Contents

1 Early Years 2 Civil War 3 Post Civil War Building 4 William Crawford Gorgas 5 First Plane to be Attacked by Hostile Fire 6 124th. Cavalry 7 Decommission

Early Years

In 1845 building was started on the United States side of the Rio Grande River on a fort then known as Fort Texas. During a Mexican bombardment of the fort, the fort lost two soldiers the higher ranking of these being Major Jacob Brown. In honor of the Major then General Zachary Taylor renamed the post Fort Brown. In 1849 the city of Brownsville, Texas was established near to the Fort's lands.

Civil War

In 1861 Confederate Colonel John S. "Rip" Ford occupied the fort until 1863 when Union forces drove out the Confederates. The Union forces under General N.P. Banks camped at the fort site with tents. This ended in 1844 when Confederate forces under General J.S. Slaughter and Colonel Rip Ford reoccupied the area. They would hold the post until the end of the war.

Post Civil War Building

From 1867-1869 the permanent fort was constructed under the supervision of Captain William A. Wainwright.

William Crawford Gorgas

In 1882 Dr. William Crawford Gorgas was assigned to Fort Brown during the height of the Yellow Fever outbreak. During this time Gorgas studied Yellow Fever and did so until he was sent to Cuba during the Spanish-American war.

First Plane to be Attacked by Hostile Fire

On April 20, 1915 Signal Corps Officers Byron Q. Jones and Thomas Millings flew a Martin T.O. Curtiss over the fort to spot movements of Mexican Revolutionary leader Fransisco "Pancho" Villa. The plane reached 2,600 ft. and was up for 20 minutes, it did not cross the border into Mexico though it was fired upon by Machine Guns and Small Arms. These patrols would last for 6 weeks and were used more effectively in 1916.

124th. Cavalry

The cavalry division stationed at Fort Brown from 1929-45 was the 124th. Cavalry division which became the last mounted cavalry division in the United States Army. On November 18, 1940 they went into active Military training. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor the division served with distinguishment in the China-Burma-India theater.

Decommission

In 1945 Fort Brown was decommissioned and was acquired by the City of Brownsville, Texas and Texas Southmost College in 1948.