Fort Richardson was a United States Army installation located in present-day Jacksboro, Texas. Named in honor of Union General Israel B. Richardson, who died in the Battle of Antietam during the American Civil War, it was active from 1867 to 1878. Today, the site, with a few surviving buildings, is called Fort Richardson State Park, Historic Site and Lost Creek Reservoir State Trailway. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963 for its role in securing the state's northern frontier in the post-Civil War era. History As much as any frontier army installation, Fort Richardson facilitated white immigration and settlement in north-central Texas. It was part of a system of forts along the Texas frontier to protect and encourage settlement in north-central and West Texas. Others included Forts Griffin, Concho, Belknap, Chadbourne, Stockton, Davis, McKavett, Clark, McIntosh, Inge, and Phantom Hill in Texas, and Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Some "subposts or intermediate stations" include Bothwick's Station on Salt Creek between Fort Richardson and Fort Belknap, Camp Wichita near Buffalo Springs between Fort Richardson and Red River Station, and Mountain Pass between Fort Concho and Fort Griffin. The original site selection was ordered for a location near Buffalo Springs in Clay County, about north of Fort Richardson. The location proved untenable and unfit for a semipermanent installation. The area lacked timber and adequate water resources, and the U.S. considered it "hostile" territory, with Native Americans often raiding the area. In 1862, an entire town, Henrietta, northwest of Buffalo Springs, was abandoned due to lack of security. As a result, the U.S. 6th Cavalry Regiment moved south to the present location of Fort Richardson. In 1867, construction began by the 6th Cavalry on the site along "Lost Creek, a small tributary of the West Fork of the Trinity River", at a cost of $800,000, and occupied on 26 November. It became the anchor of the frontier fort system, and the last army outpost in North Texas along the military road to Fort Sill. "Originally a five-company post, it was expanded...to accommodate ten or more companies" so that in 1872, with a population of 666 officers and men, it was listed as the largest U.S. Army installation in the United States. Old-time cowboy author Frank H. Maynard spent time at Fort Richardson in 1872 when he had come to Jacksboro on a cattle drive. Units that occupied the fort included the 6th