|
Lieutenant R.G. Carter of the 6th U.S. Cavalry gives a detailed description of the layout of the military post at Jacksboro in Thomas F. Horton's History of Jack County.
Jacksboro was first occupied by our troops (6th U.S. Cavalry) after the Civil War and commanded by Major and Brevet Colonel S.H. Starr who was familiarly known throughout the army as "Paddy" Starr.
Samuel H. "Paddy" Starr
He had his headquarters in a tent at the southwest corner of the square surrounded by a stockade. At that period there were only two tumbled-down old buildings on the north side of the square, one of which was occupied by a grocery (saloon) in the rear of which was a stone building used as a suttler's store. A stuccoed concrete building stood on the southeast corner of the square, an old frame building on the northwest corner, a dilapidated raw-hide house on the west side used as a court house, and a dozen or more log houses scattered around the edge of the town. There was a rock building which stood on the south side of the square which had been originally used as a store below and a Masonic Lodge on the second floor. It was converted into a commissary store house for the command. There was a rude stone building south of the town used as a jail not far from the creek and that was used as a quartermaster's depot of supplies. These troops were first quartered in "A" tents, some of them pitched on the square, one company about the southeast corner of the square and the other in the rear of the west side of the square. The cavalry stables stood on the south side of the square running south, the only other building on that side being the two-story stone structure which stood till 1886, replaced by a new building. This was all before Fort Richardson was built in 1867. Two or three log houses had been built on the square and then it was determined to house all of the command for the winter. Chopping parties were sent out and five sets of quarters were put up They were 14 x 20 feet in size, seven feet high, six huts for each troop. Three companies having joined they stood in the middle of the square facing the south and were originated and built by soldiers' labor.
|