Fort Washita Historic Site

Fort Washita was established in 1842, in the Choctaw Nation of Indian Territory and was used as a staging ground for the Mexican War. In the 1850s it was a United States Army Artillery School. Famous Civil War leaders who served earlier at Fort Washita included: Randolph B. Marcy, George McClellan, William G. Belknap, Theophylus H. Holmes, and numerous others. Federal troops abandoned Fort Washita in 1861, and it was occupied by Confederate troops during the Civil War as the headquarters of Brig. Gen. Douglas Cooper. Fort Washita National Historic Landmark today includes ruins, restored barracks, and the parade ground.