Enlisted Barracks, Fort Chadbourne, Bronte, TX

**Fort Chadbourne** - National Register of Historic Places Ref # 73001962, date listed 4/2/1973

 

Address Restricted

 

Bronte, TX (Coke County)

 

Fort Chadbourne was a fort established by the United States Army on October 28, 1852, in what is now Coke County, Texas, to protect the western frontier and the Butterfield Overland Mail route. It was named after Lt. T.L. Chadbourne, who was killed in the Battle of Resaca de la Palma. It was defended by Companies A and K of the 8th U.S. Infantry. During the early days of the American Civil War, the fort surrendered to the Confederates on February 28, 1861, even before the Confederate shelling of Fort Sumter, South Carolina, but was reoccupied by federal troops from 1865 to 1867. (1)

 

Fort Chadbourne began restoration in 2001 with the Enlisted Men’s Barracks (east). An original grant from the Dodge Jones Foundation made this possible. A decision was made to stabilize and reconstruct the original walls using an old method of braces and turnbuckles. By holding the walls in place, where they could no longer fall, the walls could be repositioned and straightened preserving what the 1850 soldiers and stone masons had built. The idea worked, and Richards was awarded the 2003 Preservation Texas Award.

 

The west barracks was stabilized, but left in a ruin state for comparison. (2)

 

References (1) Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Chadbourne

 

(2) Fort Chadbourne fortchadbourne.org/enlisted-mens-barracks.html

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