Also occurring in 1859, the troops again suffered a major water shortage, the fort  was abandoned, and the troops transferred to Camp Cooper. However, the Butterfield Overland Mail Station that had been situated there in 1858, continued to operate until 1861.

In early 1861, believing that war was imminent, General David E. Twiggs, in San Antonio, ordered Colonel William H. Emory to gather all federal troops and move them north to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On February 9, 1861, General Twiggs surrendered all United States forts and military equipment in Texas. During the Civil War, Confederates of the Texas Frontier Regiment used the post for a base against hostile Indians and for the protection of settlers, but the inexperienced troops could not stop Indian raids.

After the Civil War, U.S. troops returned to Fort Belknap in April, 1867 and began to restore its buildings. However, they continued to suffer from poor water supplies and because the frontier had moved westward, the fort was abandoned for the last time in September, 1867. Forts Richardson, to the northeast, and Fort Griffin, to the southwest, replaced Belknap in the frontier defense system. For the next several years, detachments were occasionally stationed there to watch over the mail road or to control Indian uprisings, but after the subjugation of the southern Plains tribes in the Red River War of 1874-75, the fort fell into ruins and settlers dismantled it.

In 1936, during the Texas Centennial, the state, using supplemental Federal funds, began to restore the fort. At that time, only the magazine and part of the cornhouse were standing. The State restored these structures and reconstructed the commissary, a kitchen, two 2-story barracks, and the well. All of these are on the original foundations except the kitchen, constructed between the barracks. The buildings are of stone construction and have shingled roofs. The 20-acre site then became a county park.

The site was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1960. Today, the Fort Belknap Society administers museums in the commissary and cornhouse; and, jointly with Texas Wesleyan College, the Fort Belknap Archives of Western America, is located in one of the barracks.

One of the former infantry barracks is now used as a community center.  In the town of Belknap is a monument to Indian Agent Neighbors.

The fort is located in Young County, at the terminus of Texas Highway 251, about three miles south of Newcastle.

Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, November, 2009

  Primary Source: National Park Service