This important Indian Wars fort was active from 1867 to 1886. It was strategically placed at Comanche Springs to protect the San Antonio to El Paso mail, freight wagons, cattle drives, and immigrants. The United States Army was charged by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to stop devastating raids into Mexico by Apache, Comanche, and Kiowa tribes, who traveled the infamous Comanche War Trail, which coursed south by this site. At its completion, the fort comprised over thirty buildings, including five enlisted men's barracks placed on a north-south line. Kitchens were built behind the barracks, as well as two stables that held 100 horses each, and the one newly constructed in 1868 was described by a reporter as "The finest in the state."