Gainesville-Fort Sill Road
Gainesville, Cooke County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The U.S. Cavalry constructed roads to improve logistical routes in the west during the 19th century. Henry O. Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point, was an officer in the Tenth Cavalry regiment “Buffalo Soldiers” at Fort Sill, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). By late 1879, Fort Sill required a more significant railroad town than nearby Caddo Station, and the Army placed Flipper in command of building a road from Fort Sill to Gainesville. Two years later, the railroad reached Henrietta and replaced Gainesville as a Fort Sill supply town. Nevertheless, the construction of the Gainesville-Fort Sill Road is a historic example of the Buffalo Soldiers’ contributions to the west’s economic development. (2006)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As the U.S. Cavalry pushed roads across the West, the Army in 1879 placed Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the first African American graduate of West Point, in command of building a supply road from Fort Sill in Indian Territory to Gainesville, Texas. Flipper served with the Tenth Cavalry, the famed Buffalo Soldiers. Within two years the railroad reached elsewhere and eclipsed the route, but the road stood as a lasting mark of Black soldiers' work opening the West.
Why it matters
The road testifies to the Buffalo Soldiers' central role in western expansion, and to Henry O. Flipper's trailblazing career as the Army's first Black commissioned officer.
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Related people
- · Henry O. Flipper
Themes & tags
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