Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas
On a crisp Christmas Day in 1817, a new chapter began on the isolated edge of the American frontier. At Belle Point, where the Poteau and Arkansas Rivers converged, Fort Smith, Arkansas, was established. Major William Bradford led sixty-four men of the Rifle Regiment, tasked with a crucial mission: to maintain peace between the Cherokee and Osage tribes. Their initial efforts were swift, erecting temporary shelters in a mere eight days as they laid the groundwork for a permanent fortification.
The construction of the original Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas, progressed deliberately. Upon completion, the fort was a simple yet functional log stockade, its four sides each measuring 132 feet. Blockhouses stood sentinel at opposite corners, providing enhanced defense. Within the protective walls, essential buildings took shape: barracks for the soldiers, storehouses to hold provisions, workshops for necessary repairs, a magazine to store ammunition, and a hospital to care for the sick and injured.
By 1822, escalating tensions between the Osage and Cherokee tribes prompted the construction of additional quarters outside the original fort, accommodating an increased number of soldiers. However, in 1824, the Federal Government reassessed the fort’s strategic location. Deeming it too distant from the newly redefined Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma), they established Fort Gibson approximately 60 miles up the Arkansas River. As a result, the troops stationed at Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas were ordered to depart.
Three years later, in 1827, the abandoned fort was repurposed as an agency for the western Choctaw Indians, who were also being forcibly relocated to Indian Territory. When Choctaw agent William McClellan arrived in February, he found the post buildings in a state of disrepair. It would take four years for the government to authorize repairs. Finally, in April 1831, Lieutenant Gabriel Rains and a detail from the Seventh United States Infantry arrived to begin the restoration work. By August, Choctaw Indians began arriving in the area.
Just east of the post, adjacent to the Choctaw boundary line, a civilian community flourished on lands owned by John Rogers. A prominent feature of this burgeoning settlement was the presence of six taverns, where enterprising merchants supplied the newly arrived Choctaw with cheap whiskey. Many displaced tribesmen settled nearby, becoming vulnerable to exploitation. Lieutenant Rains attempted to control the situation by positioning his men on the boundary line to separate the peddlers and Choctaw, but his efforts proved largely ineffective.
In March 1833, Captain John Stewart and a company of Seventh Infantry were garrisoned at the post to combat the illicit trade, a situation known as the "Arkansas Whiskey War." He, too, faced limited success, as the merchants continued their operations brazenly. Frustrated by the lack of progress, Stuart abandoned Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas in June 1834 and established Fort Coffee at a more suitable location within Indian Territory.
As more tribes were relocated to Indian Territory, fearful residents of Arkansas petitioned for a permanent military garrison on their western border. In 1838, Congress authorized the construction of a new fort and purchased 296 acres of land from John Rogers adjacent to the old fort at Belle Point.
In the spring of 1839, the construction of the new fort commenced. The ambitious design called for a pentagonal-shaped stone fort with bastions at each angle, enclosing seven acres. Within the walls, buildings were planned around a central parade ground, including two enlisted men’s barracks, two officers’ quarters, the commandant’s quarters, a hospital, the quartermaster store, and other essential structures. However, this grand vision would never be fully realized.
Over the next six years, events shifted the priorities of the army, leading to modifications in the construction of Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas. The anticipated armed conflict with warriors from Indian Territory never materialized. Instead, hostilities threatened another frontier as the Mexican-American War loomed. Fort Smith’s location made it ideal for equipping military units heading to the Rio Grande and supplying frontier posts in Indian Territory. In 1845, the half-finished post was formally designated as a supply depot.
With defense no longer the primary concern, portions of the fort’s curtain wall were never raised to their intended height of 12 feet. To accommodate the increased supply load, the foundations of the incomplete Commandant’s Quarters and one of the enlisted men’s barracks were dismantled and used to convert two bastions into commissary and quartermaster storehouses. A third bastion was transformed into a magazine. Upon completion, only two officers’ quarters and one enlisted men’s barracks faced the parade ground. Several other structures were located beyond the fort walls, including maintenance buildings, stables, laundress quarters, a hospital, a storehouse, and a bakehouse.
Fort Smith was formally garrisoned in May 1846 and served as a crucial supply depot for 25 years. In the years before the Civil War, national interests focused on westward expansion, with new posts established in Indian Territory, including Fort Towson and Fort Washita, all supplied by the depot at Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas.
On April 23, 1861, Arkansas State Troops seized Fort Smith. Until September 1, 1863, when Federal soldiers regained control, Fort Smith served the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi West as a significant supply base and defensive stronghold, protecting Southern interests in Arkansas and Indian Territory.
In the post-war years, the army once again focused on westward expansion. However, the frontier posts had moved so far west that supply lines from Fort Smith became overextended. The fort’s days as a supply depot were numbered.
Other issues further contributed to its eventual abandonment. Housing for the troops had always been insufficient, and on November 24, 1865, Officers Quarters A burned down. Five years later, in December 1870, Officer Quarters B suffered the same fate. For the military, the role of Fort Smith as a supply depot was no longer viable. On July 19, 1871, the Sixth Infantry marched out of the post, marking the departure of the last unit to garrison Fort Smith. However, fate had other plans, extending the fort’s life in an unexpected way.
In 1872, the United States District Court of the Western District of Arkansas took over Fort Smith. A valuation of the property revealed 27 buildings on the former military reserve. Nearly all of these were repurposed for civilian or federal use.
The former enlisted men’s barracks became the Federal Courthouse, housing attendant offices. A permanent gallows was constructed along the inward side of Bastion 3, the old magazine. The Federal Courthouse basement served as a jail. Overcrowding in this makeshift prison, known as "hell-on-the-border," drew public criticism, leading to the construction of a modern prison wing on the south end of the courthouse, completed in February 1888.
The jurisdiction of the United States District Court of the Western District of Arkansas encompassed a vast area, including western Arkansas and the entire Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. Tribal courts lacked jurisdiction over non-Indian settlers, creating a haven for outlaws who could evade justice. Federal marshals and their deputies, never exceeding 200, patrolled this wilderness to bring offenders to justice. Apprehended fugitives were taken to Fort Smith for trial.
Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas is most renowned for Federal Judge Isaac C. Parker, appointed to the bench by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1875. Judge Parker arrived at Fort Smith on May 4, 1875, succeeding Judge William Story, whose tenure was marred by corruption.
For the next 21 years, Parker presided over 13,000 cases, sentencing 79 offenders to hang, earning him the moniker "Hanging Judge." Parker tirelessly defended Indian rights and brought law and order to Indian Territory.
As the non-Indian population grew, new courts emerged in Indian Territory, gradually diminishing Parker’s authority. On March 1, 1895, Congress passed legislation limiting Parker’s jurisdiction to several counties in western Arkansas. This legislation took effect on September 1, 1896. The last execution occurred shortly before, on July 30.
From the time of the Federal Courthouse into the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a series of events transformed the historic fort’s appearance. On February 17, 1883, Congress granted rights-of-way through the former military reservation to the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad.
Between May 1886 and February 1889, the railroad company removed a portion of the garrison wall to accommodate trackage, effectively separating the Quartermaster Building from the rest of the fort. The Missouri Pacific Railroad soon paralleled the St. Louis and San Francisco, further bisecting the fort.
A May 29, 1896, bill called for lands inside the garrison to be granted to the city of Fort Smith. Although the Federal Jail remained in use until 1914, the government transferred the remainder of the military reserve to the city.
On February 26, 1897, Congress enacted legislation to extend Parker and Rogers Avenues and Third and Second Streets through this property. The Old Fort Reserve Addition was surveyed in June and sold to private interests. The stone wall of the fort was dismantled between July 1, 1897, and July 1, 1898, after which the streets were extended. By 1900, several multi-storied brick buildings had been built or were under construction, and the Old Fort Reserve Addition became the light industrial and warehouse district of Fort Smith. The Courtroom/Jail complex became a civic center, housing city offices and community organizations. Around the turn of the century, Belle Point became densely populated and acquired the name "Coke Hill," a squatter settlement with randomly oriented plots of land.
Public interest in the old fort grew in the early 20th century. In 1910, the Old Fort Museum Association occupied the Commissary, using it as a museum. In 1957, the courthouse was restored to its original condition. Local businessmen donated funds to purchase private interests on Coke Hill and sponsored the first archaeological excavation at the site in 1958. In 1961, the city of Fort Smith donated eleven acres of land, including the site of the first fort, the Courtroom/Jail complex, and the Commissary Building, to the National Park Service. Since the creation of the Fort Smith National Historic Site, Arkansas, landholdings of up to 75 acres have been authorized, and several intrusive streets and post-historic buildings have been removed.
Today, the Fort Smith National Historic Site encompasses the remains of the two frontier forts and the Federal Court for the Western District of Arkansas, preserving a tangible link to the past.
Contact Information:
Fort Smith National Historic Site
P.O. Box 1406
301 Parker Avenue
Fort Smith, Arkansas 72901
479-783-3961
Is Fort Smith Haunted?
Beyond its reputation as a lawless Old West town, the old courthouse is rumored to be haunted by Judge Parker himself. Many of those executed on these historic grounds are also said to linger on the property.
Reader Update:
When I visited Fort Smith, Judge Parker’s Courthouse was closed, so I walked around the building a bit. Of course, my interest was drawn to the large gallows. I believe it was a replica, but I climbed the stairs and approached the cross beam when I suddenly felt this chill (on a very warm day) and felt it was an evil area. I quickly left and went to my nearby car. My wife, who also has a “sixth sense,” as I observed my movement on the scaffold, asked if I had felt something eerie, as she had. Maybe it is just a fluke, but some things cannot be explained. – D. Ward Gagner, Bangor, Maine, November 2007
Also See:
Fannie Echols – First Woman Sentenced to Hang at Fort Smith
Isaac Parker, the “Hanging Judge”
George Maledon – Prince of Hangmen
U.S. Marshals
Primary Source: National Park Service