Site of Fort Merrill

Fort Merrill was built by its own garrison. Soldiers of the First Infantry under Captain Samuel M. Plummer raised the post in March 1850, using lumber and logs shipped from New Orleans, on the Nueces where the Corpus Christi to San Antonio road crossed. Companies of the Rifle Regiment were the regular garrison until April 1853, when they left for Fort Ewell and only fifteen men remained. Inspector W. G. Freeman found that June that the garrison could do little beyond night sentinel duty. The army abandoned the post on December 1, 1855. The site is on private land.

What the plaque says

Site of Fort Merrill Established by Captain S.M. Plummer First U.S. Infantry, February 26, 1850 as a protection to settlers against Indians. Named in honor of Captain Hamilton W. Merrill, Brevet Major, Second Dragoons, gallant officer in the Mexican War. Permanently abandoned December 1, 1855.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Lake Corpus Christi State Park — 16 mi
  A lake park in the South Texas brush country above Mathis, on a reservoir of the Nueces, with a Civilian Conservation Corps refectory and more than 200 bird species.
• Lipantitlán State Historic Site — 24 mi
  Five undeveloped acres on the Nueces named for the Lipan Apaches who camped here, where Mexico built an earth-and-rail fort that Texans took early in the Revolution.
• Choke Canyon State Park — 26 mi
  A reservoir state park on the Frio River in two units, built after a 1982 dam, with birds, alligators and fishing on land people have crossed for more than 10,000 years.

More markers nearby

• Gussettville — 3.3 mi
• Town of Dinero — 3.9 mi
• Live Oak County — 7.0 mi
• City of George West — 8.1 mi