Fort Davis: Outpost on the Texas Frontier

Description

Wooster relates the history of Fort Davis from the days when Indians and later Spaniards and Mexicans inhabited the area. Fort Davis, one of the army's largest western outposts, was built in the mid-1850s. Evacuated by the U.S. Army at the beginning of the Civil War, the fort was occupied by Texas state troops, then reoccupied by the Federals. After the war, the War Department began shifting regular army units back to the Western frontiers. Among these units were the famous black regiments, many of them comprised of former slaves. Wooster discusses the details of daily life—food, clothing, social activities, weapons, medical care—and the often ineffective campaigns against the Indians.

Series