Location Description and History

Although "Fort Phantom Hill" sounds like the quintessential name for a outpost on the wild plains of Texas in the mid 1800s, the fort actually never received a legal name. Built in late 1851, it was referenced in army missives as the "Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos." Much less exotic. So, when Lt. Colonel W. G. Freeman, the chronicler of the birth and death of these forts on the Texas plains, referred to the fort as "Phantom Hill" in his 1853 records, the name stuck. Not only was it legally unnamed but it also was founded at the incorrect location. The fort was commissioned by the dying General William Belknap, who ordered the new fort on Pecan Bayou. His replacement, General Persifor F. Smith, who was new to Texas and no geography scholar, situated the fort on the Clear Fork of the Brazos, about ten miles north of present-day Abilene. With no name and the wrong location, someone should have figured out that this fort was doomed in some way.

First of all, there were never-ending water problems. Since the nearby creek was often dry, water was regularly hauled from four or five miles away. Wood was scarce and had to be gathered and hauled from a distance of five to eight miles. Records indicate that the ever-present drought destroyed any chances, and eventually hopes, for a garden. Destiny was simply trying to tell them that they weren't supposed to be there.

Only once did Fort Phantom Hill entertain a real war party. A band of 2,500 Comanches approached and, seeing that trenches had been dug around the fort and cannons perched ready for assault, figured the chances were probably better further on down the road. They left. Within a little over two years, command of Fort Phantom Hill was repeatedly handed to lower and lower commissioned officers. Finally, Lt. Newton C. Givens was appointed post commander on March 26, 1854, and abandoned the fort within two weeks. Just after the last troops left in April 1854, Fort Phantom Hill was destroyed by fire. Nothing was left standing except the stone fireplaces and a couple of stone buildings. The remaining buildings were put to use a few times throughout the ensuing years, as a way station, a stable, and a base for subsequent military activities. Although Fort Phantom Hill resides on private land now, ruins are visible from the highway. It is reported that the property owners deserve a tribute for the salvage and restorative work they performed on the ruins, adding labels and marking boundaries of buildings, streets, and other remnants of the The Fort Without A Name. Modern day visitors to Fort Phantom Hill can still get a feel for what life must have been like here in the 1850s as people tried to tame the unforgiving West Texas landscape. It seems the wisdom of General Persifor F. Smith's choice of this site for what was originally known as "The Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River" was disputed from the very beginning, especially by Major John Joseph Abercrombie. The major was a West Point graduate who commanded the Post on the Clear Fork from the time of its establishment on November 14, 1851, until April 27, 1852, according to A History of Fort Phantom Hill, The Post on the Clear Fork of the Brazos River, Jones County, Texas (prepared by Martha Doty Freeman in May 1999 for The Fort Phantom Foundation).

All arguments no not withstanding, the post was indeed established and by 1853 it was transformed into a well organized and thoroughly developed post. However, conditions continued to be difficult for people at the fort, and in November 1853, approval was given for the military to abandon the fort. Shortly after the troops left, fire destroyed most of the log walls and thatch roofs of the buildings that made up this large and complex five company post on the Texas Frontier. However, several stone buildings, stone chimneys, and the stone building foundations remain intact today. In 1858, the property was reoccupied as a way station on the Southern Overland Mail route and the Butterfield Stagecoach set up a stop at the abandoned fort. Fort Phantom Hill was used again during the Civil War by the Confederacy's Frontier Battalion, and in 1871 became a subpost of Fort Griffin (near Albany, Texas) and was used by troops engaged in Indian campaigns.

Map of Ft. Phantom Hill 1. Hospital 2. Commissary and Quartermaster Stores 3. Company Quarters 4. Company Kitchens 5. Officer's Quarters 6. Colonel's Quarters 7. Guard House 8. Adjutant's Office 9. Bakehouse 10. Magazine 11. Blacksmith's Shop 12. Sutler's Store 13. Carpenter Shops

After 1875, a town grew up around the ruins of Fort Phantom Hill. The location functioned first as a buying and shipping point for buffalo hides and eventually as a town of more than 500 residents. Census records in 1880 show more than 545 people living at the fort, which had a hotel and the staples of most West Texas towns.

Fort Phantom Hill also served briefly as the Jones County seat, although residents later moved it to the community of Anson. By the 1890s, Fort Phantom Hill was largely abandoned.

The Fort Phantom Hill property has been owned by the family of Abilenian John Guitar since he purchased it in 1928. Mr. Guitar's grandson, Jim Alexander of Abilene, purchased the property in 1969. In 1997, Mr. Alexander deeded the property to the Fort Phantom Foundation to help assure its long-term preservation and to make it more accessible to the public.
Today Fort Phantom Hill is one of the most pristine historic sites in Texas. Besides the stone chimneys, other remnants of the developed fort remain for visitors to explore at the 22 acre site. These include an intact stone powder magazine, a stone guardhouse, and an almost intact commissary or warehouse.

From the book, Along Texas Old Forts Trail, by Rupert N. Richardson, B. W. Aston, Ira Donathan Taylor: On approaching the post from the north you will see the remaining chimneys standing like sentinels on what looks like a formidable hill overlooking the Clear Fork of the Brazos. As one nears, the hill it disappears and becomes a gentle slope, barely perceptible when one arrives; thus one of the stories of how the post got its name. A second account has to do with a nervous sentry firing on what he thought was an Indian on the hill. A following investigation failed to discover the presence of any Indians, and one of the troopers suggested that the man had seen a ghost. Whatever the case, Maj. Gen. Persifor F. Smith, commanding the Fifth Military Department (Texas), in General Orders Number 91 ordered a post established "at, or in the immediate vicinity of, a point known as Phantom Hill" on the Clear Fork of the Brazos. (Richardson 1963, 68).

Several photographs have also appeared in the local Abilene Newspaper which have "ghost-like" figures in them. visitors and caretakers have reported hearing footsteps around the fort and the feeling of being watched by "something", especially in the old Powder Magazine. There are also two reports of Phantom soldiers near the old hospital, both of which vanish seconds after they are spotted.

Fort Phantom Hill also carries some of the legends surrounding the lake nearby. According to the first local legend, Comanche warriors once encountered a platoon of calvary near the lake. The Comanche fought them and won. But as the victors were returning back to their camp, a furious storm broke. As the tribe's women,children and old men watched,a flash flood consumed them, sending the warriors to their deaths in the lake. "The lake, angered by the blood which had been taken, avenged itself," according to the legend. An indian maiden named Nadassa was one of those who watched the young men die. Grief stricken, she threw herself into the water to rest beside her lover. The second involves a wife of a officer who was stationed at the fort. After a attack from the comanches, she could not locate her husband, and set out to search for him. Her search continued on the lake where she was caught up in a sudden storm which capsized her boat. She drowned and still searches for her lover to this day.

The investigation started with Carl and I sweeping the area for unusual EM fields. With the exception of the old hospital, which had a 30hz field at 5 milligauss, we found nothing of interest. We also searched the area for geomagnetic anomalies. Our surveys relied on downloading saved magnetic-GPS data from the magnetometer for later post-processing and map generation. Post-processing took up to an additional month after returning home from the field before a magnetic map could be realized and the quality of the collected data could be evaluated. Overall, we found nothing of intrest during this excursion.

We spent the rest of the evening taking to the caretakers about things that they had experienced and where they had experienced them. we will use this information to organize another investigation of the location in the future.

There are several problems with the local legends. the first is that the "lake" was not in existence during the time the fort was in operation. In fact it is a Reservoir and was constructed in 1938. The second historical inconsistency is that there never was a battle between the soldiers at the fort and the Comanche.

This only leaves the accounts of the fort's visitors, which are vague at best. A second ghost hunt needs to be scheduled to look into those sightings.