Fort Stockton, TX

We visited the museum at Fort Stockton today. It consists of about 5 buildings left from the original fort.

The fort was started around 1858 but abandoned in 1861 due to the Civil War. In 1867 the army returned to the post and started rebuilding it so they could guard the trail from San Antonio to El Paso from the Indians and Mexican bandits. The first building on the fort was the guard house. (Now that says a lot about how they controlled their soldiers back then!)

The soldiers that manned the post were exslaves who became known as buffalo soldiers.

There is not a lot of exhibits at the fort with the exception of the buildings which were interesting in their own right.

This exhibit was in the enlisted mans barracks. We found the beds very interesting. They consist of iron headboard and footboard with wood bolted to them. A real neat way to make a bed that could be taken apart and moved without much bulk. I doubt that they would be very comfortable as they did not have much in the way of a mattress!