The Fort in Fort Worth - Softcover

Perkins, Clay

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1930566107 ISBN 13: 9781930566101

Publisher: D & F Scott Pub Inc, 2002

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author:

Clay Perkins, M.D., grew up in Fort Worth and cut his teeth on stories of the fort and the soldiers. As a young man, he participated in reenactments at a number of forts in the area. Like most of the officers in the story, he went to West Point, so he knows how to think and act like a soldier. He also went to Israel and worked and studied on a kibbutz for two years, so he knows what it's like to live with danger on a frontier. He then went to medical school at Baylor and, as a diversion from medical studies, went hunting and fishing in archives throughout the country. He knows the challenges of the army doctors and their patients who built Fort Worth. For ten years, Dr. Perkins has worked to bring you this story, a labor of love that will connect you with both past and present.

About this edition

• Publisher: D & F Scott Pub Inc
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1930566107
• ISBN 13: 9781930566101
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 276