Van Dorn Trail

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 miles east), 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 Radzminski on Otter Creek, north of Frederick, Oklahoma. At Van Dorn Crossing the road branched off to Montague County for supplies. (1969)

Van Dorn Trail is a historical marker in Iowa Park, Wichita County, dedicated in 1969. It is one of 73 historical markers documented in Wichita County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 87 historic sites cataloged across the county.

The site sits at 33.8736, -98.7628 near Iowa Park. The nearest cataloged historic site is Site of Valley View School (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Buffalo Road, The Old, Kadane Discovery Well (About 700 Feet to the Southwest), and Bereets.

This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #5485005633. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.