Lt. Henry O. Flipper and Buffalo Soldier Historic Sites

Lt. Henry O. Flipper

Lt. Henry Ossian Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point spent much of his life and career in our Texas Mountain Trail region.


African-American soldiers are important to our nation's and our region's history.  The term "buffalo soldiers" has come to mean the African American soldiers who served in the Army between the Civil War and World War I.  Buffalo soldiers were often stationed--and served bravely--at the leading edge of the western frontier.

While stationed at Fort Davis, Flipper endured a humiliating court-martial in 1882, which was driven by racism.  Flipper always maintained his innocence, and indeed, he was fully exonerated 100 years later with a full pardon by President Clinton.

After his court-martial and discharge from the Army, Flipper worked at a mining engineer, surveyor, and translator.  He lived for many years in El Paso,

Read more about his life here (on our Texas Mountain Trail site) and here (on the Fort Davis National Historic Site).  Click here to read about Flipper's life in El Paso.

Click here to read about Buffalo Soldier historical sites in our Texas Mountain Trail region.  A few are pictured below:

Fort Davis National Historic Site

Post Park, south of Marathon

Gate at historic El Paso Concordia Cemetery
honoring Buffalo Soldiers

Wheels for Meals!

The folks at Wheels for Meals and the Jeff Davis Food Pantry pointed us to a neat interview with this (great) bike ride's founder, Margaret O'Connell, and we wanted to share some excerpts with you.  This is a GREAT ride, for a GREAT cause on some of the most scenic roads you'll find anywhere!  (Read the entire interview posted on wheelbrothers.com site last year, here!)  Please note:  This year's ride is October 5!

What was the motivation behind starting the tour and who benefits from it?
I have personally participated in many charity bike rides and saw the power they have to not only raise money, but to raise awareness. When I moved to Fort Davis, I quickly realized the the Pantry was perhaps the single most crucial nonprofit in JDCty, because without the supplemental food it provides, children would not do well in school, families would suffer. Nearly 20% of the JDC population receives supplemental and school lunch foods from the Pantry.
How have they been able to utilize the funds in the past?
Funds raised through the WfM event make up almost 1/2 of the Pantry’s annual budget, paying for tons of foods and paying for operations of the building facilities to ensure our doors stay open.

Logistically, can you give us an idea how many volunteers, finances, and planning it takes to put on this event?
We have over 40 volunteers providing support at two pit stops and lunch stop, driving SAG vehicles, and information at the registration. The Riders’ $50 registration fee covers the costs of the t-shirts, pit stop snacks and drinks. We have nearly 30 sponsors this year donating dollars and in-kind goods to support the ride. Most of the sponsors donatipons and ALL of the riders’ fund raising monies go directly to services. Even all the the food and beverages at the post-ride cookout are donated by sponsors and our board members.
What was the most rewarding experience throughout the years hosting this event?
Hearing the positive comments from our riders and volunteers about the quality of the ride: the beauty of the scenery, the enthusiasm of the volunteers, the quality of the pit stops and qauntity of snacks, the good and rewarding feelings the riders and volunteers have about their constributions to helping the Pantry’s consumers.

Want to learn more?  Want to ride?  Click here to learn more specifics about the ride.  Click here to learn more about the Food Pantry! 

Junior Ranger Day, Fort Davis National Historic Site

On July 4th, the Fort Davis National Historic Site had a Junior Ranger Day with lots of activities for kids to learn about our history.  There was a vintage baseball game (we covered this a few days ago, page down to see the photos), children's games and a cavalry demonstration.  Both soldier and horse were in full historical gear and the volunteer patiently answered questions and told about the life of a soldier in the West.  As you can see the kids had a great time!

Want to attend future Junior Ranger Days?  Check our events calendar at www.texasmountaintrail.com and note these dates, from 10 am to noon:

Friday, July 19 – Children’s Frontier Activities

Saturday, July 27- Play 1880’s Baseball & Kids’ Games

Friday, August 2 – In the Army Now

All the kids received a Fort Davis National
Historic Site coloring book and
Junior Ranger patch!

Perfect place for a picnic--Post Park!

Just five miles south of Marathon (follow the signs to "County Park") is a great little place that's been a resting place for centuries, Post Park!  We know the Apache and Comanche used the spring here as an oasis from the desert heat.  The Buffalo Soliders used the area for their Camp Pena Colorado in the late 1800s.  The community of Marathon and visitors use the park for fishing, picnicking and birdwatching.  Read the history here. Consider yourself invited!

Firing a Civil War Ordnance--Fort Davis National Historic Site

Spring Break at Fort Davis National Historic Site

Every day during Spring Break, March 9-16, there will be living history soldiers and ladies present to add to your visit and illuminate the history of Fort Davis National Historic Site.  The site will be open from 8-5 and there will be programs twice a day at 10:30 and 2 on various topics, including Baseball in the 1880s, a Parasol Walk of Officers Row,  Army Medicine and more! 

Visit the Fort and have a great time!

What You Hear at the Fort

When you visit the wonderful Fort Davis National Historic Site, you'll hear the bugle calls.  The bugle was used to signal to the soldiers as to the work of the day...from meal times, to work times, to school for the children at the fort, to lights out at night.  It takes almost no imagination to put yourself back to the 1870s and 1880s when the Fort was full of soldiers.

We wanted to share some of that experience with all of you, with the gracious help of the Fort Davis National Historic Site interpretive staff.

We've organized more videos to take you through a Morning at the Fort.  Click here to experience it!

Consider yourself invited to watch all our videos about the Texas Mountain Trail region!

Concordia Cemetery, Buffalo Soldier resting place

El Paso is a city of surprising charm, and a diligent community of Texas heritage champions make it a wonderful city for discovering our past.  Take note of the Buffalo Soldier section of Concordia Cemetery.


Don't know about Buffalo Soldiers? Read this from our Texas Mountain Trail website:

"Buffalo Soldiers, a name the Plains Indians gave to the African American cavalry regiments serving the frontier after the Civil War, represent the genesis of the long struggle to integrate both the U.S. military and a society moving towards a more democratic union. Made up of both volunteers and draftees, the cavalry and infantry regiments-two out of four segregated African American regiments authorized by Congress-fought in the Indian wars, battling the likes of Apache, Comanche, and Sioux warriors.

Despite their courage and valor on the battlefield, Buffalo Soldiers received only moderately better treatment by the Anglo society than the Native Americans they were conscripted to fight against. Once the Indian Wars ended, Buffalo Soldiers continued to serve the military by fighting on several fronts, yet they suffered the afflictions of segregation along with the rest of the state's African American community. Although the two cavalry units were eventually disbanded, the remaining regiments continued fighting for the country well into World War ll. The final segregated regiment was disbanded in 1951 and its soldiers were integrated into units serving in Korea. Today, Buffalo Soldiers reside among the list of our most venerated warrior veterans and their heritage is celebrated with reenactments, literary accounts of their exploits, and in film.

Buffalo Soldier re-enactors at a TWPD event

Pictured above is the gate to the Buffalo Soldier Memorial in this special place.   Visitation information is here.

Click HERE to see "before" and "after" photos of this portion of the cemetery....its many volunteers have done a wonderful job honoring early African American soldiers in the region. 

Concordia Cemetery volunteers corralled the resources of many individuals and groups to honor the souls who contributed to the development of the region, including this group.



Travel Spotlight:  Join our Texas Mountain Trail non-profit organization and get the inside scoop on traveling Far West Texas!  We're offering lots of great benefits too.  To learn more and to join, click here!   

Visit the Fort by Lantern Light, Evening Tours at Fort Davis, October 6

Our friends at Fort Davis National Historic Site host an annual evening event which projects visitors back in time.  They sent us the following about their October 6 evening tours:

"Over 40 living history reenactors will perform vignettes based on historical events that took place at Fort Davis when it was an active military post (1854-1891). Visit the Fort after hours and by lantern light at this once-a-year event! Fun-filled guided tours begin at 6:00 p.m. and are staggered every half hour; the last tour begins at 8:30 p.m. Wear comfortable walking shoes to walk about a mile on this tour that lasts just over one hour.
This year, the Presidential Election of 1884 will be featured. Find out who won the election and meet some of the characters who lived at historic Fort Davis. Meet the spunky officer's servant, Mrs. Murphy, as she banters humorously while serving warm cider and cookies to guests. Watch a delirious sergeant on sick call at the post hospital in 1887 chiding the capable post surgeon. Encounter officers' wives of the 10th Cavalry in 1885 discussing the regiment's upcoming move to Arizona.

It's a night to remember! It's not to be missed! Also see some of the new medical exhibits that the National Park Service installed recently in the 1876 post hospital.
For those with walking issues, we suggest you sign up for an early tour while it is still daylight. For those wanting to see the Fort after dark by lantern light, we suggest one of the later tours."

Sounds like fun!  For more details, including a phone call for questions about this free program (although they'd gladly accept donations!), click here.

Life of a Frontier Soldier

There's hardly a better place in all the West to imagine the life of a frontier soldier.  Fort Davis National Historic Site makes this possible.  You can tour the barracks and hospital, officers' homes, see kitchens and even march on the parade grounds.  Soldiers serving at Fort Davis were Buffalo Soldiers, African Americans who contributed greatly to the development of the West.  Read more about them here.

You can see a series of short videos chronicling a day in the life of a soldier here. 

Thanks to the Texas Historical Commission for the photos in today's post!

Walk the original road!

There's an original stretch of the historic San Antonio-El Paso Road at Fort Davis National Historic Site.  You can walk it, along the same path mail coaches, emigrants, freighters and soldiers traveled in the late 1800s.  Read more about it here!

One of our favorite wintertime landscapes, on a road mostly locals know

There's a road heading south from Marathon you really need to take...either by bicycle, motorcycle or car.  A 10 mile round trip offers a great adventure--history, geology, wildlife and nature--all packed into a short trip.  On a brisk winter day, we took this photo, looking north on our way back to town.  Lovely, right?

The road is known as the "Ride to the Post Heritage Bike Ride," on our website, but is ready for anyone (even non-cyclists!) to enjoy.  Consider all it offers:
The Road to the Post extends south on Avenue D in Marathon from US Highway 90 and the Union Pacific Railroad, and has an amazing history!

• Your route follows one fork of the Comanche War or Indian Trails into Mexico—there was a skirmish on the ridge above Post Park in 1855 between Buffalo Soldiers, Texas Rangers and Indians in 1855!
• It also generally follows the original Ore Roads to haul the ores (lead, zinc and silver) from the smelter at Boquillas in Mexico in 1895-1906, as well as quicksilver from the Terlingua, Study Butte and the Mariscal mines in south Brewster County to the railroad in Marathon as late as 1937!
• The route takes you near the historic cemetery and the site of an influenza tent hospital from the 1918 epidemic!
• The area known as Post Park was the site of a military encampment, farms, and ranches. Today it is the place for county-wide dance parties, fishing and birdwatching!
• The Gage Gardens and Post Park are both sites on the new Far West Texas Wildlife Trail.

Want to learn more?  Visit our "Ride to the Post" webpage for a link to a complete history, by Marathon resident Travis Roberts, PLUS a slideshow of the route!

Honoring the Buffalo Soldiers, Concordia Cemetery in El Paso

One of the best stories and most distinguished histories coming out of our region is that of the Buffalo Solider. 
Many visitors to our region appreciate Fort Davis National Historic Site's connection to Buffalo Soldiers.  Yet our history goes beyond Fort Davis.

Enthusiastic volunteers keep the legacy of the Buffalo Soldiers alive elsewhere.  For example, different groups of volunteers have worked together in El Paso to honor the soldiers.  One of the best places to see their work is in Concordia Cemetery in the shadow of the Franklin Mountains in the center of the city.  Click here to see the website of the Buffalo Soldiers, Donnie W. Brown Chapter, 9th & 10th (Horse) Cavalry Association of El Paso, Texas.


Here's a quote from their website:  "When the Plains Indians first saw the men of the 10th Cavalry wearing with their dark skins, curly hair and wearing fur overcoats they referred to them as "Buffalo Soldiers." The nickname "Buffalo Soldiers" was originally given to the 10th Cavalry by Cheyenne warriors out of respect for their fierce fighting in 1867. The Cheyenne Native American term used was actually "Wild Buffaloes", which was translated to "Buffalo Soldiers." In time, all African American Soldiers became known as "Buffalo Soldiers." Despite second-class treatment these soldiers made up first-rate regiments of the highest caliber and had the lowest desertion rate in the Army."
 
True West magazine named Concordia Cemetery one of the "Best Preserved Gravesites in the West," and that's because of the countless hours put in by volunteers to preserve the cemetery and interpret the stories of the people of El Paso.  An entire section of the cemetery is dedicated to the graves and the service of the Buffalo Soldiers.  Hats off to the volunteers of the Concordia Heritage Association and the Buffalo Soldiers Motorcycle Club for all their hard work!

Watch the memorial as it is built, through photos posted by the El Paso Buffalo Soliders Motorcycle Club...page down at this link!

Burned? Brown? West Texas has green places!

Panorama view of Post Park, south of Marathon in Brewster County





Water fowl and song birds!  (click on the photo for a closer view!)

 Some folks think all of Far West Texas is horribly dry or burned, and we say NO!  One off-the-beaten-path oasis, is 5 miles south of Marathon.  Post Park is a lovely quiet, peaceful place to spend a hot afternoon.  This place was used as a watering area by the Comanche, was the site of a military outpost, and in the Depression, the WPA worked here to create the modern day park.

This is one of the sites on the Far West Texas Wildlife Trail map, as you can see birds and wildlife here every day.  We've seen 50 wild turkey, and a herd of javelina, turtles, fish in the pond, and lots and lots of birds.

Post Park is also the destination of the heritage bike ride, "Ride to the Post," an easy 10 mile out-and-back route.

Chinese Railway Worker Graves at Concordia Cemetery

El Paso's Concordia Cemetery is one of the most diverse and interesting cemeteries you'd find anywhere.  There are graves of gun fighters, Buffalo Soldiers, and early citizens from distinct cultures such as Chinese railway workers. 

Known as El Paso's "Boot Hill," Concordia is designated as a Texas State Historical Cemetery, and has an active volunteer group that helps maintain the cemetery, organizes appreciation and interpretive events and promotes an understanding of El Paso's history.  Other recognition and awards include:  2010 True West magazine's "Best of the West" designation, and 2008 Clara Driscoll Award by Preservation Texas.

Close to the center of the city and the airport, the cemetery is graced by a view of the Franklin  Mountains.  It is a wonderful place to get a sense of the El Paso's past and the Old West!

Today's Feature:  Cycle-friendly Hyatt Place El Paso Airport hotel Conveniently located near the airport and the center of the city (and not far from Concordia Cemetery!) is the Hyatt Place El Paso Airport.  They participate in our Texas Mountain Trail cycle-friendly program, allowing bike parking inside rooms, packed lunches or snacks for a day's adventure, and van transportation to nearby locations including Crazy Cat Cyclery near the airport.

A Preservation Success Story: Fort Davis National Historic Site

This is good news!  The Conservation Fund announced a deal has been finalized to transfer ownership of a 48 acre bluff overlooking Fort Davis National Historic Site to the National Park Service, thereby preserving the character of this impressive and historic location in Fort Davis.  You can read the full story here in the Alpine Avalanche; and more about the sale is here.  The sale is the result of the hard work and advocacy of many in Fort Davis and around the country over four years.

Fort Davis National Historic Site is perhaps the best preserved frontier fort in the west, and tells the story of the post-Civil War era and the story of African American soldiers of the time.

You can read more about African American history in Texas, here!
To see a list of African American historic sites in the Texas Mountain Trail region, click here to go to the Texas Historical Commission's webpage.

Cycling down the road to Post Park

We've started to put information on our website about another heritage bike ride, an easy, family-friendly 10 mile (roundtrip) ride from the town of Marathon to Post Park in Brewster County.  The route was used by the Comanche, by Buffalo Soldiers and by miners and ranchers early in the modern history of the area.  The ride starts at the historic (and cycle-friendly!) Gage Hotel or the Gage Gardens (a site on the new Far West Texas Wildlife Map) and is a simple out-and-back ride through beautiful scenery.  Take a look at the web page for more beautiful views and an outline of the history of this fascinating place!

Now THAT'S a campsite!

Our recent camping trip to Big Bend Ranch State Park revealed so many of Far West Texas' assets, the reasons people keep coming back to our corner of the state:

• Our campsite, as you can see, allowed us a private wilderness experience.  And how rare is that these days?  Pretty darn rare. 
• We were surrounded by evidence of geological history, with extinct volcanoes in the area, and volcanic rock all around.
• As we drove into the park, we passed right by some ancient rock art, pictographs of human figures
• The nearby Fort Leaton and the town of Presidio were established early, in 1683.
• This land was traveled by the Comanche and Buffalo soldiers, and by refugees from the Mexican Revolution a 100 years ago.
• A few miles away in the park's center, sits the historic ranch house dating back to 1908, and there was plenty of evidence of old ranch buildings throughout the park.
• We heard coyote in the night, and in the morning the birding was excellent. (The park is on the new regional wildlife/birding map.) We hiked and if we'd brought our mountain bikes, world-class "epic" rides were available right there in the park. 

We had adventure, history, archaeology, nature, geology all right there waiting for us.  And we can't wait to go back!

The Ride/Drive to Post Park: A heritage bike route for everyone!

Today's photos are two views from our newest heritage bike ride, the Ride to Post Park!  The route is easy and historic, suitable for beginning cyclists and families, or even automobile or motorcycle riders.  The ride takes you along an Comanche route, a route used by early miners, and near a post for Buffalo Soldiers.  The route starts and ends at the Gage Hotel in Marathon and is an out-and-back route, with Brewster County's Post Park as the midpoint.  Wildlife can be seen along the way...the first photo shows a couple of pronghorn antelope!  Post Park and the Gage Gardens, both on this route, are also sites on our new Far West Texas Wildlife Trail...read about it here!

Take a look at the "Ride to Post Park," page on our website, which also has a slideshow of images along the route!

December Skies south of Marathon

A December sky taken just south of Marathon, on the newest heritage bike ride:  Ride to the Post!  This easy 5 mile (one way) bike ride/motorcycle ride/drive) takes you from Marathon to Post Park, and shows you places in geological history, the history of the Comanche and Buffalo Soldier, as well as early ranching and settler history.  This is a great ride for the beginning cyclist or for families!