Fort Warren was the first settlement and fort in Fannin County. Built in 1836 by Abel Warren, an Indian trader from Arkansas, to protect his trading post, it was constructed of bois d'arc wood and had a two-story guardhouse at all four corners. Kiowa, Tonkawa, Caddo, Wichita, and other Indians came there to trade furs for paint, knives, and trinkets. During the Civil War, Fort Warren served as a transport and food supply center, sending goods to Confederate Indian refugees and troops in Indian Territory and to soldiers in Louisiana and Arkansas.