Fort Lancaster
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Fort Lancaster State Historic Site
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Sketch of Fort Lancaster from 1861
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| Location | Crockett County, Texas, USA |
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| Nearest city | Sheffield, Texas |
| Coordinates | 30°39′58″N 101°41′46″W / 30.66611°N 101.69611°WCoordinates: 30°39′58″N 101°41′46″W / 30.66611°N 101.69611°W |
| Area | 39 acres (16 ha) |
| Built | 1855-1860 |
| NRHP Reference # | 71000928 |
| TSAL # | 8200000190 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 11, 1971 |
| Designated TSAL | February 22, 1983 |
Fort Lancaster, one in a series of forts erected along the western Texas frontier, is located in the Pecos River Valley, along Live Oak Creek, in Crockett County, Texas, United States. The fort was established by Captain Stephen Decatur Carpenter on August 20, 1855, to guard the military supplies, commercial shipments, and immigrants moving along the San Antonio-El Paso Road. The 82 acre site, now operated by the Texas Historical Commission as Fort Lancaster State Historic Site, contains the ruins of twenty-nine buildings that made up the fort and a visitor center with a museum about the heritage of the fort.
On 7 Aug. 1855, Capt. Stephen Carpenter, West Point Class 1840, left Fort Duncan with 1st Infantry Co. H and K, and established Camp Lancaster on Live Oak Creek on 20 Aug. The camp was probably named after Capt. Carpenter's classmate, Job Roberts Hamilton Lancaster. When it was initially constructed in August, 1855 as Camp Lancaster, the buildings were tents, followed by simple shelters covered with canvas known as jacales. A short time later pre-fabricated parts of experimental modular buildings, U.S. Army “Turnley Portable Cottages”, were hauled by wagon from the railhead in San Antonio and erected at the site.
On 12 October 1855 Captain Carpenter led a small detail several miles upstream along Live Oak Creek to find a tree to serve as a flagpole for the new fort. The party encountered a band of Apache passing through the area. In a brief firefight, a teamster was killed. Carpenter and two troopers dismounted to control their mounts. The Indians used the cover of brush to work closer, until they could fire arrows at the soldiers. They yelled savagely and used whistles to communicate, hoping to overpower the small force. When within a dozen paces of Carpenter, two warriors unleashed a volley of arrows at the Captain, one striking his horse in the neck and another hitting him in the right hand. His pistol stopped it from passing through his hand into his body. Carpenter shot one warrior in the chest, killing him. Dropping his pistol, he desperately attempted to raise a shotgun against the other Indian. A trooper shot the Indian before he could reach Carpenter. The group returned to the post, bloodied, with only the one loss.
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