Fort Smith: Vanguard of the Western Frontier

Founded in 1817 on the western edge of the United States, Fort Smith drew settlers who carved farms and homesteads from thick forests and established early businesses. Fort Smith: Vanguard of the Western Frontier details the area’s natural resources and how prosperity brought outlaws, drifters, and scandals, leading to the creation of the U.S. District Court for Western Arkansas and Indian territory. Today, visitors to this vanguard may reflect on how Manifest Destiny and the rugged realities of frontier life helped shape the nation’s character.

Fort Smith National Historic Site preserves almost 80 years of history. From 1817 to 1896, the fort built by veterans of the War of 1812 and a jumping off place for the Gold Rush witnessed the Civil War, the Trail of Tears, federal Indian policy, and Judge Isaac C. Parker’s 21-year jurisdiction over the Western District of Arkansas. Visitors can inspect the rock foundation of the first fort’s wooden walls, the Commissary building in use during the War with Mexico, and a reconstruction of the gallows used by the federal court.

Product Details

• Historical nonfiction
• 80 pages, approx. 8” x 10”, includes historical photographs
• Written by Billy D. Higgins and revised for 2026
• Printed in USA by Eastern National