Fort Griffin
Belton vicinity, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Site of a picket fort on Little River commonly called Fort Griffin; also known as Fort Smith and Little River Fort. Erected by Geo. B. Erath and 20 Texas Rangers in November, 1836 as a protection against Indians. Abandoned as a military post before the Santa Fe Expedition camped here, June 24-29, 1841 but used by settlers many years as a place of defense against the Indians.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In November 1836, just months after Texas won its independence, George B. Erath and twenty Texas Rangers threw up a picket fort on the Little River as a shield for settlers against Indian raids. Known variously as Fort Griffin, Fort Smith, and the Little River Fort, it had been abandoned as a military post by the time the Santa Fe Expedition camped nearby in 1841. Yet frontier families kept using the stockade as a refuge for years afterward.
Why it matters
The fort marks the raw edge of Anglo-Texan settlement, where Rangers and settlers pushed into contested Native lands under the banner of the new republic.
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Related people
- · George B. Erath
Related events
- · Santa Fe Expedition
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Captain Andrew Caddell
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Andrew Caddell was a North Carolina-born soldier who marched with the Texian army in the 1836 revolution, standing in the ranks as a private at the Battle of San Jacinto that won Texas its independence. He later rose to command a company of volunteers, part of the generation of frontier settlers who fought for and then built the young Republic of Texas. He and his wife Rhoda made their lives in the Bell County country, where this marker records their years.
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Wilson Van Dyke
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Bell County
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