ABOUT US

In an attempt to establish control over North Texas, the Republic of Texas attempted to set up a line of “ranger” (militia) forts on the frontier. When ranger stations proved inadequate, the U.S. Army stepped in and took over the job of watching the frontier. It adopted a “picket line” strategy of establishing forts every 100 miles or so, stretching from the Rio Grande in the south to the Red River in the north.
 

In the spring of 1849, Fort Graham on the Brazos River represented the northern anchor of that defensive line, leaving a 130-mile gap up the Red River that was a blind spot in the state’s defenses. To extend the line farther north and close that gap, Col. William S. Harney, acting commander of the Department of Texas after the death of Maj. Gen. Williams Jenkins Worth, on May 7 ordered Maj. Ripley Arnold up to the Trinity River.

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Arnold took a small party of 2nd Dragoon troopers and proceeded to Johnson’s Station, where he hooked up with Middleton Tate Johnson and four other civilians. They rode west to a spot near the confluence of the Clear and West forks of the Trinity. There, at the end of May, they planted Old Glory on the future site of Fort Worth.

A week later, Arnold was back with his entire command, the 42 men of Company F, 2nd Dragoons. The men set to work building a fort and, by the end of August, they were ready to move in.

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A small civilian community grew up in the comforting shadow of the fort. No more than 100 people lived in the vicinity, most of whom were more dependent on the garrison for economic well-being than safety. Farther out from the bluffs, the county created by the state legislature in 1849 — Tarrant — also began filling up with homesteaders attracted by the rich soil and the security provided by the U.S. Army. In the next four years, the number of settlers grew to some 350 hardy souls.

 

On Sept. 17, 1853, the fort was vacated. Troops were redeployed as the line marking the Western frontier made another push toward the Pacific Ocean.