Phantom Hill

Fort Phantom Hill was one of the second line of forts laid out in the early 1850s to protect the westward-moving frontier of Texas settlement. In 1849 the federal government sent Capt. Randolph B. Marcy to explore and mark the best route through the Comancher?a, the vast region to the north and west of Austin inhabited by the warlike Comanche Indians. This was meant to give safer passage to immigrants headed for the California gold fields. The advanced cordon of forts, including Fort Phantom Hill, was established as a result of Marcy's recommendations.