Fort Elliott was a United States Army post in the Texas Panhandle, operational between 1875 and 1890 and named for Major Joel H. Elliott, a casualty of the Battle of Washita River in 1868.[2]: 6
Fort Elliott | |
|---|---|
Ghost Town | |
 Texas historical marker for Fort Elliott | |
  Location within Texas | |
| Coordinates: 35°31′04″N 100°27′23″W / 35.51778°N 100.45639°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Texas |
| County | Wheeler |
| U.S. Army Fort | June 5, 1875 |
| Elevation | 2,661 ft (811 m) |
| Time zone | UTC-6 (Central (CST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (MDT) |
The decision to establish Fort Elliott in what was to become Wheeler County, Texas, was made in December 1874 by Colonel Nelson A. Miles as an advance supply post during the campaign to clear the Texas Panhandle of American Indians after the Second Battle of Adobe Walls in 1874. Major James Biddle established a temporary post on 3 February 1875 with four troops of the 6th US Cavalry and four companies of the 5th Infantry and the permanent location of the fort on 5 June 1875, twenty-seven miles west of Indian Territory near the headwaters of Sweetwater Creek.[2]: 5 African-American troops, familiarly called "Buffalo soldiers," served in this area. In subsequent years, the fort was garrisoned to protect the borders of the Panhandle with Indian Territory, and the cattle drives from Texas to Kansas.[3] The town of Mobeetie in Wheeler County, where Timothy Dwight Hobart and Temple Lea Houston were early settlers, grew beside it.
Among the troops serving there were Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of West Point Military Academy, Captain Emerson H. Liscum and Lieutenant Frederick Dent Grant.[2]: 9–10
References
edit- ^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Fort Elliott
- ^ a b c Crimmins, M.L., 1947, Fort Elliott, Texas, in The West Texas Historical Association Year Book, Vol. XXIII, October 1947, Abilene
- ^ Kyvig, David E. "Fort Elliott". Handbook of Texas Online. Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
External links
edit- "Fort Elliot - Mobeetie ~ Marker Number: 1981". Texas Historic Sites Atlas. Texas Historical Commission. 1936.
- "Site of Fort Elliott" [Mobeetie in Wheeler County, Texas - The American South (West South Central)]. HMDB.org. The Historical Marker Database. 1936.