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 Van Dorn Trail
N 33° 52.285 W 098° 45.811
14S E 521872 N 3747924
Texas Historical Marker in front of the Valley View Country Church, at the intersection of FM 2226 and FM 1206, Valley View, TX, noting the importance of the Van Dorn Trail, which passed through this area.
Waymark Code: WMTGY2
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 11/23/2016
Views: 2
Marker Number: 5633
Marker Text:
(One Mile North)
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 mi E), 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 Radziminski on Otter Creek, north of Frederick, Oklahoma. At Van Dorn Crossing the road branched off to Montague County for supplies. (1969)
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