The Arcane Texas Fact of the Day took me most of the morning and early afternoon to research, so I hope y'all like it! 😃 Has any Texas military installation been associated with more famous military figures than Fort Clark in Brackettville? Consider these names: General Robert E. Lee: Served as Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in Texas prior to the Civil War. He inspected, stayed at, and commanded elements out of Fort Clark in the late 1850s, leaving behind an original limestone building known as the Lee Officers' Quarters. General George C. Marshall: U.S. Army Chief of Staff during World War II, Secretary of State, and creator of the Marshall Plan. Marshall spent time assigned to Fort Clark during his interwar service prior to his World War II leadership. General George S. Patton Jr.: Stationed at Fort Clark in 1938 as the regimental commander of the 5th U.S. Cavalry. Patton lived in the spacious Staff Officers’ Quarters on post during the twilight years of the horse-mounted cavalry. General Philip Sheridan: Civil War Union hero and later Commanding General of the U.S. Army. Sheridan visited and inspected Fort Clark while overseeing the Department of the Gulf and Department of the Missouri, famously using Fort Clark as the backdrop for his legendary quip about Texas, and later issuing the secret authorization for the Remolino Raid. Lieutenant General James Longstreet: Served as an officer and paymaster for the U.S. Army in Texas during the 1850s prior to becoming one of Robert E. Lee's key Confederate corps commanders. Longstreet was stationed at Fort Clark, resided in the early officers' quarters on post, and routinely traveled between the remote West Texas forts servicing garrison payrolls and conducting frontier duties. General Albert Sidney Johnston: Commander of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in Texas prior to becoming a top Confederate general. Johnston oversaw cavalry operations across the region that frequently routed through and utilized Fort Clark. Major General Joseph E. Johnston: Served in Texas as a top U.S. Army officer and engineer before the Civil War, conducting frontier duties and inspections across western Texas posts, including Fort Clark. General Jonathan M. Wainwright IV: Famous World War II hero of Bataan and Corregidor and Medal of Honor recipient. Before World War II, Wainwright commanded troops at Fort Clark and occupied the post's Commanding Officer's Quarters. General John Bell Hood: Served as a lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry in Texas in the late 1850s and was stationed at Fort Clark. While operating out of Fort Clark and its outlying outposts, Hood engaged in intense frontier combat against Comanche warriors, including the famous Devil's River fight in 1857. Major General Fitzhugh Lee: Nephew of Robert E. Lee and later a major general of Confederate cavalry as well as Governor of Virginia. As a young second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Cavalry during the late 1850s, he served on the Texas frontier stationed at Fort Clark, participating in combat operations against Comanche forces before the Civil War. Colonel Ranald S. Mackenzie: One of the most famous Indian Wars cavalry commanders. Commanding the 4th U.S. Cavalry out of Fort Clark, he launched the famous Remolino Raid into Mexico in 1873 under secret orders from President Grant to end border raids. Major General William R. "Pecos Bill" Shafter: Medal of Honor recipient and later commander of U.S. forces in Cuba during the Spanish-American War. Shafter succeeded Mackenzie at Fort Clark in the late 1870s, commanding the 10th U.S. Cavalry (Buffalo Soldiers) along the Texas border. As I've mentioned in the past, he is the namesake of Shafter, Texas, owing to his investment in the mining industry there. Major General Wesley Merritt: A renowned Union cavalry leader during the Civil War who later commanded the Philippine Expedition during the Spanish-American War. He served as commander at Fort Clark in the 1870s and 1880s. Major General Zenas R. Bliss: Medal of Honor recipient who played a crucial early role in the defense of the Texas frontier. Bliss organized the original detachment of Black Seminole Scouts and later served as commander of the 24th U.S. Infantry headquartered at Fort Clark during the 1870s. Brigadier General John L. Bullis: Led the famed Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts headquartered at Fort Clark from 1873 to 1881. Bullis and his scouts operated out of Fort Clark to secure the frontier, earning four Medals of Honor. Major General Abner Doubleday*: Famed Union general who fired the first Union shot in defense of Fort Sumter during the Civil War. Following the war, Doubleday commanded the 24th U.S. Infantry Regiment—an all-Black Buffalo Soldier unit—which had companies stationed across several remote West Texas outposts, including Fort Clark, during the early 1870s. *Although published historical accounts associate Abner Doubleday with Fort Clark, his principal Texas assignments were Fort McKavett and Fort Brown. As commander of the 24th U.S. Infantry, he oversaw companies stationed at several Texas posts, including Fort Clark. He probably visited Fort Clark in that capacity, but I can't say this with 100% certainty. You may also remember his name because for something like 100 years he was credited as the inventor of baseball. I believe this has been disproved, however. Shown here: Fort Clark circa 1910.

Another example of Carpenter Gothic architecture, perhaps the finest example I know of. This is a 1970 shot of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in New Sweden, Texas, which is northeast of downtown Austin, about half the way to Taylor. The church still looks the same today. It was built in 1921, though the congregation itself dates back to 1876. Carpenter Gothic is a North American architectural style from the mid-to-late 19th century that adapts Gothic Revival details—pointed arches, steep gables, towers or steeples, and vertical emphasis—to modest wooden, light-frame buildings constructed by local carpenters rather than in stone. Photo courtesy the @TxHistComm