Military presence here began with the establishment of Camp Stockton in 1858 by troops of the 1st and 8th Infantry, U.S. Army. Named for Commodore Robert Field Stockton, the first site stood southwest of the present location near the present courthouse and protected travelers and settlers using the many roads and trails sustained by the abundant water of Comanche Springs, where those routes crossed the Comanche War Trail. The U.S. Army withdrew from Texas during the Civil War and abandoned Camp Stockton in 1861, and Confederate troops briefly occupied the site before also withdrawing, leaving little of the first post by war’s end. In July 1867, Colonel Edward Hatch, commander of the 9th Cavalry, re-established Fort Stockton at its present location. Section 3 of an Act of Congress approved on 28 July 1866 authorized two cavalry regiments of "colored" men, and on 21 September 1866 the 9th Cavalry Regiment was activated at Greenville, Louisiana, while the 10th Cavalry Regiment was activated at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Under Colonels Edward Hatch and Benjamin Grierson, the 9th and 10th Cavalry were trained and equipped and began a long history. The 9th Cavalry established its first headquarters at Fort Stockton in July 1867, later joined by the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments and then the 10th Cavalry Regiment; these regiments came to be known as Buffalo Soldiers, a name given by their Indian adversaries in admiration of the buffalo’s strength and stamina. In West Texas, where Comanche and Apache bands displaced from their homelands rejected reservation life and raided widely in small parties, the Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th Cavalry at Fort Stockton took on the duty of pursuing them. White officers commanded the Buffalo Soldier regiments, though most white officers shunned such service, but Colonel Hatch respected his men, and they served him well as they built Fort Stockton and protected Far West Texas. Edward Hatch, born in Bangor, Maine, on December 22, 1832, was educated at Norwich Military Academy in Vermont and did not attend West Point. At the outbreak of the Civil War he volunteered for the Union Army, became colonel of the 2nd Iowa Cavalry Regiment in June 1962, participated in the Grierson Raid around the defenses of Vicksburg, and after the war was selected to organize and train the 9th Cavalry. He died at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, on April 11, 1889, and the town of Hatch, New Mexico, bears his name.