Fort Stockton was established on the Comanche Trail on March 23, 1859, to protect the San Antonio-San Diego mail route. It was named for Commodore Robert Field Stockton, who lived from 1795 to 1866 and captured California for the United States. It was also a stage stand on the San Diego Line from 1858 to 1861. Federal troops evacuated it during the Civil War, it was reoccupied in July 1867, and it was permanently abandoned on June 30, 1886.