Fort Clark , Texas Fort Clark was a frontier fort located just off U . S . Route 90 near Bracketville , in the county of Kinney , in the U . S . state of Texas . It later became the headquarters for the 2nd Cavalry Division . The Fort Clark Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places listings in Kinney County , Texas on December 6 , 1979 . The Commanding Officer ' s Quarters at Fort Clark was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1988 . The Fort Clark Guardhouse became a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1962 . The Fort Clark Officers ' Row Quarters was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1991 . Founding . The land that became Fort Clark was owned by Samuel A . Maverick at the time its potential for military development was recognized by William H . C . Whiting and William F . Smith in 1849 . Whiting and Smith were actually engaged in surveying the path of the San Antonio - El Paso Road when they came upon the Las Moras Springs ( " Mulberry Springs " ) at the headwaters of Las Moras Creek . They told their superiors that they believed the high ground above the springs would be an appropriate placement for a fort . On June 20 , 1852 , the military made use of it , placing Companies C and E of the 1st US Infantry Regiment and a detachment of riflemen of the U . S . Mounted Rifles on the post they initially called Fort Riley , after retired General Bennett C . Riley . Riley himself requested that the fort be named instead for Major John B . Clark , an officer of the 1st Infantry who died during the Mexican - American War on August 23 , 1847 . It was accordingly renamed on July 15 of that year , and on July 30 , 1852 , the United States officially leased the land from Maverick , through signatory Lieutenant - Colonel D . C . Tompkins , to permit development of a fort . After soldiers and officers quarters were constructed in 1853 and 1854 , the fort was expanded with a hospital and a two - story storehouse in 1855 . Stone quarters for the commanding officer , recorded as near completion in the summer of 1857 , were converted to the post headquarters in 1873 . Brackettville . The nearby village of Las Moras was founded in 1852 by local dry - goods merchant Oscar B . Brackett . The town was renamed Brackett in his honor in 1856 and renamed Brackettville in 1873 upon receiving a government post office . It became a stop on the San Antonio - El Paso Road stagecoach . In 1876 , a visitor to the town described it as " the liveliest burg in West Texas , where the night life could only be compared to the saloons and gambling places that existed the early days of the gold excitement of California and the Klondike . Its flow of travellers later dried up when the railroad bypassed it by ten miles . Civil War . On March 19 , 1861 , Captain Trevanion T . Teel , leader of 18 Confederate troops , accepted the surrender of the fort from then - Captain George Sykes , who was garrisoned there with four companies . The surrender took place without military engagement , but not without tension . The Union soldiers garrisoned at the base cut the halliard of the flag - pole after the Federal flag was removed in order to prevent the Confederate flag being raised . They then set fire to the barracks as they were withdrawing . Sykes took quick action to aid in extinguishing the fire to preserve the barracks and nearby buildings . Indian Wars . The Seminole - Negro Indian Scouts were headquartered at Fort Clark from 1870 to 1914 . A Seminole community settled near the fort in 1872 and its descendants are still to be found in Brackettville and the surrounding areas . Colonel Ranald Mackenzie and the 4th US Cavalry were based here in 1873 - 1876 and 1878 - 1879 . Other forts in the frontier fort system were Forts Griffin , Concho , Belknap , Chadbourne , Fort Stockton , Fort Davis , Fort Bliss , McKavett , Richardson , Fort McIntosh , Fort Inge and Phantom Hill in Texas , and Fort Sill in Oklahoma . There were " sub posts or intermediate stations " including Bothwick ' s Station on Salt Creek between Fort Richardson and Fort Belknap , Camp Wichita near Buffalo Springs between Fort Richardson and Red River Station , and Mountain Pass between Fort Concho and Fort Griffin . World War 2 . In 1941 , the 112th Cavalry Regiment ( Horse ) Texas National Guard was posted here . In the spring and summer of 1943 , the 3rd Cavalry Brigade ( made up of the 9th and 27th US Cavalry Regiments ) was trained and stationed here . Its parent unit , the 2nd Cavalry Division , was headquartered here until their deployment overseas on February , 1944 . Closure . Cavalry training at the fort ceased in January , 1944 . In 1944 , the US Army deactivated the Cavalry Branch and merged it with the Armor branch . The base was deactivated in 1946 .