Texas Historical marker for Buffalo Soldiers at Fort Elliott

Fort Elliott was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

post in the Texas Panhandle, operational between 1875 and 1890 and named for Major

Joel H. Elliott Joel or Yoel is a name meaning "Yahweh Is God" in Hebrew and may refer to: * Joel (given name), including a list of people named Joel or Yoel * Joel (surname), a surname * Joel (footballer, born 1904), Joel de Oliveira Monteiro, Brazilian football ...

, a casualty of the

Battle of Washita River The Battle of the Washita River (also called Battle of the Washita or the Washita Massacre) occurred on November 27, 1868, when Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer's 7th U.S. Cavalry attacked Black Kettle's Southern Cheyenne camp on the Washita ...

in 1868. The decision to establish Fort Elliott in what was to become

Wheeler County Wheeler County is the name of several counties in the United States: * Wheeler County, Georgia * Wheeler County, Nebraska * Wheeler County, Oregon Wheeler County is a county in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2020 census, the populatio ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, was made in December 1874 by

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Nelson A. Miles Nelson Appleton Miles (August 8, 1839 – May 15, 1925) was a United States Army officer who served in the American Civil War (1861–1865), the later American Indian Wars (1840–1890), and the Spanish–American War, (1898). From 1895 to 1903 ...

as an advance supply post during the campaign to clear the Texas Panhandle of American Indians after the

Second Battle of Adobe Walls The Second Battle of Adobe Walls was fought on June 27, 1874, between Comanche forces and a group of 28 Texan bison hunters defending the settlement of Adobe Walls, Texas, Adobe Walls, in what is now Hutchinson County, Texas. "Adobe Walls was ...

in 1874. Major James Biddle established a temporary post on 3 February 1875 with four troops of the 6th US Cavalry and four companies of the 5th Infantry and the permanent location of the fort on 5 June 1875, twenty-seven miles west of

Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...

near the headwaters of Sweetwater Creek.Crimmins, M.L., 1947, Fort Elliott, Texas, in The

West Texas Historical Association The West Texas Historical Association is an organization of both academics and laypersons dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of the total history of West Texas, loosely defined geographically as all Texas counties and portions of cou ...

Year Book, Vol. XXIII, October 1947, Abilene African-American troops, familiarly called " Buffalo soldiers," served in this area. In subsequent years, the fort was garrisoned to protect the borders of the Panhandle with Indian Territory, and the

cattle drive Droving is the practice of walking livestock over long distances. It is a type of herding, often associated with cattle, in which case it is a cattle drive (particularly in the US). Droving stock to market—usually on foot and often with the ...

s from Texas to

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. The town of Mobeetie in Wheeler County, where

Timothy Dwight Hobart Timothy Dwight Hobart (October 6, 1855 – May 19, 1935) was an American businessman, best known as the manager of the JA Ranch. He was also mayor of Pampa, Texas.Lester Fields Sheffy, ''The Life and Times of Timothy Dwight Hobart, 1855-1935: Colo ...

and

Temple Lea Houston Temple Lea Houston (August 12, 1860 – August 15, 1905) was an American attorney and politician who served from 1885 to 1889 in the Texas State Senate. He was the last-born child of Margaret Lea Houston and Sam Houston, the first elected pre ...

were early settlers, grew beside it. Among the troops serving there were Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper, the first

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

graduate of

West Point Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

, Captain Emerson H. Liscum and Lieutenant

Frederick Dent Grant Frederick Dent Grant (May 30, 1850 – April 12, 1912) was a soldier and United States minister to Austria-Hungary. Grant was the first son of General and President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and Julia Grant. He was named after his ...

References

External links

* * {{cite web , url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=48385 , title=Site of Fort Elliott , year=1936 , trans-title=Mobeetie in Wheeler County, Texas - The American South (West South Central) , website=HMDB.org , publisher=The Historical Marker Database Former installations of the United States Army Elliot Buildings and structures in Wheeler County, Texas