Fort Washita
|
Fort Washita
|
|
West barracks in 1975
|
|
 
|
|
| Location | Bryan County, Oklahoma |
|---|---|
| Nearest city | Durant, Oklahoma |
| Coordinates | 34°6′13″N 96°32′54″W / 34.10361°N 96.54833°WCoordinates: 34°6′13″N 96°32′54″W / 34.10361°N 96.54833°W |
| Built | 1841 |
| NRHP Reference # | 66000626 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | October 15, 1966 |
| Designated NHLD | June 23, 1965 |
Fort Washita is the former United States military post and National Historic Landmark located in Durant, 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.
The site is located about 12 miles (19 km) northwest of the present-day town of Durant, Oklahoma, on Oklahoma Highway 199, just north of the confluence of the Washita River with the Red River. The original fortification was a massive expanse of over seven square miles, containing far more than ninety buildings and sites. It was not abandoned until after the end of the war, in 1865.
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.
...
Wikipedia