Site of Fort Martin Scott

Capt. Seth Eastman of the First Infantry founded the post as Camp Houston, two miles southeast of Fredericksburg on Barons Creek, and left in February 1849 to set up a camp on the Leona River that became Fort Inge. Its garrison alternated between a company of infantry and one of dragoons. In the fall of 1853 Col. W. G. Freeman recommended closing it, and the army ordered it shut that December. In September 1866 Gen. Philip H. Sheridan sent Fourth Cavalry troops back. Its commanders included James Longstreet, William Steele and Eugene B. Beaumont.

What the plaque says

Site of Fort Martin Scott Established by the United States Army, December 5, 1848, as a protection to travelers and settlers against Indian attack. Named in honor of Major Martin Scott, brevet lieutenant colonel, 5th United States Infantry, killed at Molino Del Ray, September 8, 1847. Its garrison participated in many Indian skirmishes. Occupied intermittently after 1852. Held by the confederates, 1861-65. Permanently abandoned in December, 1866.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Martin Scott — steps away
  An army post of 1848 on Barons Creek beside the German town, where soldiers kept the peace of a Comanche trade and paid the merchants in hard cash.
• National Museum of the Pacific War — 2.0 mi
  A museum of the war in the Pacific in Chester Nimitz's hometown, dedicated at his request to the two million who served with him, with a garden given by Japan.
• Vereins Kirche and Main Street — 2.4 mi
  The octagonal Society Church on Fredericksburg's market square, rebuilt in stone in the 1930s, beside a main street laid out like a Rhine village.
• Luckenbach — 7.2 mi
  A store, saloon and dance hall on Grape Creek that a humorist bought in 1971, declared a free state of mind, and turned into a pilgrimage for Texas music.

More markers nearby

• The Easter Fires — 1.3 mi
• African American Community in Gillespie County — 1.6 mi
• Christian Methodist Episcopal Church — 1.7 mi
• Nimitz Hotel — 1.9 mi