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Fort Griffin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fort Griffin was a Cavalry fort established in the late 1860s in northwest Texas, specifically northwestern Shackelford County, to give settlers protection from early Comanche and Kiowa raids. It was named for Charles Griffin, a former Civil War Union general who had commanded the Department of Texas during the early years of Reconstruction.
The fort was officially opened in 1867, and served as a step-off point for many expeditions headed westward, and for a time it had a substantial settled community that built up around it, catering to passing wagon trains and military personnel that sought saloons for recreation on their down time.
By 1870, a very rough town called "The Flat" sprang up just north of Fort Griffin, which eventually became a stop off point for cattle drives headed north to Dodge City, Kansas. During that time, several notable characters and gunfighters of the Old West drifted through, to include Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Dave Rudabaugh, and others. John Selman, who eventually became known for murdering outlaw John Wesley Hardin, worked there and in the surrounding county as a deputy sheriff.
Following the Red River Wars of 1871 through 1874, the Comanche and Kiowa threat on the prairies waned, and Fort Griffin was eventually closed. There are still remnants of the fort, and it is now a ghost town, and is maintained as a state park.