Fort Richardson

Fort Richardson

Built 1867 to enforce federal reconstruction law and provide support for settlers, more than 5,000 soldiers saw service in the eleven (11) years of the fort's existence.  

Between 1868 and 1873 the fort was strategically the most important of the line of posts in Texas at its peak housing over 650 officers and men.  After 1870 three major campaigns and hundreds of patrols and scouting missions were launched from the fort.  Congress awarded 30 Medals of Honor to men serving at Ft. Richardson.  The fort reportedly lost 246 soldiers to desertion.

In May 1871 Gen. William T. Sherman made a tour of the Texas frontier to assess the situation himself.  Previously skeptical of the stories of Indian deprecations along the frontier, he wanted to view the ground/region himself.  At the same time a party of more than one hundred Kiowas, Comanches, and others left Fort Sill and crossed into Texas. Led by Satank, Satanta, and Big
Tree, they took up positions on the Salt Creek Prairie. They spotted Sherman's entourage of 100 plus and allowed them to pass unmolested. The next group of whites to pass was a wagon train belonging to a freighting company. The Indians swept down upon the wagons and attacked. They killed the wagon master and seven teamsters and looted the wagons then returned  to the reservation at Fort Sill.  This became known as the Warren Wagon Train Massacre.

After hearing of this raid and confirming the severity of the situation based upon interviews at Fort Richardson, Sherman dispatched Col. Ranald Mackenzie to pursue the Indians back to the reservation in contravention of then existing U.S. Indian Policy which did not allow pursuit onto the reservations.  Upon arriving at Fort Sill Sherman himself ordered the arrest of the responsible chiefs and their return to Texas for trial.  A "parley" set up to lure the chiefs in resulted in a tense fight in which 10th Calvary commander Benjamin Grierson saved Sherman from a Kiowa bullet. 

The three chiefs were dispatched back to Texas where, on the journey, Satank overpowered and wounded a guard before being killed trying the escape.  The two remaining chiefs were tried, found guilty and sentenced to hang, but their sentences were later commuted to life for political reasons by Gov. Edmund J. Davis.  After two years they were paroled.  (Expedient government decisions are, you see, nothing new.)

But the gloves were off on the frontier.  From Fort Richardson Ranald Mackenzie led the campaigns which marked him as the best of the Indian fighters on the U.S. plains, culminating in his remarkable attacks on the Commanche stronghold of Palo Duro Canyon in September 1874. (Ranald Mackenzie)

The fort originally had over 60 buildings, most being temporary in nature and were torn down after the fort's decommissioning. 

Commanding General's Quarters

Fort Hospital

Morgue behind Hospital

Officer's Quarters

Guardhouse ruins and Bakery

 

Only four 4 X 8 foot cells but, according to documentation they were kept full at all times.

Magazine

Magazines are always kept remote from the rest of the forts and were generally designated the last stand location for women and children in the event of attacks.