FORT SMITH. Fort Smith was one of a series of forts established by the Republic of Texas to protect its citizens from Indian attacks. It was located at the headwaters of Richland Creek in what was then Navarro County but today is the northeastern corner of Hill County. Its garrison was under the command of Capt. Thomas I. Smith, for whom the fort was named and who oversaw its construction in 1847. Smith, however, died later that year. J. C. Connor replaced him and remained in command until 1848. That year the company of dragoons abandoned the stockade and moved farther west to a new garrison, Fort Graham. The site of Fort Smith later was the home of Iverson School. In 1936 the Texas Centennial Commission placed a marker at the site.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Hill County Historical Commission, A History of Hill County, Texas, 1853–1980 (Waco: Texian, 1980). Harold Schoen, comp., Monuments Erected by the State of Texas to Commemorate the Centenary of Texas Independence (Austin: Commission of Control for Texas Centennial Celebrations, 1938).
