mountain, were constructed by the soldiers. In October 1849, Company C. 8th

Infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

, U.S.A. Mounted arrived to occupy this newly constructed fort. Fort Croghan consisted of the usual log cabins enclosed by a strong

stockade A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls, made of logs placed side by side vertically, with the tops sharpened as a defensive wall. Etymology ''Stockade'' is derived from the French word ''estocade''. The French word was derived ...

. It was manned by one company of

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

and one of

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

. The first commander was Captain Phillip St. George Cook. Captain Cook soon resigned his position and was followed by Captains Blake,

Lee Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese ...

, and Sibley. Some of the soldiers settled in the area and stayed on after the fort was decommissioned. Christian Dorbandt, later

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

of Burnet County, was one of these men.

Noah Smithwick Noah Smithwick (January 01, 1808October 21, 1899) was a colonist who lived in Texas from 1827 and until the Civil War began. A gunsmith and blacksmith, he fought in the Texas Revolution and served as a Texas Ranger. Late in life he dictated his r ...

worked as an armorer for the fort. A small town soon grew up across Hamilton Creek, as merchants and other suppliers of services moved to be near the fort. Logan Vandeveer and Peter Kerr were among the first to obtain contracts to furnish the fort with beef and other foodstuffs. In 1852, Vandeveer was instrumental in petitioning the

Texas Legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...

to authorize the creation of Burnet County. The town was first called Hamilton or Hamilton Valley, but in 1858, the town name was changed to Burnet, also. Fort Croghan was abandoned in December 1853, having served its purpose. The last building there was demolished in the 1920s and the old fort was forgotten as the town grew and prospered.

Fort Croghan Restoration

In the 1960s, a group of citizens interested in preserving this part of Burnet County and the city of Burnet's past formed the Burnet County Historical Society and raised the money to purchase the present-day grounds. Early presidents of the Burnet County Historical Society included Rethie Dorbandt, Ed Young, Virgil Lewis, Tad Moses, Jimsey Husted, Phyllis Adrian, Reta Ross, Clyde Mather, Mrs. T.D. Bryant, W.C. Galloway, Mather Dorbandt, and Donald Duncan.The Burnet Bulletin Newspaper Thursday July 26, 1973 Local landowners donated the historical cabins that were moved to the fort grounds and reassembled as they had been. The Texas Rangers' McCulloch's Station was 4 miles south on Hamilton Creek.

Fort Croghan Grounds and Museum

The Fort Croghan Museum features historical artifacts including tools, household items, and Western gear. The grounds contain restored buildings with period displays, including a stage-stop house, blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, powder house, several late 19th-century cabins, a lookout house, and a syrup-making shop. Fort Croghan Day is held each year to demonstrate frontier life.

References

External links

Fort Croghan Grounds and Museum Facebook Site

Fort Croghan Grounds and Museum
- official site * {{cite web , url=https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qbf13 , title=Fort Croghan , website=Handbook of Texas Online , publisher=

Texas State Historical Association The Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) is a non-profit educational organization, dedicated to documenting the history of Texas. It was founded in Austin, Texas, on March 2, 1897. , TSHA moved their offices from Austin to the University of N ...

Fort Croghan Grounds and Museum
- more information and history Croghan Buildings and structures in Burnet County, Texas Museums in Burnet County, Texas Open-air museums in Texas American West museums in Texas

Early history

Fort Croghan Restoration

Fort Croghan Grounds and Museum

See also

References

External links