Fort Martin Scott was the first frontier fort built in Texas. For me the fort holds special
meaning as it’s part of my heritage, but more on that later. The fort has a long and interesting history,
one that surprised even me when I began doing more research.
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| Fort Knox, Maine by Seth Eastman Oil on canvas, 1870-1875 |
Behold
a painting of an early American scene. The depiction of Fort Knox was rendered
by Brigadier General Seth Eastman sometime between 1870 – 1875 and about
twenty-two years after he is believed by many to have established Camp Houston
in Fredericksburg, Texas in 1847. Some believe the fort to have its original
roots in 1845 when Texas Rangers patrolled the area. In 1849 the camp would be
called Fort Martin Scott. Though Seth was an artist at heart and gave America
many such wondrous scenes of life on the frontier, he was also an officer in
the United States Army. Prior to his time in the hill country of Texas, he served
at Fort Snelling where he married a Dakota chief’s daughter who bore him a
daughter. When he was asked to return to
West Point in 1832, he had his marriage annulled. Later he would marry Mary
Eastman.
Of interesting note, his grandson from his first marriage, Dr.
Charles Eastman, became the first Native American to become a certified doctor
and was also the co-founder of the Boy Scouts of America. Seth’s second wife,
Mary Eastman is also well known for her literary works. She authored Aunt Phillis's Cabin: or, Southern Life As It
Is (1852), one of the most popular of the anti – Uncle Tom’s Cabin books.
But let’s get back to Fort Martin Scott. The Fort served as
a base of operations for troops serving the Perdernales, Guadalupe, Llano and
San Saba River Basins. While there existed a very important treaty between the
German community and the Penaketas Comanches, other Native Americans in the
vicinity, including other Comanches, Apaches and Tenawas, did not recognize the
document and proved a serious threat to the settlers. Originally established to
help protect settlers in the surrounding area against Indian problems, the fort
was deemed unnecessary as a troop post in 1853. This was due in part to the
peaceful nature of the Germans who lived in Fredericksburg, their willingness
to get along with the Native Americans in the area and the Fort Martin Scott
Treaty (1850), an unratified treaty between several Indian tribes and the
U.S. However, the fort became a supply
depot for government trains travelling westward to other forts as they made
regular stops in need of corn and hay.
After 1853, the Texas Rangers would also use the fort’s
facilities when needed and when the Civil War broke out, confederate troops
would also make use of the property on occasion though they never officially
occupied the fort. Darkness hovered over the establishment when
Quantrill’s men and Duff’s Partisan
Rangers operated out of the fort for a short time. Both entities were bent on
“discouraging” Union sympathizers by often cruel and violent methods. After the
Civil War, the army saw a need to protect the nearby citizens from Indian
difficulties and occupied the fort for a short period of time during 1866 but
by December of that year, the fort was once again abandoned. Some of the
buildings were torn apart to provide materials for other settlers.
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| The original deed. Note the lined paper. |
Interestingly, it is thought that the property on which the
fort was built was never owned by the army but was instead leased from a Mr.
Twohig which makes sense because Twohig’s name is on the bill of sale. On March 12, 1870, papers were filed, the sum of $1600 in
gold paid, and Johann Braeutigam took possession of the fort properties. He,
his wife and nine children moved into one of the two remaining buildings. He
then built a store and saloon. Braeutigam’s Gardens also boasted grapevines,
hackberries, native trees and a racetrack for horses. He’d turned the property
into a place to come “play” and in 1881, the first Gillespie County Fair was
held on these grounds. The property served as a huge entertainment center where
weddings took place, dances occurred in the dance hall and horse races
commenced.
On September 3, 1884, four men came into the saloon and
demanded the owner turn over his cash box. Johann took exception and went for
his musket. The shots from Colts could be heard all the way to the main house.
The men took off after stealing only a small amount of cash from the cash box.
Johann’s ten-year-old son, Henry discovered the body. The townsfolk of
Fredericksburg were outraged, Johann and his wife being well loved by all.
Texas Ranger, Ira Aten and his men began a hunt that resulted in the
apprehension of three suspects and then, later a fourth. However, the man
suspected of firing the killing shot, James “Jim” Fannon (or Fannin), alluded
authorities and was never apprehended. To
hear more about Ira Aten’s involvement in bringing the murders to justice, come
visit my blog post on Sweethearts of the West.
Of course, in researching this part of the story, author Bob Alexander offered another version, one I'd never heard. In the footnotes of his book, Rawhide Ranger; Ira Aten: Enforcing Law on the Western Frontier, Alexander found a written version that differs from the one the family always told. Since the property had horse racing, Wes Collier from a neighboring town decided to try his luck. He supposedly won the race and a huge pot of money which made the locals upset. Since it was late, the locals decided to put the money in Braeutigam's store for safe keeping until they could figure a way from having to give it all to Collier. The next morning, he went to retrieve the money, an argument ensued and Braeutigam was killed. The family has always maintained that it was Fannin who did the actual killing so who knows which version is more factual.
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| The Guardhouse, one of the only original structures left. This became the living area from the Braeutigams. |
After the tragedy, Christine continued to raise her eleven
children at the homestead. When he came of age, Henry took over the running of
the farm. He married Clara Gold (yeah, she was the inspiration for my pen name,
she and my daughter’s friend, Ciara) and together they had seven children.
Their oldest child, Hortense, was born at the fort and lived there until she
married. Her two sons, Edward and John, spent summers staying with their
grandparents and playing on the old fort site.
And now as Paul Harvey would say, for the rest of the story;
Johann Braeutigam was my great, great grandfather. Henry was my great
grandfather. When I was just out of college, my father and I snooped about the
property before the city started reconstruction. This past fall, my mom and I
went to the site and gathered pictures though at the time, the buildings weren’t
open for us to look inside.
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| My father and me in front of one of the buildings, circa 1980. |
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| The top photo is circa 1908, the Braeutigam family with Henry on the left, Christine Braeutigam in the center with Hortense behind her. The photo was taken in front of the smokehouse/cellar, the building with the wagon in front. |
