Fort Chadbourne was a lonely place when the U.S. Army arrived in 1852 to separate the settlers and the Indians. Not much has changed in 155 years among the rocky hills between San Angelo and Abilene. It is the desolation that helped protect the remnants of the old frontier fort.
“We have hundreds and hundreds of artifacts that were found around the fort,” says Ann Pate, a board member of the foundation that is raising funds and overseeing the restoration of the former outpost.
Unlike many of the forts established in Texas between statehood and the Civil War, Fort Chadbourne has been on private property since it was finally deactivated in 1868. Thomas Odom bought the land in 1874 from Mary Maverick, the widow of the San Antonio mayor. The ranch has been in the same family ever since. “It was a working ranch, and visitors weren’t allowed to wander around the property,” Pate says. “You’d get a gun barrel in your face if you showed up uninvited.”
The fort is unusual because the eighth generation of Odom descendents have decided to preserve the stone buildings and open the site to the public. In 1999, Garland and Lana Richards formed the nonprofit foundation that has restored and stabilized the remaining structures. Workmen are currently rebuilding a fourth structure in the long-term project. The last remnants of the hospital and surgeons’ quarters’ walls will be left, as they are reminders of where the work began.
A large parade ground was the center of the fort, with enlisted men living on one side and officers on the other. The biggest project so far was rebuilding one of five long barracks with a porch that runs the length of the building.
The rock building would have been where the noncommissioned soldiers lived and worked. The locally quarried walls of another barrack remain, but foundations are all that are left of the others. For years the ranch used the building as a barn.
One of the officers’ quarters, a small two-room house made of red rock in 1854, has been refurbished with furniture from the fort’s heyday. At one time it served as the ranch’s headquarters, before becoming a storage building. The cellar or dugout building has been rejuvenated. It had once been a service building at the fort and a post office.
The foundation hopes to restore the remains of the Butterfield stage station in time for the stagecoach line’s 350th anniversary next year. A new visitor’s center and museum is planned for the future so that the Richards can display more of the military, American Indian, and ranch artifacts in their massive collection.
As a military outpost, the fort was one of nine established as a second line of defense on the frontier and saw limited action during its nearly 10 years of service. It was originally manned by the 8th Infantry and then the 4th Cavalry, the 2nd Dragoons, and the Texas Rangers. At its peak, around 500 soldiers were stationed at the post. At other times as few as five soldiers maintained a military presence. The fort was abandoned for Fort Concho at San Angelo because of its isolation and lack of water.
Mainly, the soldiers did escort duty for wagon trains headed west. The cavalry also provided mail service for area settlements, and that contributed to one of the few American Indian attacks on the army during this period. A small patrol from the fort was killed while returning from mail duty. A few days later, a group of American Indians came to the fort to trade for supplies, but they had the soldiers’ guns and were using the letters as cigarette paper, Pate says. In the ensuing skirmish, all of the perpetrators were killed or captured.
Fort Chadbourne was named after Lt. Theodore Chadbourne who was killed near Brownsville during the Mexican War. Members of the foundation conduct tours between 8am and 5pm during the week and on weekends by appointment. There is no fee for visiting, but donations are appreciated. The fort is about 10 miles north of Bronte off U.S. 277. For more information, call 325/743-2555 or go to www.fortchadbourne.org.
831st in a series. Day Trips, Vol. 2, a book of “Day Trips” 101-200, is available for $8.95, plus $3.05 for shipping, handling, and tax. Mail to: Day Trips, PO Box 33284, South Austin, TX 78704.
This article appears in June 1 • 2007.
