THE
RESTORATION
OF OLD
FORT GIBSON
By Q. B. Boydstun*

The Fort Gibson Military
Park is located in the town of
Fort Gibson, Muskogee
County, Oklahoma, and
covers about fifty-five acres          '            . s r
of the Old Fort Gibson
Military Reservation and is
owned by the State of Okla-
homa. Originally, Fort Gib-                                  -
son, a United States military
post, was located in the           The author, Q. B. Boydstun, served
as chairman of the Old Fort Gibson
Cherokee Nation on the left        Stockade Commission which super-
bank of the Neosho or Grand        vised the reconstruction of the fort
River approximately two           (('ourtesy of the author).
and one-half miles from its
confluence with the Arkan-
sas River.
By an act of Congress, the western boundary of the Territory of Arkansas
was removed forty miles (in a straight line) west of the southwest corner of
Missouri. After the passage of that act, and after the line had been run due
south to Red River, it was deemed expedient by the government to remove
the garrison from Fort Smith. Accordingly, the garrison at Fort Smith,
consisting of companies B, C, G, H, and K, 7th Infantry under the
command of Colonel Matthew Arbuckle, and pursuant to General Order
No. 20, A. G. 0., March 6, 1824, abandoned Fort Smith and proceeded to
a point on the Neosho (Grand), about two and one-half miles from its
junction with the Arkansas River. There, they established a military post
under the name of Cantonment Gibson, in honor of Colonel George
Gibson, then Commissary General of Subsistence.
On April 21, 1824, two long flat boats were seen ascending Grand River
manned by bearded young men in the uniform of the United States Army.
As they worked the boats up river, they scanned the shore for a landing
place. About two and one half miles from the river's mouth they were
successful in discovering a wide ledge of shelving rock on the east bank,
which made a natural boat landing. They tied up their boats at this ledge,
176

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