Fort Concho wrapped up their Fall Speaker Series this week with historian Jim Matthews’ presentation “Using the Deity’s Name In Reverence on the Texas Frontier: Post Chaplains at Fort Concho.” The research for this presentation can be found in his works:
“Fort Concho: A History and a Guide” and “Always in the Vanguard: The Buffalo Soldiers of Company H, Tenth U.S. Cavalry.”
The story of the men who served as post chaplains at Fort Concho shaped the history of the town that would grow up around it—pastors like Norman Badger.
There were only 35 posts for a frontier chaplain in the US Army at this time. As Matthews explains, Badger’s time as chaplain saw some of the first formal Western education in the Concho Valley.
Through the effort of these two chaplains, eventually a chapel and library were established. Records show that the chaplains educated black and white students at this time, along with their standard duties of performing services, and educating clerks to work for the frontier army.
The title of the presentation comes from a quote of a surgeon at the fort, who upon the arrival of the first fort chaplain, said that “this was probably the first time the deity’s name was ever used in reverence” in this part of the world.
Matthews explained his process for writing: “History is not truth; if you have ever been in an auto accident, as you know every witness has a different story. What we try to do as historians is we look at all of them together and synthesize the story.”
You can read more about this in Matthews’ books here.
Joyce Gray gave us a sneak peek into next year’s speaker series, which will focus on the 250th anniversary of the United States (that’s a semiquincentennial). Featuring re-enactors, presentations from both the Daughters and Sons of the American Revolution, wrapping up with the history of how Texas became a state.
