Fort Washita

Men of the Second Dragoons under Capt. George A. H. Blake did the building, and within fifteen years the post had a stone hospital, surgeon's quarters and barracks, with a bowling alley, a bar, a library and a newspaper. The garrison left in 1858 but was back that December after Comanche activity. Lt. Col. William H. Emory's Federal troops abandoned it in May 1861, and the buildings were burned in August 1865. The grounds were allotted to Chickasaw citizens in the early 1900s and bought by the state in 1962, and the Chickasaw Nation now owns the historic site.

What the plaque says

Fort Washita Site selected and named 1842 by Gen. Zachary Taylor, later Pres. of U.S. Fort established 1842 by 2nd Dragoons. Occupied by several rifle, infantry, cavalry, artillery companies. Built to protect the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians from Plains Indians and wagon trains mov- ing west. With the Mexican War and after gold was discover- ed in California, Fort Washita became center of activity. Oc- cupied during Civil War by Confederate forces. Not oc- cupied at any time thereafter by U.S. troops. Oklahoma Historical Society 183-1995

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Choctaw Cultural Center — 12 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's history told from the Chahta side at Calera, with galleries from Nanih Waiya to the Trail of Tears and the reservation today, a living village and daily stickball.
• Chickasaw National Capitol — 12 mi
  The red granite capitol the Chickasaw Nation finished at Tishomingo in 1898, forced out of at statehood, used as the county courthouse for most of a century and reclaimed by the Nation in 1992.

More markers nearby

• General Douglas Hancock Cooper — steps away
• Fort McCulloch — 8.1 mi
• Nail's Crossing — 9.1 mi
• Fisher's Station — 9.6 mi