Fort Towson

Fort Towson was a frontier outpost for Frontier Army Quartermasters along the Permanent Indian Frontier located about two miles (3 km) northeast of the present community of Fort Towson, Oklahoma.

It was established in May 1824, under Col. Matthew Arbuckle, on the southern edge of Indian Territory to guard the border with Spanish colonial territory to the south. It was named for Nathaniel Towson, Paymaster General of the Army. Originally called "Cantonment Towson," it was abandoned in 1829, but soon reestablished as "Camp Phoenix" to protect the Choctaw Nation. It was renamed Fort Towson in 1831. After the construction of Fort Washita 70 miles (110 km) to the west in 1842, Fort Towson lost importance. It was garrisoned until 1854, when it was turned over to the use of the Choctaw Indian Agency (a precursor to the Indian reservation).

The Confederacy took over the fort at the beginning of the American Civil War, as the Choctaw allied with them. The fort was used as the headquarters of Confederate General Samuel B. Maxey. The last remaining Confederate Army troops were commanded by General Stand Watie, a Cherokee and longstanding principal chief of his nation through 1866. He surrendered to Union forces at Fort Towson on June 23, 1865, following the Battle of Doaksville. The post was abandoned at the close of the Civil War.

The location of the fort is an Oklahoma Historic Site and was added to the National Register of Historic Places (#70000531) in 1970.