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some of these were so distant and isolated, and the traveling so difficult at that season of the year, that it was several weeks before the order reached them.
One of these is
Fort Arbuckle, in
Franklin County, situated west
from
Arkansas, on the False Wachita River.
It protects the northern frontiers of the
State from the forays of the wild
Comanches.
At the time we are considering, it was garrisoned by detachments from the First Cavalry and one company of the First Infantry Regiment.
Another was Fort
 |
|
Fort Wachita. |
Wachita, sixty miles southeasterly from
Fort Arbuckle, and, like it, on the
Indian Reserve.
It was garrisoned by two companies of the First Cavalry Regiment.
Near this post, in the autumn of 1858,
Major Earle Van Dorn, a gallant officer of the
National Army, who appears for the first time, in
connection with
Twiggs's treason, as an enemy of his country, had a successful battle with a band of warlike Comanches.
Another important post was
Fort Lancaster, on the mail-route between
San Antonio to
San Diego,
