Fort Lancaster: Gather the troops to celebrate the 
anniversary of a West Texas fort. That's coming up on 
Passport To Texas.


Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife. 


In 1855, the troops at Fort Lancaster, located west of Ozona, 
escorted mail and freight trains, as well as settlers who were 
often attacked by Apache and Comanche, who roamed the area 
between San Antonio and El Paso. 


They usually had about 106 individuals stationed here at its 
high point. Fort Lancaster was named after John Robert Hamilton 
Lancaster, who was a West Point classmate of Cpt. Stephen D. 
Carpenter who was killed by lighting in Florida during the 
Seminole War."


Chris Elliot is a ranger at what is now the Fort Lancaster 
State Historic Site. On October 15th, the park will commemorate 
the 150th anniversary of the fort with a celebration of historical 
proportions. 


"We're going to have soap making, blacksmith. Also we are 
going to have our frontier fort garrison, they will be 
providing most of the canon demonstrations. 
We're going to have a mountain howitzer demonstration, 
also the raising of the flags with the Boy Scouts." 


And no authentic re-creation of the time would be complete 
without the food of the era. Sarsaparilla cola and 
rock candy will be served, as well as a bar-b-que lunch. 
Funds raised from the event will go to help support the 
fort garrison. Fort Lancaster is located on Highway 290 
of Interstate 10, near Sheffield. For more information 
about the anniversary, go to our website, passporttotexas.org. 
For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I'm Cecilia Nasti.