Site of Fort Stockton

The commodore the stone names had a Texas chapter of his own. In 1845 Robert Field Stockton carried the annexation resolution to Texas, with orders to put in at Galveston, show the American flag and gauge public feeling. He was so eager to bring Texas in and push its limits at Mexico's expense that his superiors warned him against rashness, and he brought President James K. Polk the first news of the Texas response. The town beside the post kept the name Saint Gall until August 13, 1881, when it officially became Fort Stockton.

What the plaque says

Site of Fort Stockton Established on the Comanche Trail March 23, 1859, as a protection to the San Antonio-San Diego mail route. Named in honor of Commodore Robert Field Stockton, 1795-1866, who captured California for the United States. A stage stand on the San Diego Line, 1858-1861. Evacuated by federal troops during the civil war, reoccupied July, 1867. Permanently abandoned June 30, 1886.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Annie Riggs Memorial Museum — steps away
  An 1899 adobe hotel on Main Street that a twice-married frontier woman bought with her gunfighter husband's estate and ran as a boarding house until she died in 1931.
• Comanche Springs — steps away
  Once the sixth largest spring in Texas and a campground on the Comanche Trail to Mexico, pumped dry by 1961 under the rule of capture and now flowing again some winters.
• Historic Fort Stockton — 0.4 mi
  The Ninth Cavalry's post at Comanche Springs from 1867 to 1886, with its 1868 stone guardhouse, three adobe officers' quarters and barracks rebuilt from the original plans.

More markers nearby

• Fort Stockton, C.S.A. — steps away
• O. W. Williams — 0.3 mi
• Site of Comanche Springs — 0.3 mi
• First Telephone Exchange — 0.4 mi