Fort Mason was established on July 6, 1851, in present-day Mason County, Texas. It was named in honor of George Thomson Mason, 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 ...

second lieutenant killed in the Thornton Affair during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

near Brownsville, April 25, 1846. At various times from 1856 to 1861, this was the home fort for

Albert Sidney Johnston General officer, General Albert Sidney Johnston (February 2, 1803 – April 6, 1862) was an American military officer who served as a general officer in three different armies: the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States ...

, George H. Thomas, Earl Van Dorn, and

Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...

. The fort was abandoned by the military in the 1870s, and restored by a group of local citizens in 1975. Visitors can tour the reproduction officers' quarters at the Fort Mason Museum. The fort is designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1936, marker number 11275.

History

Fort Mason, Texas, was established by the United States War Department as a front-line defense against

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

Lipan Apache Lipan Apache are a band of Apache, a Southern Athabaskan languages, Southern Athabaskan Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people, who have lived in the Oasisamerica, Southwest and Southern Plains for centuries. At the time of European ...

, and Comanche, on July 6, 1851. The site on Post Oak Hill near Comanche and Centennial Creeks was chosen by Lieutenant Colonel William J. Hardee and surveyor Richard Austin Howard. Bevet Major Hamilton W. Merrill, along with companies A and B of the Second Dragoons, established the fort itself. Originally part of Gillespie County, Mason County was named for the fort when it was established in 1858. Comanche chief Katemcy at one point turned over two white captives aged 11 and 12, and again bringing them back when the captives ran away from the fort to reunite with the Comanches. The fort was closed in January 1854, after which horse theft by Native Americans was reported and pursued by the military. It was reoccupied in 1856 by Company A, First Dragoons, from March to May and was occupied by companies B, C, D, G, H, and I of the

Second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

United States Cavalry The United States Cavalry, or U.S. Cavalry, was the designation of the mounted force of the United States Army. The United States Cavalry was formally created by an act of United States Congress, Congress on 3 August 1861 and ceased as a dist ...

from January 14, 1856, with Col.

in command.Neighbors, K.F., 1975, ''Robert Neighbors and the Texas Frontier, 1836-1859'', Waco: Texian Press Among those in the Second Regiment of Cavalry before the Civil War, George H. Thomas, Innis N. Palmer, George Stoneman, R. W. Johnson, Kenner Garrard, and Philip St. George Cooke became generals for the Union Army, while those who became generals for the Confederate States Army included Earl Van Dorn, Nathan George Evans, Charles W. Field, William P. Chambliss, Charles W. Phifer, Fitzhugh Lee, E. Kirby Smith, Robert E. Lee, John Bell Hood, and William J. Hardee. Fort Mason was Robert E. Lee's last command with the United States Army. Fort Mason was evacuated by federal troops on March 29, 1861, and reoccupied after the Civil War until 1869.

Confederacy

The

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the Military forces of the Confederate States, military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) duri ...

took control of Fort Mason on March 29, 1861. In 1862, the CSA held at the fort 215 men prisoner on suspicion of sympathy to the Union, who were transferred to Austin in 1862.

United States Army reoccupation

The United States Army reoccupied the fort on December 24, 1866, under the command of General John Porter Hatch. During this period, the fort was renovated with both civilian and military labor. Indian depredations had increased during the Civil War and were worse when the army returned. The

Reconstruction era of the United States The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

left its imprint on the fort's personnel, often leading to abandonment of duty and the resulting military discipline. By January 13, 1869, 25 buildings, either unoccupied or in poor shape, remained, with less than 70 soldiers. The order to close the fort was carried out on March 23, 1869. During 1870, the state of Texas organized several companies of frontier forces. Fort Mason was reopened in September of that year as headquarters for Companies A and B, Frontier Forces, under Capt. James M. Hunter, later county judge of Mason County. The fort was closed for good in 1871.

Restoration

Mason citizens recycled material from the fort when building their own homes. A restoration of the fort began in 1975. Today, the fort belongs to the Mason County Historical Society.

Gallery

File:Fort Mason 3.jpg, Fort Mason plan: The red dot indicates the location of the reconstructed officer's quarters. File:Fort Mason 2.jpg, Historical marker File:Fort Mason.jpg, Historical marker

References

External links

Fort Mason home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Fort Forts in Texas Texas State Historic Sites Buildings and structures in Mason County, Texas Populated places established in 1851 Recorded Texas Historic Landmarks Native American history of Texas Museums in Mason County, Texas Military and war museums in Texas 1851 establishments in Texas