More features from our Special Collections Colonel Arthur Tracy Lee (1814-1879) served as a regimental officer in the US Eighth Infantry for twenty-three years, twelve in Texas. He joined the army in the late 1830s serving in various posts before arriving in Texas in 1849. Lee, at that time a captain, was part of a force sent to west Texas to protect white settlers who were encroaching on Indian territory. His regiment was encamped at various posts including Camp Worth, Fort Croghan and Fort Martin Scott. In October, 1854 Lee and his regiment were ordered further west, into Apache territory, to establish a fort in the Davis Mountains. Here, inspired by the dramatic scenery surrounding Fort Davis, Lee painted and sketched many views. Today Lee’s paintings are prized as being among the earliest known pictures of West Texas and for the glimpse they provide of frontier life in the mid 1800s. Fort Davis Scene (watercolor) Fort Davis (pencil)Further information about Lee and his paintings can be found in Fort Davis and the Texas Frontier (Fort Worth, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1976). Call number: ND1839 .L47Af.
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