In 1859 old Fort Stockton was founded near Comanche Spring in west Texas to protect emigrants from marauding Indians. And Saturday, 10/17/09, was the day the city of Fort Stockton celebrated the 150th anniversary of the old fort with all sorts of artifacts and reenactments to commemorate the days when the old fort was in business.
Left click on the thumbnails for a pop-up photo.
And it was quite a sight. They had beautiful women, camel corps and Buffalo Soldiers.
They had gunmen, shoot outs and canon blasts.
They had a laundress unit and horsewomen. Check out the side saddle.
Oh, mustn't forget the saloon gals. Look right, sip a sarsaparilla and dance a jig.
The camels were relaxing and munching on hay on Saturday, probably relieved that the trek from Fort Lancaster earlier in the week was over. That, of course, was another reenactment. Way back in the day an experiment was conducted with camels for pack animals in the dry lands of west Texas. But the Civil War came along, the Yankees abandoned the Texas forts, and the camel corps went out of business.
An enterprising woman was operating a period Laundress Unit to demonstrate how the soldiers of the fort kept themselves in clean clothes. The ladies in a laundress unit would scrub clothes on a wash board then hang them in the sun to dry. Hard work, but the pay was $19.50 per month. (Pssssst, that's more than the soldiers made!)
It was an educational and entertaining way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Hey, don't wait so long for the next sesquicentennial celebration.
George, GREAT post and GREAT images that brought back a lot of wonderful memories. THANKS for sharing!
Pvt. Jeff McDonald (retired)
Company A, 1st US Infantry (Memorial)
Historic Fort Stockton, Texas
Posted by: Jeff | October 20, 2009 at 08:12 AM
Jeff, I wish you had been there!
Posted by: Geo | October 20, 2009 at 03:12 PM