After Texas became the twenty-eighth state in 1845, emigrants from Europe and the Eastern United States continued settling in areas inhabited by Indian tribes, often provoking hostility and violence. To pacify the frontier and protect new communities, the United States Army built a line of forts along the Texas frontier from Fort Worth south and west to Fort Duncan at Eagle Pass on the Rio Grande River. Near Fredericksburg, the Army established Fort Martin Scott in December, 1848, as the fifth post built in Texas. Intended as a temporary frontier post, it provided security for travelers for several years because Fredericksburg was the last place for supplies between San Antonio and El Paso. By 1853, settlement had extended farther west, and only a few soldiers were needed there to maintain it as a supply depot. By the end of that year, the Army decommissioned and abandoned the fort. During the five years between 1848 and 1853, the fort and its inhabitants significantly affected the social and economic life of Fredericksburg and the surrounding region.