Fort Mason, Site of
Mason, Mason County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established July 6, 1851 by the U. S. Army as a protection to the frontier. Named in honor of Lieut. George T. Mason, killed in action near Brownsville, April 25, 1846. Albert Sidney Johnston, George H. Thomas, Earl Van Dorn and Robert E. Lee, of the 2nd U. S. Cavalry, were stationed here at intervals from 1856 to 1861. Evacuated by Federal troops, March 29, 1861 and reoccupied after the Civil War until 1869. (1936)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The U.S. Army established Fort Mason on July 6, 1851, to shield the Texas frontier, naming it for Lt. George T. Mason, who had been killed near Brownsville in the war with Mexico. Between 1856 and 1861 it hosted officers of the famed 2nd U.S. Cavalry — Albert Sidney Johnston, George H. Thomas, Earl Van Dorn, and Robert E. Lee — many of whom would win fame or infamy in the coming Civil War. Federal troops abandoned the post in March 1861 and returned only after the war, garrisoning it until 1869.
Why it matters
Fort Mason sits at the crossroads of frontier defense and the coming national rupture, its roster reading like a preview of the officers who would soon command opposing armies.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Robert E. Lee
- · Albert Sidney Johnston
- · George H. Thomas
- · Earl Van Dorn
- · George T. Mason
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Mason County
Mason vicinity, TX
Created and organized in 1858, Mason County took its name from Fort Mason, the frontier post garrisoned on and off from 1851 to 1869. The fort honored Lt. G. T. Mason of the U.S. 2nd Dragoons, killed near Brownsville in 1846. It was one link in a chain of Army posts spaced a day's ride apart from the Red River to the Rio Grande, built to shield settlers from Apache and Comanche raids.
Chew Cemetery
Llano, TX
George Oliver Chew, born in West Virginia in 1832, came to Texas as a boy and settled in western Llano County in 1883, buying 320 acres where a family cemetery soon took shape around the graves of two young grandchildren. The Chews built a life on the land, running a school and later a cotton gin, and though they sold the property in 1927, the one-acre cemetery was later donated back. More than forty graves lie here, including both a Confederate and a Union soldier.
Creed Taylor
Junction, TX
Creed Taylor took up arms in the Texas War for Independence, marching from Gonzales to Bexar in 1835 in the campaign that drove Mexican forces from San Antonio. In 1836 he served as a scout and courier during the decisive year of the revolution. His name endures in the Hill Country as one of the frontier soldiers who won Texas its independence.
Site of Creed Taylor Ranch Home
Segovia, TX
Creed Taylor built a two-story native-stone ranch house here in 1869–71, reputed to be the finest home west of San Antonio before fire destroyed it in 1926. Taylor's own life reads like a chronicle of frontier Texas: he fought at Gonzales, Concepción, and the Siege of Bexar in the revolution, rode with Jack Hays's Texas Rangers through the Bandera Pass and Plum Creek fights, and served in the Mexican War of 1846. A rebuilt house on the site burned again in 1956.