Seminole Scout Camp on Fort Clark

The government's promise to the scouts' families was never kept. In 1870 John Kibbetts agreed to bring his people to Texas in exchange for support until they could be moved to the Seminole Nation in Indian Territory. Indian agents then questioned whether the Black Seminoles counted as Indians, and the army, the Indian Bureau and the Interior Department argued over who would pay. Rations were suspended at times, and crops on the military reservations fell short. Some families went back to Nacimiento in Coahuila and some joined Seminole freedman communities in Oklahoma; many stayed at Fort Clark.

What the plaque says

Seminole Scout Camp on Fort Clark Under Spanish rule, Florida was a haven for freed or escaped slaves in the 1700s. Once there, many integrated into the Seminole tribe, intermarrying and adapting to the culture. Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821, and after approximately 30 years of warfare, the majority of the Seminoles were forced to relocate to the Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Tribal leaders Coacoochee (Wild Cat) and John Horse gathered a group of Seminoles in 1850 and left the Indian Territory for Mexico. There, under an agreement with the Mexican government, they Settled and fought against raiding tribes along the Rio Grande. In 1870, the U.S. Army offered the group pay and rations to move to Fort Clark, established in 1852 to protect settlers along the border. The black Seminoles became scouts for the Army, serving under Lt. John L. Bullis and other noted officers during Texas' Indian wars. The Seminole-Negro Indian scouts, as they were known, lived on the fort in a settlement referred to as "the camp." They built homes in the Mexican jacal style, using wattle and daub construction and thatched roofs. The scouts and their families also built dams and irrigation systems along Las Moras Creek for farming. The Seminoles lived on the fort until 1914, when the scouts were disbanded. Some returned to Mexico, many stayed in the Brackettville area and some moved to Oklahoma, where the Seminole nation was granted sovereignty. Still others remained, buried in the scouts' cemetery (1.5 mi. Sw), which was established in 1872. Among those buried there are four scouts who earned Congressional medals of honor: Adam Payne (Paine), Isaac Payne, John Ward and Pompey Factor. (2002)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Clark and the Old Guardhouse Museum — 1.7 mi
  The 1852 post at Las Moras Springs, home from 1872 to 1914 of the Black Seminole scouts, now a gated resort with its old guardhouse open as a museum on weekends.
• Kickapoo Cavern State Park — 23 mi
  A lightly developed former ranch on the Kinney-Edwards line with twenty caves, a Saturday tour into a 1,400-foot cavern and a summer bat flight from Stuart Bat Cave.

More markers nearby

• John Horse — 1.4 mi
• Site of Original Post Cemetery — 1.4 mi
• Fort Clark — 1.8 mi
• 2nd Cavalry Division at Fort Clark — 1.8 mi