DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell you this one just the way the official marker lays it out — so hold on, because this road's got a story worth every mile. We're talking about the Van Dorn Trail, right here in Wichita County, and friends, this was the first important wagon road ever cut through this country. It didn't just happen — it was blazed, deliberately and deliberately hard, back in September of 1858.
The man behind it was Brevet Major Earl Van Dorn, who would later make general, and he didn't come out here with a survey crew and a picnic basket. He came with two hundred men of the crack 2nd U.S. Cavalry.
That's a force with a purpose. But here's what the marker wants you to know right up front — Van Dorn wasn't the first one on that ground. Riding just ahead of him was a young man named L.
S. Sul Ross, leading a hundred Indian scouts from the Brazos reservation. Sul Ross.
Remember that name, because Texas certainly did — he'd go on to serve as Governor of Texas from 1887 to 1891, and then as president of Texas A and M College from 1891 to 1898. But in September of 1858, he was young, he was out front, and guiding him and his party through that wild country was Loyal Tonkawa Chief Placido. A chief named Placido, leading the advance through land that did not give itself up easily.
After they opened the trail, Van Dorn made camp on Otter Creek, up in what is now Oklahoma, and he stayed there — not for a week, not for a month — for over a year. While he was at it, he routed the Comanches in a battle near Rush Springs, seventy miles to the east. That fight cost something, though.
Both Van Dorn and Ross were wounded in the fighting. Neither one of them came out of it clean. Then in 1859, Van Dorn struck again — a decisive victory over the Comanches, this time up in Ford County, Kansas.
And the marker makes a point of telling you who was riding in that fight: Kirby Smith, who would later become a noted Confederate general, and Fitzhugh Lee, who would later become governor of Virginia. Those two had just ridden up the west branch of the trail to get there. Famous men, before anyone knew they were famous.
Now, all that cavalry and courage is one part of the story — but here's the piece that made the trail matter to everyday folks: fifteen army wagons hauling supplies to those men. Fifteen wagons rolling back and forth leveled the ground until there was a trail, and that trail became the road that pioneer settlers used when they came into this country afterward. The trail ran from Fort Belknap, near Newcastle, Texas, all the way north to Camp Radzminski on Otter Creek, north of Frederick, Oklahoma.
And at a place called Van Dorn Crossing, the road branched off toward Montague County, where men could ride for supplies. Two hundred cavalrymen, a hundred scouts, a Tonkawa chief, fifteen supply wagons, and two future governors who didn't know it yet — all of them pressed into this ground together, and they left a road behind them that pioneers walked for years to come. That's how a trail earns its name in Texas.
What the marker says
First important wagon road in Wichita County. Blazed by Brevet Major (later general) Earl Van Dorn in September 1858 with 200 men of the crack 2nd U.S. Cavalry. Just ahead of him went young L. S. "Sul" Ross (Governor of Texas 1887-91, and president of Texas A & M College, 1891-98) with 100 Indian scouts from the Brazos reservation. Loyal Tonkawa Chief Placido guided Ross and his party. After opening the trail, Van Dorn camped on Otter Creek, in present Oklahoma, for over a year. He routed the Comanches in a battle near Rush Springs (70 miles east), although he and Ross were wounded in the fighting. In 1859 Van Dorn won another decisive victory over the Comanches in Ford County, Kansas; famous persons in this battle were Kirby Smith (later a noted Confederate general) and Fitzhugh Lee (later governor of Virginia). They had recently ridden up the west branch of the trail. The 15-army wagons which brought supplies to the men leveled a trail much used by pioneer settlers who came afterward. The trail ran from Fort Belknap, near Newcastle, Texas, to Camp Radzminski on Otter Creek, north of Frederick, Oklahoma. At Van Dorn Crossing the road branched off to Montague County for supplies. (1969)