Site of Fort Lincoln
D'Hanis, Medina County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Established by the United States Army July 7, 1849 as a link in a chain of posts extending from the Rio Grande to Red River. Named in honor of Captain George Lincoln who fell at Buena Vista February 23, 1847. Abandoned July 20, 1852 after the frontier line had advanced further westward. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Established by the U.S. Army on July 7, 1849, Fort Lincoln was one link in a chain of posts strung from the Rio Grande to the Red River to guard the advancing line of settlement. It honored Captain George Lincoln, killed at the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War in 1847. As settlers pushed farther west, the frontier moved past it, and the fort was abandoned in 1852.
Why it matters
Frontier posts like Fort Lincoln trace the federal government's effort to secure newly won territory after the war with Mexico, marking the moving edge of American expansion.
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Related people
- · Captain George Lincoln
Related events
- · Battle of Buena Vista
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Clark Family Cemetery
Bandera vicinity, TX
Amasa Clark, a veteran of the Mexican War, became the first permanent settler of Bandera and worked an orchard and nursery on this homestead for decades—living to the remarkable age of 101. This family cemetery, opened with the 1883 burial of his first wife, holds several generations of Clarks, including Amasa, two wives, and many of his nineteen children.
Rothe-Rowe Ranch House
D'Hanis, TX
This sturdy native-stone house rose in 1882 on the Medina County frontier, on land that had once bordered Fort Lincoln, a short-lived U.S. Army post from the early 1850s, and the old Woll Road travel artery. Built by Louis Rothe, whose family had held the land since 1860, it stood through the region's transition from garrisoned borderland to settled ranch country. Later owners hosted notable guests, including World War II general Jonathan Wainwright.
D'Hanis
D'Hanis, TX
In 1847 empresario Henri Castro planted D'Hanis, his fourth colony, and named it for a company official. Alsatian immigrants endured great hardship to raise a community that lasted more than thirty years—until the railroad bypassed the town in 1881 and the settlement simply picked up and moved to the tracks. The new D'Hanis prospered by shipping cattle, cotton, and brick, and from 1900 a strong Mexican-American community added to its life.
Town of D'Hanis
D'Hanis, TX
In 1847, twenty-nine families led by Theodore Gentilz settled here on behalf of Henri Castro, the Alsatian-born empresario whose colony brought European immigrants to the Texas Hill Country in the years just after annexation. The community took its name from Guillaume D'Hanis, an official of Castro's colonization society. When the Southern Pacific Railroad later bypassed the settlement, residents relocated to a new townsite, leaving behind what is now called Old D'Hanis.