About 15 minutes from where I work, there are wonderful old remains of an authentic 1850’s Texas fort. And with a name like Fort Phantom Hill, I thought it would be the perfect topic for blog the week after Halloween.
In November of 1851, five companies of the 5th Infantry were dispatched to establish a post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River at a place known as Phantom Hill. It was built to protect the growing number of western settlers and those traveling to the California gold fields from the fierce Comanche. The harsh west Texas conditions made things difficult. Freezing winters, blazing summers, little water or grass to feed the horses, and sparse game. Nearly all supplies had to be transported to the fort from elsewhere. Conditions were so bad, that almost every soldier ever stationed there made at least one visit to the hospital, most often due to poor nutrition. Water on site had such a high mineral content, it was difficult to drink due to the bad taste. Clean water had to be hauled in from a spring four miles away.
One of the few positives at the fort was the fact that relations with the Comanche were amicable. Until 1853. A wagon was attacked in September. A woman by the name of Jane Wilson was taken captive. The driver of the wagon was scalped and left for dead. Jane managed to escape the Comanche and hide until a group of traders found her and escorted her to New Mexico.
As Indian raids increased, the military decided they needed cavalry units patroling the area, not infantry like they had at Fort Phantom Hill. On April 4, 1854 the order was given to abandon the fort. The fort was severly damaged by fire soon after, and it is believed that the garrison who left set the buildings ablaze. Perhaps as a way to repay some of the misery the fort had given them?
All that is left there today are the few stone buildings that had been constructed and several of the stone chimneys.
Commanding Officers’ Quarters
Guardhouse or Jail
Part of Officers’ Row
Hospital and Surgeon’s Quarters
Once the fort closed and the soldiers moved on, the buildings were taken over by the Butterfield Stage and used as a stage stop. Cowboys would shelter in the abandoned buildings during cattle drives. Buffalo hunters roamed the area as well.
There are ghost stories that people have passed down through the generations regarding Fort Phantom. Several regarding the Lady of the Lake, the ghost of a young woman who was killed by her jealous boyfriend, a returning WW II soldier. (A lake was built south of the fort in 1938.) However, tales of strange sightings have been around since the fort’s earliest days.
Magazine (Ammunition Shed)
The true explanation for the name of Fort Phantom Hill is much less spooky. The place got its name because, from a distance, a hill appeared to loom above the landscape. Yet as a man neared on horseback, an extremely gradual slope evened out the ground so that when he arrived, the hill seemed to have disappeared. Hence, the Phantom Hill.
- So do any of you have local legends of ghosts surrounding historical places?
- Have you visited any old ruins that got your imagination spinning? I’d love to hear about them.
- Any interesting historical markers near your hometown that you’ve explored?
Latest posts by Karen Witemeyer (see all)
- Wedding Joy - November 21, 2024
- How Faith Meets Dreams - November 7, 2024
- Giveaways Gallore! - October 17, 2024
Hi, Karen. I live in the DFW area and was raised in East Texas. Thank you for sharing with us about Phantom Hill. I’ve not heard about it, but it is on my list to see the next time we are in the Abilene area. While visiting the Jefferson Hotel in Jefferson, TX, (which reportedly is haunted) one of the guests mentioned that items in their room had been moved during the night. We didn’t experience that, but it ramped up the excitement considerably.
Hi, Jennifer. My husband is from the Dallas area. We travel that way occasionally. I’ve never stayed in the Jefferson Hotel, but it sounds like it might be a little spooky. I’m probably too much of a skeptic to really enjoy the possibilities, but usually “haunted” places are also filled with lots of interesting history. Gotta love that! And a few intriguing tales surrounding the place only add to the ambiance. 🙂
We have several ghost stories that are documented in the book 13 Alabama Ghosts. One involves an old church in Tuscaloosa where I live and another more famous one, the face in the courthouse window in Carrollton, Alabama. If you drive by there you can see it. No matter how much they try to clean and scrub that window, the face remains!
Fascinating, Gail! I don’t get to Alabama very often, but now I’m intrigued to see that face in the courthouse window!
Near where I grew up (not far from the ruins of Fort Ripley, another old military fort from the 1850’s-1870’s), on a bluff overlooking the town of Little Falls and the Mississippi River, is the grave of the Minnesota Ojibwe Chief Hole-in-the-Day the Elder. Legend has it, so long as no one desecrates his grave, Little Falls will be spared from tornadoes and other extreme weather.
To my knowledge, no tornadoes have ever touched down in town. However, when they built a highway bypass beneath the bluff, generally considered to have disturbed the grave, then the area had the flood of 1972 (by far the worst flood my dad can remember). Which just goes to show, don’t mess with Hole-in-the-Day’s grave.
Ha! What a great story, Rachael. 🙂 And what an interesting name. I wonder how it originated. Hole-in-the-Day. Hmm…may have to look that one up.
Interesting history of the old fort! My grandmother grew up near Abilene, and said the weather was just as you described. Must have been a hard place to be stationed as a soldier back then.
I live 3 miles from an old lumber mill town called Port Gamble, WA, built in 1853 by a group who came from Maine. Many of the buildings still remain. From the old store, you can look up towards the large house of the former mill manager, the Walker-Ames house, which faces out towards the old mill site and the bay. It’s been said by many that they’ve seen a woman and children looking out the upstairs window towards the mill, dressed in old-fashioned clothes. Looking for someone to come home perhaps? A film company using the house last year sited strange happenings, especially in the basement. The old cemetery sits on a hill looking out over the water, dating back to the 1850’s; it has graves from a lot of mill workers, sailors, soldiers and sadly children. There have been so many strange encounters in the town that they started annual ghost walks. Spooky place at night!
Love your books by the way. 🙂
Hi, Karen! (Great name, btw.) 🙂
That mill sounds like a fabulous historical landmark. I’d love to take a tour sometime. Not at night, though. And I’d make a point to avoid the basement. I love that most of the original buildings are still intact. Would definitely be worth a tour.
Fascinating post, Karen!
I live near the small town of McDonough, GA, and we have lots of “ghost stories” about some of the older buildings and homes around the town square. Several times a year there are ghost tours that are led around the square. My sister and I have talked about participating—but since they’re at night I’d probably trip and fall or turn my ankle stepping off a curb, LOL. My middle name is NOT “grace”. 😉