Established by Brevet Major General Persifor Frazer Smith in 1854, Fort Davis is among the last remaining frontier military posts in the Southwest. Housing more than 400 troops at its peak, the fort was also one of the nation's largest. This rare footage captures what remained of Fort Davis in 1932—decades after the US Army ordered it abandoned in 1891. The surviving structures were built by the Ninth Cavalry in the late 1860s. The Ninth was one of four all-Black regiments, better known as Buffalo Soldiers, stationed at Fort Davis during its active history.