ATTRACTIONS
TAMING THE TEXAS FRONTIER FORT MARTIN SCOTT PLAYED VITAL ROLE IN EARLY FREDERICKSBURG
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n the eastern edge of Fredericksburg and adjacent to the Texas Rangers Heritage Center on the banks of Barons Creek, the first U.S. Army post on the Texas frontier is re-emerging. Fort Martin Scott, on the old Pinta Trail, has a rich history of diverse groups of people that shaped Fredericksburg, Gillespie County, and the Texas Hill Country. Apache and Comanche tribes, Spaniards, early frontiersmen who became known as the Texas Rangers, Anglo settlers, Latter-day Saints, and the U.S. Army have left their footprints.
U.S. Army units arrived in 1848, settling on the Barons Creek site, naming it Camp Houston. This became the first in a string of frontier forts established to help protect Anglos moving west. The camp was renamed Fort Martin Scott in December 1849 after Lt. Col. Martin Scott, who died When Texas became a state in 1845, the Comanche in the Mexican-American War. Infantry units were followed by horse-mounted dragoons, who led remained north of a site that the Rangers are scouting patrols and escorts for the settlers. thought to have used as a camp, on the banks of Barons Creek and the Pinta Trail. In 1850, Indian Agent John Rollins, Army, and Rangers representatives and interpreters met with John O. Meusebach and German settlers a group of chiefs on the banks of the San Saba River established the town of Fredericksburg just west and forged the Fort Martin Scott Treaty of 1850. of this site in 1846. Latter-day Saints (Mormons) started a town called Zodiac east of Fredericksburg Today, the Treaty Stone recognizing the pact is displayed in the fort visitor center. in 1847. With outbreaks of attacks between early settlers and Native Americans, in 1823 a group of frontiersmen was formed to act as “rangers” to protect the citizens, starting what became known as the Texas Rangers.
The Germans, Latter-day Saints, Native Americans and Rangers established a cooperative society, supporting each other. The Latter-day Saints started the first lumber and grist mill and were instrumental in helping build the fort and town. The Germans signed a peace treaty with the Comanche in 1847 allowing trade with them for food and supplies.
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By 1853, the frontier had moved west and so had the Army. Fort Martin Scott became a supply depot and was permanently abandoned by the Army in 1866. But the story of the fort doesn’t end there. In 1870, John Braeutigam bought acreage that included the fort and moved his family into the fort guardhouse, their home for 90 years. He created Braeutigam
Spring&Summer2021
