---

Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	FORT SMITH NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE Arkansas	Fort Smith National Historic Site
Sebastian County, on Rogers Avenue between Second and Third Streets, in downtown Fort Smith; address: P.O. Box 1406 Fort Smith, AR 72902. Fort Smith National Historic Site

Fort Smith was one of the first U.S. military posts in Louisiana Territory. For nearly fourscore years, from 1817 to 1890—first as a military post and then as seat of a Federal district court—it was a center of law and order for a vast expanse of untamed Western frontier. At the fort, soldier, Indian, lawman, and outlaw played their part in the drama that changed the face of the Indian country; blue-clad troopers marched out to carry the U.S. flag westward; and U.S. deputy marshals, the men who "rode for Judge Parker," crossed the Arkansas River to bring justice to the lawless lands beyond. At the site are preserved the remains of the small first Fort Smith (1817-39), the enlarged second fort (1838-71), and the building that housed the Federal district court (1871-90)—all reminders of the day when civilization and security ended on the banks of the Arkansas River and when men were pushing back the frontier to carve the Nation out of the wilderness.

At the end of the War of 1812, late in 1814, the normal pattern of westward expansion resumed. To protect the settlers, control the Indians, and promote the development of the fur trade, the Federal Government decided to found a series of forts along the Western frontier. In 1817 the War Department appointed Maj. William Bradford and Maj. Stephen H. Long of the Topographical Engineers in St. Louis as cocommanders of an expedition to construct a post just east of the Osage boundary line. Major Long, who performed the reconnaissance, chose a site in Missouri Territory on a rocky bluff at Belle Point—which French traders had named La Belle Pointe—at the juncture of the Poteau and Arkansas Rivers. In December Bradford arrived at the site from Arkansas Post and, using Long's plans, set his 70 men to work constructing a simple wooden fort, measuring 132 feet square, with two 2-story block houses and a number of wooden buildings. The unimposing fort was named Cantonment Smith (later Fort Smith) for Gen. Thomas A. Smith, commander of U.S. forces west of the Mississippi. Construction proceeded slowly and did not reach the final stages until late in 1822.

The fort's main mission was to keep peace between the Osage and Cherokee tribes and to prevent white men from encroaching on Indian lands. In 1809 restless Cherokees had begun crossing the Mississippi River and were moving into northwestern Arkansas. Their penetration of the Osage hunting grounds produced the constant threat of war, but the Fort Smith troops were able to control the situation. In 1824, by which time the frontier had shifted farther westward, the garrison moved some 80 miles up the Arkansas River to the mouth of the Verdigris River, near the site of Muskogee, Okla., where it founded Fort Gibson. Only small detachments returned sporadically to Fort Smith until 1839, when the Army completely abandoned it. The fort rapidly deteriorated. Not until 1958, when archeologists uncovered its foundations, was its exact location rediscovered.

Demands from inhabitants of western Arkansas for protection against possible Indian uprisings caused Congress to authorize the War Department to reestablish Fort Smith in 1838. Plans called for an impressive installation to be located near the earlier fort. Work began in 1839, but the fort was never completed as first envisioned. By 1841 the danger of uprisings had faded. Col. Zachary Taylor, the newly appointed departmental commander, who later became President, ordered work stopped on the partially completed fort. Instead of following the 1838 plan, the Government modified its facilities to serve as a supply depot. Occupied by troops in May 1846, the second fort, during the remainder of its active military life, served to equip and provision other forts being founded deeper in the Indian Territory. During the Civil War both the North and the South used its supply and hospital facilities, but the second fort's days as a military post were almost over. In 1871 the War Department abandoned it.

Historic Barracks / Courthouse / Jail Building Courtesy, NPS Photo.

That same year the U.S. Court for the Western District of Arkansas, which had been organized at Van Buren in 1854, moved to Fort Smith and occupied the barracks building. Thus for two decades Fort Smith would continue to maintain law and order on the frontier. The court had jurisdiction over some 74,000 square miles in Arkansas and Indian Territory. Though its jurisdiction included a part of Arkansas, State courts shared its sphere of authority concurrently. The court's influence and authority, therefore, was felt mainly in the Indian country. An unknown writer aptly described the chaotic conditions in this region when he wrote: "No Sunday West of St. Louis—No God West of Fort Smith." The eastern half of the old "Indian Country," in what is now Oklahoma, belonged to the "Five Civilized Tribes" or "Nations": Cherokees, Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles. They had been forcibly removed from their ancestral homes in the Southeastern United States some 30 years earlier. The rest of the territory was the home of various other tribes. In this vast area no system of law, as we know it today, existed. Indians were subject to their own tribal courts, but these had no jurisdiction over white men. The most desperate class of criminals from all over the United States found sanctuary from arrest or extradition in the region. Disorder ruled, and reputable men—white and Indian—called upon the Federal Government for relief.

Headed by corrupt and inept judges, the court did not provide such relief until 1875. In that year President Ulysses S. Grant appointed the youthful and vigorous Isaac C. Parker to the judgeship. Parker approached his task with unparalleled zeal. For 21 years the court at Fort Smith dispensed rapid justice from dawn to dusk throughout the year. No appeals from the judge's decisions were possible during his first 14 years. Of some 13,400 cases docketed, 12,000 were criminal in nature—ranging from theft to murder. Three hundred and forty-four men stood before Parker accused of major crimes; 160 were convicted and 79 hanged. Some 65 of Parker's 200 deputy marshals were gunned down. Gradually, however, more and more of the Indian country was opened to white settlement, and the settlers demanded their own courts. Each new court whittled away portions of Judge Parker's jurisdiction. In 1896, some 6 years after Judge Parker moved his court to new quarters a short distance from the fort, his court was dissolved and he died within 2 months.

Fort Smith National Historic Site, established in 1964, consists of 14 acres, most of which are in non-Federal ownership. No surface remains of the first Fort Smith are extant, though archeological excavation has revealed stone foundations believed to be those of the walls. Visible at Belle Point are the quarries that were the source of stone for the second fort. The only significant remains of this fort are the old stone commissary building and the altered barracks building that later housed the Federal district court and is now the Fort Smith Visitor Center. The former, used by the Army until 1871 and now housing a museum, was built between 1839 and 1846. Originally intended as the north bastion of the fort, before completion it was converted into a commissary. Except for minor alterations, it appears much as it originally did. Soldiers erected half of the second building in the early 1850's for a barracks, on the foundations of a larger barracks building that had been destroyed by fire in 1849. In 1871 the Federal district court occupied it. The other half of the two-story brick building is a later addition. Of special interest is Judge Parker's courtroom, which has been restored to its original appearance. In the nearby Fort Smith National Cemetery, established soon after the first fort, rest a number of Federal and Confederate dead from Civil War battlefields of northwestern Arkansas, as well as the remains of Judge Parker himself.

NHL Designation: 12/19/60