Site of Fort Terrett

Duane's take

Now, the marker tells it this way, and I'm just the one passin' it along. Out here in Sutton County, the land remembers things people forgot long ago; and one of those things is a fort that came and went like a hard season. The United States Army established Fort Terrett on February 5, 1852, planting it right here on the frontier as a shield for the settlers pushing into this unforgiving country.

Two years, twenty-one days: that's all the time this fort ever had. It was abandoned on February 26, 1854, and the land just swallowed it back up. But the name it carried?

That name came at a steep price. Fort Terrett was named in honor of Lieutenant John C. Terrett, who fell at Monterrey on September 21, 1846.

A soldier gone, a name given, a fort raised and then quietly surrendered to the Texas wilderness. Some stories don't stretch on forever. Some are short, and exact, and heavy as stone; and this one's all three.

What the marker says

Site of Fort Terrett. Established February 5, 1852 by the United States Army as a protection to frontier settlers, named in honor of Lieutenant John C. Terrett who fell at Monterrey, September 21, 1846; abandoned February 26, 1854.