Historic Fort Stockton

The army came to Comanche Springs because every road in the region already did. The Handbook of Texas lists the Comanche war trail into Mexico, the upper and lower roads from San Antonio to El Paso, the Butterfield Overland Mail and the San Antonio-Chihuahua Trail, all meeting at the water. Camp Stockton was set up near the springs before the Civil War by companies of the First and Eighth Infantry, abandoned when Texas seceded, held briefly by Confederate troops and left in ruins.

On July 21, 1867, Edward Hatch brought four companies of the Ninth Cavalry, one of the Black regiments formed after the war, and built a larger post half a mile north. For nineteen years its soldiers patrolled, escorted wagons and mail, and scouted, much of it against the Apaches. Troops of the Tenth Cavalry and companies of the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry also served here. The last soldiers left in June 1886.

Of about 35 buildings, four survive: the guardhouse, with a stone in its south wall reading "Erected 1868 by Lieut. J.L. Humfreville, Q M," and three of the eight officers' quarters. Quarters No. 7 is restored to the 1870s, with one room left unplastered to show the adobe. Two barracks and their kitchens were rebuilt from the original plans after excavation, and Barracks 1 holds the visitor center and museum. Even the name is disputed: the Handbook says Lt. Edward Dorsey Stockton, while the Fort Stockton Historical Society honors Commodore Robert F. Stockton.