History of First Fort Davis: 1854-1862

   On October 23, 1854, the Commander of the Department of Texas, General Persifor F. Smith, issued the official order that established Fort Davis. Smith named the site in honor of then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis.
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History of Second Fort Davis: 1867-1891

   After the Civil War, travel continued on the San Antonio-El Paso Road and so did raiding by Comanches and Apaches, which resulted in the Army re-establishing Fort Davis.
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African Americans in the Frontier Army

   The Act of 1866 increased the size of the Regular Army, thus changing the course of military history by affording African Americans a permanent place in the Armed Forces of the United States.
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Second Lieutenant Henry O. Flipper

      Born into slavery at Thomasville, Georgia on March 21, 1856, Flipper became the first African American graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
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