Fort Wall

The second Fort Smith, built from 1838 to 1871, was part of a line of forts from Minnesota to Louisiana intended to separate territory occupied by Native American tribes from land settled by American citizens. For protection in the event of an attack, military engineers called for a fort with five bastions and a massive stone wall twelve feet high and two feet thick. Fort Smith represented the last of a dying breed, because from the 1840s on virtually all frontier forts were built without walls, as the cost of constructing a wall came to be considered too great compared with the benefit of fortified defense. The walls remained in place throughout the federal court era from 1872 to 1897, providing security for proceedings and the executions that took place, and today the original wall's location is outlined by a continuous band of stones.

Moffett, Oklahoma · United States