The “Barren Waste” Texas Fort Named After Ghosts & a Vanishing Hill

Fort Phantom Hill, Texas

The Army built Fort Phantom Hill in 1851 to protect folks heading to California for gold. The soldiers hated it so much they called it a wasteland that God never meant for people. Water ran out, the heat was brutal, and they bailed after three years.

Turns out the place had more lives than a cat, and you can still see what’s left.

The Mysterious Name Origins

Two stories explain how the fort got its ghostly name. From a distance, the hill appears prominent but seems to vanish upon approach.

A second tale involves a nervous sentry who fired at what he thought was a Native American. Search parties found no evidence of anyone on the hill. Fellow soldiers suggested the sentry had seen a ghost.

General Persifor F. Smith first wrote ‘Phantom Hill’ in a letter dated November 3, 1851.

Building in the Wrong Location

General Persifor F. Smith ordered the fort built shortly after replacing ailing General William G. Belknap. Smith knew little about Texas geography.

Belknap wanted the fort on Pecan Bayou in Coleman County. Smith moved the location to Clear Fork near its junction with Elm Creek.

Lieutenant Colonel John J. Abercrombie arrived with his troops on a cold November day in 1851. A wet snowstorm struck as they set up camp.

The storm killed one teamster and 20 horses, mules, and oxen. Soldiers spent their first winter in canvas tents without adequate shelter.

The Struggle to Build in Barren Land

Construction took seven months, from November 1851 to June 1852. Workers quarried stone from Elm Creek two miles south. Oxen hauled blackjack oak logs from 40 miles away for the officers’ quarters. This slow process delayed building progress through winter.

The fort featured a central parade ground with specific layout. Officers lived on the north and east sides, enlisted men opposite.

Only three buildings used stone construction: the powder magazine, guardhouse, and commissary. Other structures used jacal technique with vertical posts, woven brush, and mud.

Water Woes in the West Texas Desert

Captain Marcy’s reports wrongly claimed the Clear Fork had ‘abundant water and game.’

Soldiers discovered a harsh reality instead.

Elm Creek dried up frequently throughout the year. The Clear Fork offered only brackish, undrinkable water unsuitable for cooking.

Troops dug an 80-foot walk-in well near the guardhouse. Even this deep well failed to provide reliable water for the fort.

Men hauled water barrels from a spring four miles upstream. This daily chore consumed valuable time and energy.

Fort Phantom Hill Reservoir now sits just two miles south of the fort site. Built in 1937, the reservoir supplies 100,000 people in Taylor and Jones counties.

Lieutenant Lear’s Grim Assessment

Lieutenant Clinton W. Lear wrote honest letters to his wife at Fort Washita in 1852.

As quartermaster, he witnessed all the fort’s hardships firsthand. He described their camp in ‘a small grove of black jack, about 5 acres extent.’

The tiny woodland provided minimal protection from harsh weather. Lear mentioned their proximity to creek water ‘salt, brackish and bitter.’

His letters stated plainly that ‘everybody is disgusted’ with the assignment and wrote, ‘I cannot imagine that God ever intended white man to occupy such a barren waste.’

This quote captures the despair felt by many soldiers at the post. Lear noted beauty in the valley and wildlife but recognized the location’s unsuitability for a military fort.

Uneventful Military Operations

The fort recorded only peaceful encounters with Native Americans despite its isolation. Buffalo Hump, a Penateka Comanche leader, visited occasionally.

Tribes including Lipan, Wichita, Kiowa, and Kickapoo maintained peaceful relations with the soldiers. No battles occurred at the fort during its operation.

Delaware scouts Black Beaver and Jim Shaw worked as interpreters and guides.

Their knowledge of terrain and languages proved crucial to the fort’s mission.

The army designed the fort for five companies but maintained only one infantry company. Later, a dragoon company replaced most of the infantry.

Colonel William G. Freeman inspected the fort in August 1853. His report documented poor conditions that helped justify abandonment.

The Fort’s Mysterious Burning

Military commanders ordered Fort Phantom Hill abandoned on April 6, 1854. Forts Mason and Terrett received the same orders. Lieutenant Newton C. Givens commanded the fort during its final days.

The army considered the fort’s purpose fulfilled after a reservation was established between Albany and Throckmorton.

Fire consumed the fort’s wooden structures shortly after troops departed. The flames destroyed all log walls and thatched roofs throughout the complex.

Some accounts blame Lieutenant Givens for the fire. Others suspect local tribes, Confederate troops, or the departing soldiers themselves. Only stone structures survived: the powder magazine, guardhouse, commissary warehouse, and chimneys.

Butterfield Overland Mail Station

The Butterfield Overland Mail began using the fort as a station in 1858. This service carried mail and passengers between St. Louis and San Francisco twice weekly. Fort Phantom Hill operated within the route’s 6th Division.

Stagecoaches traveled 30 miles from Mountain Pass Station and 12 miles to Smith’s Station. Passengers praised Fort Phantom Hill as the cheapest and best new station on the route. The remaining stone buildings provided solid shelter during stopovers.

Civil War and Post-War Uses

Texas joined the Confederate States of America in February 1861. This political change gave the fort a new military purpose.

Confederate Secretary of War LeRoy Pope Walker ordered Benjamin McCulloch to raise ten companies of volunteers on March 4, 1861.

These troops would defend the Texas frontier. Henry Eustace McCulloch, Benjamin’s brother, distributed Confederate forces across former U.S. Army forts.

Fort Phantom Hill received a small garrison where Colonel James B. Buck Barry used the fort for Confederate frontier troops. Robert E. Lee visited on June 16, 1856, while pursuing Comanche leader Sanaco.

The U.S. Army returned after the war, using Fort Phantom Hill as a subpost of Fort Griffin from 1871 to 1875.

Visiting Fort Phantom Hill

You’ll find Fort Phantom Hill 10 miles north of Interstate 20 from Abilene on FM 600. The 38-acre site preserves authentic frontier ruins.

Three stone buildings remain intact: the powder magazine, guardhouse, and commissary. More than a dozen stone chimneys mark where wooden buildings once stood.

The site belongs to the Texas Forts Trail, a 650-mile driving tour of historic military outposts. This route connects multiple frontier forts across west-central Texas.

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