The Fort in Fort Worth (Cross-Timbers Heritage Publishing Company)

You know the city is called Fort Worth, but do you know why? The "fort" in "Fort Worth" was only in existence for a bit more than four years; yet its story, however brief, is incredibly fascinating. In these pages, you will find heroic men and women unknowingly planting the seed of a great modern city while struggling against a hostile culture, an even more hostile climate, and the ever present threat of disease. Half of the people in the fort were sick half the time. Not a few died. You will hear the voices of tragic heroes: Brevet Major Ripley Arnold, the fort's first commander, the irrepressible Second Lieutenant Samuel Starr, all the other commanding officers of the fort, and even some of the generals, soldiers, wives, and children. They were all characters with character. Some still rest on the bluff. The fort was established on June 6, 1849. It was the northernmost post in a line of forts stretching from the Red River to the Rio Grande. Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Dragoons and the 8th U.S. Infantry built the post from trees in the river bottom and patrolled the area up to the Red River, trying to keep Indians and settlers on different sides of the line. The fort was closed in late 1853 as the army had already moved the frontier further west, but the little settlement around the fort continued to grow. This book will bring those days and those people alive. You will not only share in their adventures and their everyday problems, you will gain an appreciation of the sacrifices required to build a nation.