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The Enlisted Men’s Barracks at Fort Davis National Historic Site in Texas housed enlisted soldiers during the fort’s active years.
Restored Buildings
There were originally seven Enlisted Men’s Barracks but only two remain standing. They’ve both been fully restored. One of the barracks includes the park’s visitor center and office where entrance fees are collected.
The second building contains one room filled with authentic wagons, tents, and other artifacts used by enlisted soldiers. The other room is decorated with cots, uniforms, and items soldiers would have kept at their bedside.
Stepping behind the building, there are the foundations of what were once the kitchen and mess hall. Back inside is an office set up with period items as well as boxes of ammunition and army issued revolvers.
Foundations
Continuing north from the two restored Enlisted Men’s Barracks are the foundations of four more barracks. The foundations of a fifth barracks are to the east of the visitor center.
Post Chapel
On the north side of the parade ground between the Enlisted Men’s Barracks and Officers’ Row sit the ruins of the Post Chapel. The building was also used as a library and a schoolroom for children living at the fort. On Friday nights, officers used it as a dance hall from 8pm to midnight.
One important historic event took place at the post chapel. Henry O. Flipper (1856-1940), the first black graduate of West Point in June 1877, accepted a commission as a second lieutenant at Fort Davis a month after graduating. In 1881, after assuming the duties of Acting Commissary of Subsistence and Post Quartermaster, he was accused of embezzling government funds and conduct unbecoming of an officer and gentleman. The court martial proceedings took place at the Post Chapel, where he was found innocent of embezzlement but guilty of improper conduct in and dishonorably discharged in 1882.
Flipper stayed determined and eventually became the first prominent black civil and mining engineer in American history. He also served as the Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior from 1921 to 1923. In 1976, his descendants managed to clear the military charges against him, and the Army Board for Correction of Military Records changed his dishonorable discharge to an honorable discharge.
