View source for Fort Inge

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name                     = Fort Inge Archeological Site
| image                    = Ft inge 2007.jpg
| caption                  = The site of Fort Inge archeological site with Mount Inge in the background
| locmapin                 = Texas#USA
| map_label                = Fort Inge Archeological Site
| locmap_relief            = yes
| coordinates              = {{coord|29|10|40|N|99|45|52|W|region:US-TX_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| location                 = [[Farm to Market Road 140|FM&nbsp;140]] SE of [[Uvalde, Texas]]
| area                     = {{convert|39|acre}}
| built                    = {{Start date|1849}}
| added                    = September 12, 1985
| refnum                   = 85002298<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
}}
'''Fort Inge''' was a frontier fort in [[Uvalde County, Texas]], United States.

==History==
Established as '''Camp Leona''' on March 13, 1849, Fort Inge was garrisoned intermittently until March 19, 1869. The fort served as a base for [[United States Army]] troops assigned to protect the southern overland mail route along the [[San Antonio-El Paso Road]] from [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] raids. The camp was renamed Fort Inge in honor of Lieutenant Zebulon M. P. Inge, a [[United States Military Academy|West Point]] officer killed in the [[Mexican–American War]]. Other forts in the frontier fort system were Forts [[Fort Griffin|Griffin]], [[Fort Concho|Concho]], [[Fort Belknap (Newcastle, Texas)|Belknap]], [[Fort Chadbourne|Chadbourne]], [[Fort Stockton, Texas|Stockton]], [[Fort Davis National Historic Site|Davis]], [[Fort Bliss|Bliss]], Mason, [[Fort McKavett State Historic Site|McKavett]], [[Fort Clark, Texas|Clark]], [[Fort McIntosh, Texas|McIntosh]], [[Fort Richardson, Texas|Richardson]], and [[Fort Phantom Hill|Phantom Hill]] in Texas, and [[Fort Sill|Sill]] in [[Oklahoma]].<ref name=Carter>Carter, R.G., On the Border with Mackenzie, 1935, Washington, DC: Enyon Printing Co.</ref>{{rp|48}}  Also in the system were "subposts or intermediate stations", including Bothwick's Station on Salt Creek between Fort Richardson and Fort Belknap, Camp Wichita near Buffalo Springs between Fort Richardson and [[Red River Station, Texas|Red River Station]], and Mountain Pass between Fort Concho and Fort Griffin.<ref name=Carter/>{{rp|49}}

Two wooden [[barracks]] with [[Thatching|thatched roofs]] quartered the [[soldier]]s assigned to the fort. Also, a large [[limestone]] building  served as [[commissary]] and later a [[hospital]]. The buildings at Ft. Inge were never sufficient for the troops stationed there, probably because this post was never determined by the Army to be a permanent post. It was started in 1849, but abandoned in the spring of 1851. It was reoccupied that same summer and occupied until 1855, when it was abandoned again. It was reoccupied a third time in 1856, but was abandoned in 1861 to [[Confederate States Army]] troops.<ref>Herbert M. Hart, ''Old Forts of the Southwest'', Superior Publishing Company, Seattle, Washington, 1964, First Edition</ref> It was again garrisoned briefly in 1865 by the 4th Wisconsin Cavalry.

The [[United States Army]] regarrisoned the fort until March 19, 1869, when the [[garrison]] was transferred to Fort McKavett. The army recovered materials from the site to use for additions to nearby [[Fort Clark Historic District|Fort Clark]]. Fort Inge then was used as a camp by the [[Texas Ranger Division|Texas Rangers]] until 1884.

The fort was surrounded on three sides by a stacked stone wall added around the time of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. The wall was dismantled in 1874, and the stone was used to build a dam on the Leona River. The wall was relaid along its original lines in 1984.

[[Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II]] was posted to Fort Inge in the early 1850s, and his letters from there are preserved by the [[Maryland Historical Society]].

===Major Neighbors===
[[Robert Neighbors]] arrived at the fort on 7 April 1854, investigating Indian depredations, and found the raiding party consisted of 12 [[Tonkawa]]s, two of whom were killed and nine turned over to the fort.<ref name=Neighbors>Neighbours, K.F., 1975, ''Robert Neighbors and the Texas Frontier, 1836-1859'', Waco: Texian Press</ref>{{rp|114}}    Neighbors also freed the [[Lipan Apache people|Lipan]] Chief Chiquito and his men from the guard house, and charged Indian Agent Howard with "dereliction of duty" for their false arrest and mismanagement of the Indian situation.<ref name=Neighbors/>{{rp|114}}

==Park==
In 1961, the site became the Fort Inge Historical Site County Park. It was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] on September 12, 1985.<ref name="NRHP">Staff Writer.
"[http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/tx/uvalde/state.html Fort Inge Archeological Site]."
''[[National Register of Historic Places]].'' Accessed April 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-04-17.</ref> The site is located on the Leona River, and is dominated by the 140-ft-high (43 m) remains of an extinct volcano named Mount Inge.

==Gallery==
<gallery widths=200px>
File:Fort Inge 5.png|Fort Inge
File:Fort Inge 4A.png|Fort Inge
File:Fort Inge 3.png|Trousset's 1867 drawing
File:Fort Inge.png|Eastman's 1849 drawing
</gallery>

==See also==
{{Portal|National Register of Historic Places|Texas}}
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Uvalde County, Texas]]
*[[Forts of Texas]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Fort Inge}}
* [http://www.uvaldecounty.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=70&Itemid=341 Fort Inge Historical Park] - Uvalde County
* {{Handbook of Texas|id=qbf27|name=Fort Inge}}
* {{Handbook of Texas|id=fbo11|name=Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, Jr}}
* {{Gnis|1379788|Fort Inge, Texas}}
* {{cite web |url=http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/5463004793 |title=Fort Inge - Uvalde ~ Marker Number: 4793 |date=1966 |website=[[Texas Historic Sites Atlas]] |publisher=[[Texas Historical Commission]]}}
* {{cite web |url=http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/Details/2085002298 |title=Fort Inge Archeological Site - Uvalde ~ National Register: 85002298 |date=1985 |website=[[Texas Historic Sites Atlas]] |publisher=[[Texas Historical Commission]]}}
* {{cite web |title=U.S. Army on the Texas Frontier |url=http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/forts/military.html |website=Texas Beyond History |publisher=University of Texas at Austin}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in Texas}}
{{Uvalde County, Texas}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures in Uvalde County, Texas]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Uvalde County, Texas]]
[[Category:Forts on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas|Inge]]
[[Category:1849 establishments in Texas]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Uvalde County, Texas]]
[[Category:Military installations established in 1849]]
[[Category:1884 disestablishments in Texas]]
[[Category:Military installations closed in 1884]]
[[Category:Volcanoes of Texas]]
[[Category:Volcanic plugs of the United States]]