Ramparts of Fort Davis
Some of the rocks on top of the heights behind old Fort Davis, a U.S. Army fort named for Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. Before the Civil War and the secession of the Southern states, Davis was the U.S. Secretary of War. Fort Davis was established at that time, in the 1850s.
During the Civil War, the U.S. Army naturally abandoned the fort but reoccupied it after the war, its main job being to guard and protect travelers on the road between San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, from Indians. In a supreme irony, many of the soldiers at Fort Davis after the Civil War were Black men known as Buffalo Soldiers.
The old fort is now a National Historical Site administered by the National Park Service. The road onto the site is named for Lieutenant Henry Flipper, the first Black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. Flipper was stationed at Fort Davis during his military career and was at one point accused of conduct unbecoming of an officer. He was discharged from the army but later received a posthumous pardon from President Bill Clinton. At the time of his service at Fort Davis, racial attitudes in the army were very harsh, to put it mildly.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ossian_Flipper
This is a photo from the archives that I decided to reprocess in monochrome. I like the results.
Ramparts of Fort Davis
Some of the rocks on top of the heights behind old Fort Davis, a U.S. Army fort named for Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy. Before the Civil War and the secession of the Southern states, Davis was the U.S. Secretary of War. Fort Davis was established at that time, in the 1850s.
During the Civil War, the U.S. Army naturally abandoned the fort but reoccupied it after the war, its main job being to guard and protect travelers on the road between San Antonio and El Paso, Texas, from Indians. In a supreme irony, many of the soldiers at Fort Davis after the Civil War were Black men known as Buffalo Soldiers.
The old fort is now a National Historical Site administered by the National Park Service. The road onto the site is named for Lieutenant Henry Flipper, the first Black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. Flipper was stationed at Fort Davis during his military career and was at one point accused of conduct unbecoming of an officer. He was discharged from the army but later received a posthumous pardon from President Bill Clinton. At the time of his service at Fort Davis, racial attitudes in the army were very harsh, to put it mildly.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ossian_Flipper
This is a photo from the archives that I decided to reprocess in monochrome. I like the results.