- Fort Towson
Fort Towson was a
frontier outpost for Frontier ArmyQuartermaster s along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles northeast of the present community ofFort Towson, Oklahoma .It was established May 1824, under Col. Matthew Arbuckle, on the southern edge of
Indian Territory to guard the Spanish border. It was named for Nathaniel Towson, Paymaster General of the Army. Originally called "Cantonment Towson," it was abandoned in 1829, but soon reestablished as "Camp Phoenix" to protect the Choctaw Nation and renamed Fort Towson in 1831. The fort was garrisoned until 1854 when it was turned over to the use of the Choctaw Indian Agency.The Confederacy took over the fort at the beginning of the
American Civil War , but it eventually became the headquarters of Confederate GeneralSamuel B. Maxey . The last remainingConfederate Army troops, commanded by GeneralStand Watie , surrendered to Union forces at Fort Towson onJune 23 ,1865 . The post was abandoned at the close of the Civil War.The location of the fort is an Oklahoma Historic Site and was added to the
National Register of Historic Places (#70000531) in 1970.References
*Morrison, W.B. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Chronicles/v008/v008p226.html "Fort Towson"] , "Chronicles of Oklahoma" 8:2 (June 1930) 226-232 (retrieved August 16, 2006).
*Morrison, W.B. [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/chronicles/v008/v008p249.html#255 "The Location of Cantonment Towsen—A Correction"] . "Chronicles of Oklahoma" 8:3 (September 1930) 255-256 (retrieved August 16, 2006).
External links
* [http://www.okhistory.org/mus-sites/masnum08.htm Fort Towson Historic Site-okhistory.org]
* [http://www.civilwaralbum.com/indian/towson.htm Fort Towson Historic Site-civilwaralbum.com]
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