Fort Washita Fort Washita is the former United States military post and National Historic Landmark located near Nida , Oklahoma on SH 199 . Established in 1842 by General ( later President ) Zachary Taylor to protect citizens of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations from the Plains Indians it was later abandoned by Federal forces at the beginning of the American Civil War . Confederate troops held the post until the end of the war when they burned the remaining structures . It was never reoccupied by the United States military . After years in private hands the Oklahoma Historical Society bought the fort grounds in 1962 and restored the site . Today the Fort Washita Historic Site and Museum is a tourist attraction and hosts several events throughout the year . Location . France was the first European power to claim the region Fort Washita lies within . La Salle explored the Mississippi River in 1682 and claimed all the lands it drained for France . After the Seven Years ' War France ceded the area to Spain . France regained the area with the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 . The United States purchased the area from France in 1803 with the Louisiana Purchase . The Adams – Onís Treaty of 1819 fixed a portion of the border between the United States and New Spain as the Red River . History . Five Civilized Tribes removed to the Indian Territory . Eager to gain access to the lands of the Five Civilized Tribes in the southern United States the Federal government passed the Indian Removal Act into law on May 26 , 1830 . The first of the Indians to be removed , the Choctaws , signed the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek on September 27 , 1830 effectively ceding their native lands in Mississippi and Alabama to the United States in exchange for lands in the Indian Territory . After traveling on the Choctaw Trail of Tears the Choctaws settled in the new Choctaw Nation , the southern part of the Indian Territory bordering the Red River . The Cross Timbers , a thick line of nearly impassable trees and brush running from north to south , created an effective east - west barrier separating the flat , dry lands inhabited by the plains Indians to the west from the rolling prairies to the east where the Five Civilized Tribes were locating . These indigenous tribes included the Comanche , Wichita , Caddo es , and Kiowa . They occasionally threatened the removed tribes with raids . The Choctaws mostly settled in the eastern part of their territory since the western end was less secure against raids from the plains Indians , and they had protection from federal troops located at Fort Towson . Dodge - Leavenworth Expedition . The first official contact between the United States and the plains Indians was during the Dodge - Leavenworth Expedition in 1834 . Camp Washita , the precursor to Fort Washita , was established near the mouth of the Washita River to serve as a base of operations for the area . Two roads were cleared to the area , one from Fort Gibson to the north and one to Fort Towson to the east . Camp Washita was abandoned later that year . Chickasaw removal . The Chickasaws were removed to the Indian Territory in 1837 , paying $ 530 , 000 to the Choctaws for the right to live in their lands . After removal to the Indian Territory the Chickasaws were reluctant to settle in their district , composed of the west and central area of the Choctaw lands . The area was not secure against the plains Indians , since the closest federal garrison , at Fort Towson , was too far away to protect the area effectively . In 1838 the Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Western Territory , William Armstrong , asked the War Department to build a military post near the mouth of the Washita River to secure the area so the Chickasaws could move into their assigned territory . Captain T . A . Blake led a company of Dragoons from Fort Towson to the site of Fort Washita in late 1841 . Location and construction . In response to the need to defend the removed Indians on the frontier the United States Army authorized the construction of a fort on the Choctaw lands west of Fort Towson . General Zachary Taylor , as commander of the Second Military Department in the Southwest , chose the site for Fort Washita in 1842 on high ground a mile and a half east of the Washita River and 18 miles north of its junction with the Red River . At the time the Red River was the southern border of the Indian Territory with new Republic of Texas . The fort was surrounded by rolling prairie . The nearest military post at this time was Fort Towson 80 miles to the east . Fort Washita sat at a strategic point on the frontier . In addition to being located near the Red and Washita rivers there existed an ancient north - south trail through the area . In the Indian Territory this route was known as the Texas Road , leading from Missouri to Texas and beyond . This route was called the old Preston Trail after it crossed into Texas on the Red River near Preston Bend at Coffee ' s Trading Post and later Colbert ' s Ferry . Fort Washita became a major junction on this road . Later the Shawnee Cattle Trail used this north - south route and , just prior to the Civil War , the Butterfield Overland Stage crossed just east of Fort Washita . Fort Washita was connected to Fort Towson and Fort Gibson by military roads constructed earlier . Later military roads connected Fort Washita with forts Arbuckle and Sill . The Cross Timbers were located near Fort Washita , about 19 miles west of the Washita River . Construction at Fort Washita began in the spring of 1842 . The Chickasaw Indian Agency was built early on as a one - story log building with four rooms in a group of trees on the edge of the prairie 600 yards west of Fort Washita near the springs . Construction was carried out mostly by Companies A and F of the Second Dragoons , with a temporary log barracks in 1842 . There were supply difficulties , since the fort was located so far on the frontier . Most materials had to be taken from the area , with a few supplies being shipped from Fort Towson . Troops from Fort Washita were ordered to protect Texas frontier from Indian attacks in 1842 so Texans could muster against a supposed invasion from Mexico . Fort Washita was almost abandoned in 1843 before it was fully occupied . General Taylor learned in March 1843 that the War Department was considering abandoning it . After Taylor testified to the fort ' s valuable location the War Department approved the plans to occupy the fort , and the United States Army occupied the post on April 23 , 1843 . Bean Starr , one of the Starr gang , died at the hospital at Fort Washita after being wounded at a shootout on the Washita River 25 miles above the fort in the Autumn of 1844 . Had corral , stable area , blacksmith , farrier shops . In 1845 Fort Washita was the only frontier fort not accessible by steamboat and had to rely on the interior for its supply . The Mexican – American War . When the Mexican – American War began in May 1846 activity increased dramatically at Fort Washita . As a United State military post near Texas the fort served as a staging point for the war . Traffic on the Texas Road heading south increased during and after the war . During the war years the average garrison of 150 troops increased to almost 2000 troops . During this era Fort Washita served as the site of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Agencies . The Mexican – American War ended with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , signed on February 2 , 1848 . The Chickasaws met at Boiling Spring near Fort Washita in 1846 and adopted a constitution . They met again at Boiling Spring on October 13 , 1848 and created a more formal constitution , creating their own government separate from the Choctaws . As the Chickasaws moved into their own country near and west of Fort Washita they increasing needed protection from the fort against the plains Indians . The temporary log barracks was replaced after the construction of the south barracks from limestone in 1849 . Commanded by Dixon S . Miles in late 1849 and early 1851 . Major Daniel Ruggles served at Fort Washita from 1849 to 1851 after the Mexican - American War and eventually commanded the fort . He was popular , and the small settlement west of the fort was named Rugglesville after him . It was sometimes called Rucklesville and later Hatsboro . Shortly after the Mexican - American War the 2nd Artillery Regiment , commanded by Colonel Braxton Bragg and made famous at the Battle of Buena Vista , was assigned to the fort . Bragg was later a General in the Confederate Army . Moving frontier and the Gold Rush . Beginning after the discovery of gold in California in 1849 many settlers bounds for California traveled through Fort Washita headed west . Many emigrants to California chose a more southern route to avoid the cold winters , the snow , and cholera outbreaks that plagued the northern routes . The major obstacle to using the southern route was the indigenous plains Indians that lived along this route . Travelers gathered in large groups for protection while crossing to California . " It was customary for the emigrating parties to rendezvous at Fort Washita , where detachments would consolidate , elect their officers and make their final preparations before crossing Red River into Texas and straightening out on their long southwestern tangent to El Paso . " In 1850 General Arbuckle , commander at Fort Smith , ordered the establishment of a fort west of Fort Washita to aid the protection of California emigrants . This fort became Fort Arbuckle . Fort Worth was established June 6 , 1849 . The distance between Fort Worth and Fort Washita is 120 miles . General Belknap , commander of Fort Arbuckle died on November 10 , 1851 on an ambulance between Preston , Texas and Fort Washita bound for Fort Gibson to see his family . He was interred at Fort Washita . The headquarters of the Seventh Military Department was transferred to Fort Washita in 1853 . With it Major T . H Holmes commanded the fort . Only one light battery of artillery was assigned to the post in 1853 . The west barracks was built in 1856 from native limestone . The two artillery batteries at Fort Washita were transferred to Fort Monroe , leaving on December 25 , 1856 . By 1858 there was an east barracks , hospital , and surgeon ' s quarters all built from native stone , in addition to the wooden structures . A corral and stables on the hillside southwest of the fort supported cavalry operations . Cavalry comprised the bulk of the forces assigned to Fort Washita until the 1850s when it served as a United States Army Field Artillery School . Several Artillery units were assigned to the fort during this time in addition to infantry and cavalry . Forts Smith , Washita , Belknap and Arbuckle were abandoned temporarily in 1858 so their troops could be sent to Utah during the Utah War . The Fort closed on February 17 , 1858 but was reoccupied later that year on December 29 after increased Comanche activity . Fort Washita ' s importance as a military post waned as the frontier moved westward . The Chickasaw and Choctaw nations grew more settled and incursions by the plains Indians lessened . As the frontier moved westward new military posts were established farther west to protect the new frontier . The Army established Fort Cobb in October 1859 . Many men who served at Fort Washita would go on to become famous , including Randolph B . Marcy , George McClellan , William G . Belknap and Theophilus H . Holmes . The Civil War . Federal troops still occupied Fort Washita when the Confederates fired on Fort Sumter on April 12 , 1861 . Expecting war Colonel William Emory had concentrated all of his Federal troops from Forts Arbuckle and Cobb at Fort Washita . When news of Fort Sumter reached Emory on April 16 he led his forces to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , pursued by 4000 Texas militia one day behind them . Afterwards the Confederate forces seized Fort Washita . The Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory sided with the Confederacy . During the Civil War Fort Washita saw no action , though it was an important supply depot for the Confederates in the Indian Territory . It also served as military hospital . Fort Washita became the headquarters of Brigadier General Douglas Cooper , who assumed command after the battle of Honey Springs . Other Confederate commanders during the Civil War include General Albert Pike , served as commander of Fort Washita for a short time before establishing Fort McCulloch a few miles to the east , and General Stand Watie . Near the end of the war in August 1865 Confederate forces burned the existing buildings and abandoned the post . A confederate cemetery remains to this day on the fort grounds . United States military graves were exhumed and reinterred at Fort Gibson near Muskogee , Oklahoma . Abandoned . After the Civil War Fort Washita was never reoccupied by the United States military and the grounds fell into disuse . On July 1 , 1870 the War Department handed over the fort grounds to the Department of the Interior . The passage of the Dawes Act in 1887 and the Atoka Agreement in 1897 divided the communal lands of the Chickasaw Nation , including Fort Washita , into allotments owned by individual Chickasaw citizens . The Colberts , a prominent Chickasaw family , received the allotment of grounds including the fort . Department of Interior turned land over to Abbie Davis Colbert and her son . Charles Colbert turned the existing east barracks into a personal home and the site was used as a farm for many years . The remaining buildings were used in a farming capacity . The Colberts also used the cemetery as a family cemetery . The old west barracks continued to serve as the Colberts ' household until it burned down in 1917 . Douglas H . Cooper , once commander of Fort Washita and later commander of Confederate Troops in Indian Territory , continued to live at the fort after the Civil War . He died there on April 29 , 1879 , and was buried in the old fort cemetery in an unmarked grave . National Historic Landmark . In the 1960s there was a renewed interest in Oklahoma ' s Historical Sites . The Oklahoma Historical Society was able to determine that at the Fort Washita site there were 86 structures , 50 foundations and 2 structures still standing . Ward S . Merrick Sr . of Ardmore , Oklahoma contributed funds to the Oklahoma Historical Society for the purchase of the site from the Colbert family in 1962 . At the time , William " Buck " Loper and his wife , Lela , lived in the current park headquarters . During the sale of the property to the Historical Society , the Colberts allowed the Lopers to stay until their death around 1963 . They are both buried in the fort cemetery . It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and in 1967 the Oklahoma State Legislature approved $ 10 , 000 for the reconstruction and restoration of the fort ' s grounds . In 1971 the Oklahoma Historical Society conducted an archeological dig and rebuilt the south barracks . Today the Fort Washita site is home to Fort Washita Historic Site and Museum , Civil War reenactments , and a yearly Fur Trade Rendezvous . On September 26 , 2010 , the reconstructed South Barracks was destroyed by fire .