A Trip in Time: Exploring the Great Frontier, Fort McKavett

In January of 1977, I remember watching a docudrama
mini-series with my dad called “Ten Who
Dared.” Produced by BBC in association with Time-Life films and narrated by
Anthony Quinn, it re-enacted 10 of the most challenging explorations of
recorded history.

The first episode recreated the voyage of Christopher
Columbus, while three others included Captain James Cook’s voyage around the
world and his charting of vast unexplored areas of the Pacific; Mary Kingsley,
a Victorian English woman who journeyed down the Ogowe and Rembwe rivers in
Africa; and Roald Amundsen’s successful attempt to reach the South Pole in
1911.

What stood out to me the most is the indomitable drive of the
human spirit to risk everything to explore and conquer new frontiers. This was
not only true of the rare individuals portrayed in Ten Who Dared but also of the many people who risked life and limb
and endured great hardship while expanding the western American frontier in the
1800s.

[image error]A photograph of Fort McKavett taken circa 1896.



[image error]Diagram of Fort McKavett, circa 1876

This was driven home to me during a recent visit to Fort
McKavett in west Texas. Originally known as “Camp on the San Saba” (river),
Fort McKavett was built in March 1852 and was renamed later that same year
after Captain Henry McKavett of the 8th Infantry. The initial rough
installation of canvas tents was gradually replaced with sturdy buildings
constructed from local limestone quarried by hand near the property. Even the
mortar had to be made from local materials; the old lime kiln is still in
evidence near the bottom of the hill the fort occupies. All soldiers were
responsible for building their own barracks, as well as a hospital, kitchens,
quartermaster’s storehouse, schoolhouse, and multiple officer’s quarters.

[image error]Top photo, exterior of officer’s quarters at Fort McKavett.
Small photo top left: the officer’s living quarters,
Small photo top right: the officer’s parlor,
Small photo bottom right: typical children’s toys of the period displayed in the officer’s home,
Small photo bottom left: the dining room in the officer’s quarters.

The settlers needed a military garrison for their safety and security.
When the first Spanish missionaries arrived in the San Saba valley in 1753,
they found countless thousands of Lipan Apache, Commanche, Tonkawa, Wichita,
and Yojuane Indians, who were not happy to see them.

[image error]Soldiers quarried stone by hand to build Fort McKavett

Why was there such a large Native American population in an
area of oppressive heat, scant water, and hostile weather? The Edwards Plateau,
a huge region in central Texas, is the home of a special kind of quartz mineral
called Edwards chert, or flint. This stone was so highly prized by the natives
for tools and arrowheads that it was traded between tribes as far away as 600
miles, and they were fiercely protective of this resource.

[image error]A view of Fort McKavett across the parade grounds to the ruins of Barracks Number Three.

Ninety-nine years would pass between the arrival of the
Spaniards in 1753 and an American military commitment to the region represented
by the establishment of Fort McKavett in 1852, which would offer protection to
westward-bound travelers and residents of the area.

[image error]Left: Exterior view of Barracks Number Four, Right: Interior view of Barracks Number Four at Fort McKavett

At Fort McKavett, every soldier and resident pulled their own
weight. Nothing was handed to them, and there were no luxuries. Brutally hot
summers of drought followed winters and springs that could be fraught with
flash floods, while the settlers endured the constant danger of coyotes,
cougars, and panthers, and abundant poisonous snakes and scorpions. There was
no electricity, no indoor plumbing, no TV or radio, no telephone, no hot
showers. The solders worked from 6 in the morning until lights-out at 9:15 at night.
Their duties included quarrying limestone, making mortar, chopping wood,
growing vegetable gardens, and hunting food, as well as offering safe passage
to travelers and guarding the locals against Indian attack.

A soldier’s monthly wage didn’t go far: a Private earned $13 a
month, and the commanding officer a mere ten dollars more. Fully half of a
soldier’s wage went to pay for laundry services performed by the wives of
senior enlisted men. Indeed, the only provision for a woman to be with her
husband at his posting was to earn her own keep. Laundresses were paid ten to
twelve dollars per month, plus room and board, and were paid additional money
by the soldiers for each piece of clothing they laundered.

[image error]Photo of a display at Fort McKavett illustrating the role of laundresses at the fort.

If we lived in that era, after paying for our laundry and
other expenses, we would have only about $6.50 left for the whole month. This
is a good situation for us to consider today. What would you spend your
hard-earned money on? Note paper and envelopes cost $1.20 but offered the only
means to keep in touch with distant family and friends, playing cards cost 40¢
per pack, a jar of pickles 75¢, books 25¢ each, potatoes 50¢ each, chocolate 75¢,
and beer 65¢ per bottle. Enlisted men did extra manual labor whenever possible
to earn extra money and improve their financial station in life, and they were
also encouraged to learn a skilled trade. Even learning to play an instrument
made a difference: both black and white enlisted men could earn 50% more pay each
month by joining in the Fort McKavett band.

[image error]Schoolhouse exterior and interior at Fort McKavett.

It seems so foreign to folks living in this day and age—when
comforts are abundant and expected—to think of people willingly traveling by
foot, horse, or wagon hundreds or thousands of miles from loved ones to scratch
out an existence in untamed parts of the world, the wild frontier. Why did so
many succumb to the draw of the West? It was the fact that any man or woman
could be successful if they were willing to show up and work hard. No matter how
humble or troubled one’s origins, the opportunity to imagine something better
and then work hard to make that something come true was available to all.
Self-sacrifice, a strong work ethic, patience, and the honor of one’s word and
good name were the recipe for success. And although some feel those values are
old-fashioned and unnecessary in our digital age, we would do well to
re-introduce such concepts to the next generation.

[image error]A collection of common items that might have been owned by an army family during the late 1800s at Fort McKavett, including corn husk dolls, frozen Charlotte dolls, toy pistols, chapter books, a child’s shoe, clay marbles, a wooden top, a pocket knife, and more.

In part 2, A Trip in
Time: Exploring the Great Frontier,
the Westward Railroad, we’ll visit the Railroad Museum in San Angelo, Texas,
and learn a little about the role the railroad played in the great westward
expansion of the frontier.

References:

Abundant thanks to Kevin Malcom, our knowledgeable and
hospitable tour guide at Ft. McKavett, and to Clifford R. Caldwell, author of Fort McKavett and Tales of Menard County
ca. 2012.

http://www.thc.texas.gov/historic-sites/fort-mckavett-state-historic-site

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