Foolin' round

Took a little down time the last few days.  Not that we needed it, more just because we could and some opportunities for some fun presented themselves.

Spring has officially sprung (meaning we've had our first, but not last, 90^o day.  The Bluebonnets are in full bloom.

And the Oryx Males are out chasing the Females.

Don't know if he caught her.  None of my business.

Our winemaker friends celebrated their 20th year in the winery business.  That makes them, while not the oldest winery in Texas, at least in the oldest 15.  I think their TABC license serial is 13.  In any case, we went over there Saturday to celebrate with them.  Their kids and grand kids came down from various locales to celebrate also.  Lots of fun.  And we discovered a future star.

This is their grandson. He's 13. While this, admittedly not professionally filmed video taken by his mother, was not taken this past weekend, it does demonstrate that he's got talent. We were impressed.

Last Thursday, Mrs J and I took April's Road Trip.  (It seems that one a month is just right.) This one, again, was to one of the Mid-1800's Texas Forts.

The dark line of Forts, in the above picture, ran from the Red River down to the Nueces River and then to the Rio Grande and served as protective screen for the more settled eastern portion of Texas.  They were built about 50 miles apart or a couple of days travel via horse.  Towns tended to be built about 20 miles apart, so relatively close (a day or so away) from a Fort.

The map above was pretty well completed by the mid 1850's.

This road trip took us to Fort McKavett which is about 25 miles north of Junction, which is about 45 miles west of "The Burg", where Fort Martin Scott is located.

As might be expected, I've spent quite a bit of time on I-10 (75MPH starting at the nearest entrance to me, 80MPH within about 10 miles of that all the way to El Paso. Got to Love Texas Highways).

The byways aren't so bad either! Saw a total of 2 vehicles on this road in the 25 miles between the Fort and I-10,  coming and going. 

So, I had seen signs for Fort McKavett several times, yet hadn't known anything about it.  On the last trip out west (Big Bend for a Texas Whiskey tasting), I resolved to rectify that lack of knowledge.  Unfortunately, cell service is not all that spiffy out that way (I wasn't driving), so couldn't do the research on the fly and promptly forgot.

But, Mrs J suggested another road trip and mentioned that she'd found the Fort at Mason fascinating and weren't there others nearby?.

So...DuckDuckGo came back with an interesting synopsis of the history of Fort McKavett.  I found the linkage to Civil War POWs interesting, and dug a little deeper.

Well turns out that in February of 1861, Texas decided to secede.  General David Twiggs was the Commander of Federal troops in Texas.  He was from Georgia.  After negotiations, He surrendered to the Texans and his Federal troops were ordered to move from their bases to Matagordo bay (near Corpus Christi) and evacuate via ship.  Said movement was supposed to be completed by May 1.

General Twiggs gave the order to march to San Antonio.  Which the 300 or so troops at Ft Bliss, Ft Davis and Ft Quidman did.  On Foot.

According to Google earth, that red line is 471 miles.  Given the terrain, they most likely would have been closer to the yellow line (now I-10) which would make it closer to 550.

 But as they got closer to San Antonio, the Confederates considered them to be a hostile force and organized about 1800 soldiers to defend against them.  On May 8, the Federals arrived at Adams Hill just west of San Antonio, (3 miles as the crow flies from the parade field at Lackland and, interestingly .4 miles from Little Juvat's house when he was stationed in San Antonio.) and encamped for the night.  The next morning, surrounded by Confederates, they surrendered.  This was the "battle" of Adams Hill.  Something I'd never heard about in my Texas History Classes or I would have sought it out on a visit to Little Juvat's place.

An interesting side note for Sarge, one of the now POW's was Lt Zenas Randolph Bliss.  A native of Rhode Island, he would later be paroled, make his way home and rejoin the Army and during the battle of Fredericksburg (VA not TX) perform gallantly and be awarded the Medal of Honor.

But the other poor schmoes had to walk back to Ft McKavett and other posts in the vicinity which had become POW camps.  So, another 250 miles or so.  Apparently, they were treated comparatively well.

Unlike Ft Mason and most of the other Federal Forts in the area, after the war, Ft McKavett was reactivated and kept active until about 1890.  Additionally, there was little civilian growth in the area surrounding the fort, so a city didn't grow up over the fort thereby preserving it somewhat.

So,  after an exhilarating  drive up to the Fort, Mrs J and I got out and started our walkabout with the old Hospital building  (now the park headquarters and museum) as the first stop.

We met the Texas Parks Service attendant who was also the park historian and a nice lady.  Paid our $4, asked her what the "must see's" were (barracks, morgue, officer's quarters), and began to peruse the exhibits in the small museum.

Hospital is the dark roofed building in the top left.  CO's house is bottom left, Enlisted barracks are the long buildings in the top right.

 Properly oriented, we meandered a bit and read a bit of history.

Had known that the Black Soldiers had been assigned out at Ft Davis because of the visit out there a few years ago, but did not put 2 and 2 together to figure out that they were probably elsewhere also.

However, the exhibits lead me to believe that McKavett was one of the few posts where both White and Black soldiers were assigned at the same time.  Indications were that, as one might suspect, at times there were "issues", but much less than was expected at the time.

Period specific weaponry.

Exited the Hospital/HQ to visit the facilities before wandering and came upon the Morgue.

The two door left building is the enlisted and officer "Sinks".  What a great name for an Outhouse.  The building on the right is the morgue.  Nothing much to see there, other than its close proximity to the hospital and as a reminder of the realities of frontier life.

As we begin the walkabout, we Air Force types were quickly able to deduce why the Fort is located where it was.  "See 'em coming" distances were excellent.

A quick glance across the Parade field at the restored Enlisted Barracks and Old Headquarters building

Enlisted barracks #1 Center and #2 (rubble on the right).  The Bakery is the white building on the right in the distance.

NCO quarters in Barracks #4.  Sarge, if you think your back hurts now...

Enlisted quarters.

Took me a bit to figure out what this was.  Any Guesses?

Then it was out to check on the company grade housing.  The ruins in the center are the CO's house, destroyed in a fire in the 1890's.

Of the quarters we were able to look at in detail (Field Grade and CO quarters were in ruins), we both thought the Company Grade at least was livable.  We had certainly lived in smaller quarters.

Bedroom

Living Room

Dining room.  Door behind the table lead to an outside kitchen (keeps the house cooler).

Wives and Families were not prohibited, but not encouraged.  It was not only a difficult, dangerous life, but the realities of the Army at the time, meant that quarters were assigned by rank.  If a higher ranking person was assigned, everybody with less rank had to move to the next lowest quarters until the person at the bottom had to find a place for his family to live.

The civilian community around the fort was known as "Scabtown", and wasn't a desirable place to raise your family.

Anybody who's served in the Military knows exactly what this sign is saying.

Next stop was Lieutenants quarters.  If Company and Field grade families were discouraged, Lieutenants were highly encouraged to  not  bring their families.  These quarters were two bedrooms with a common room between to share.

 Not unlike some of the BOQ rooms I lived in as a Lieutenant.  A family could be brought with you, but they'd be sharing the one bedroom with you and the common room with another Lieutenant who could be either single or with a family of his own.  As I said, HIGHLY encouraged.

I'm not sure what the placement of this cannon was intended to do, but it was right outside the door of the Lieutenant quarters we visited.  Pour l'encouragement des autres I suppose.

I'd say about a 3 inch muzzle.  Could cause some heartburn in the hands of a crossed wife!

Walked up to the CO's house.  Rank sure had it's privileges.  8-10 rooms with front and back two story porches and a basement.  Separate kitchen behind with a wash facility attached.  Not bad living in the late 1800's.  The Field Grade quarters are to the right of this pictures, not much to see other than a pile of rubble.  Given the size of what walls were standing, I'd say, as expected, bigger than company housing, smaller than the CO's.

Took us a couple of hours to wander around.  Made our way back to the hospital, asked a couple of questions of the lady behind the desk and made our way out to the car.  Heading back, I was feeling all "historical", so when I saw a Historical marker 1 Mile sign, decided I'd stop.

Thought it summed up life in the mid to late 1800's pretty well.  Not sure if some of the younger generations would be up to it.

On a personal note, Mrs J is having a "procedure" done this afternoon.  Nothing horribly serious, but one never knows. Responding to comments might be at the whim of the hospital wireless.  But, if you've got a second and can put in a word with the big guy, I'd appreciate it.  Thanks.