View of Fort Worth, 1849 (CEC)

Fort Worth, Texas, 1849

When US Dragoons arrived to establish Fort Worth on the bluffs overlooking the Trinity River, they followed a standard layout for the post.  Enlisted men and their non-commissioned officer occupied a line of barracks on one side of the parade ground while their officers lived in accommodations on the opposite side.  The adjutant’s office–the nerve center of the post–occupied a third side near the commanding officer’s quarters.  The horses and mules stabled near the enlisted men.  This watercolor captures the wide open spaces these troops where these troops established the federal presence on the Texas frontier.