Fort Lyday

Marker Text:

Early Texas Pioneer Isaac Lyday built a fort in this area soon after settling here in 1836.  The compound, located 75 mi. E and .5 mi. N. of the old Lyday crossing on the North Sulphur River, consisted of living quarters, storerooms, and a large community well.  Many local families gathered inside the Fort during Indian raids.  Due to an increase in these raids, the area was almost abandoned by Anglo settlers until Texas Ranger Captain William B. Stout arrived in 1838 to organize a Ranger force.  Lyday was elected captain of the Company and served until 1839.  Fort Lyday continued to shelter settlers until the raids subsided ca. 1843, and the fort was eventually abandoned.

Directions:  From Ladonia, take FM 64 east 4 miles to FM 904; then north on FM 904 for 4 miles to right of way.

Fort Lyday

Context:  Early Texas pioneers, led by Isaac Lyday, built Fort Lyday in 1836 for protection against hostile Indian raids in northeast Texas.  There were 25-30 families living in the fort, clearing and farming their surrounding lands communally in what is now Fannin and Lamar Counties.  The fort was located on a small hill, giving full view on all four sides, three-fourths of a mile east and a half mile north of the old Lyday Crossing on the North Sulphur River (now FM 904).  Typical of small private forts on the Texas frontier, Fort Lyday covered about a quarter acre, with several ten-by-twelve-foot storerooms against its north wall, and similarly sized living quarters against the other three.  Floors in the rooms were hand hewn from local post oak timbers.  The fort was surrounded by a picket palisade and had a large well in the middle of the parade ground, where the women gathered to coo, wash clothes, and watch their children play.  A livestock corral was attached.  Isaac Lyday, his brothers, his neighbors, and their slaves protected the fort by themselves until 1838.  The fort was then garrisoned by the Red River County Rangers under the command of Capt. William B. Stout.  Under the order of Gen. John H. Dyer, commander of the Fourth Militai Brigade, Stout's men repaired the fort, brought in other families, and selected Isaac Lyday to be in charge of the armed citizens.  The fort saw sporadic activity until about 1843, when troubles with the Indians in the area at last subsided.  Thereafter, Fort Lyday was allowed to all into decay.

Overview:   Isaac Lyday and his brother Andrew, two Texas pioneers from Tennessee, first settled on North Sulphur River in Fannin County, near the Lamar County line, in the 1830s.  Hostile Indian bands roamed the countryside, and  were so bad along North and South Sulphur that the 25-30 families in the area built a fort in 1836 and named it after the Lydays.

The site of old Fort Lyday was pin-pointed in 1965 through research by Dr. Evan Roberts, biology professor and then sponsor of the East Texas State College Archeological Society, and Tilden Lyday, great-grandson of Captain Isaac Lyday and Doug Sears, who played in the fort ruins when a child.  An abandoned old well, standing in a pasture south of Dial in southeastern Fannin County, was once surrounded by the courtyard of Fort Lyday and used by the pioneer women to draw water for their daily needs.  The well, now filled with dirt, was 10 feet in diameter and lined with rock.  The actual location of Fort Lyday was a small hill giving full view and protection of all four sides, three-quarters of a mile east and a half-mile north of the old Lyday Crossing on Sulphur River where the present Pecan Gap highway (FM 904)passes over Sulphur.

According to Doug Glenn Sears, who vividly recollected the old fort ruins, the compound occupied a quarter-acre.  There were 10 x 12 foot storerooms on the north side and living rooms, also 10 x 12, making up the rest of the rectangular fort.  Floors in the rooms were hand hewn from post oak timbers.  The center of the fort was open, and the women gathered there to cook, wash their clothes, and watch the children play.  A livestock corral was attached.

This account of Fort Lyday was verified by Julius Puckett of Hainesville, whose grandmother, Elizabeth Varner Haines, was born in Fort Lyday on April 20, 1840.  She was the daughter of Martin Varner, Indian fighter who helped build the fort.  She recalled that large dogs were kept in the fort for protection when the men were away, since the Indians were more afraid of dogs than of rifles.

Two graveyards are near the site of Fort Lyday, the Bledsoe cemetery and the older Lyday cemetery.  Isaac Lyday is buried at the older cemetery along with the oldest negro and white settlers.  Andrew Lyday is buried at the Bledsoe cemetery.  Andrew Lyday's gravestone is located in the Bledsoe cemetery, located across the road from the original site of Fort Lyday (land now owned by Bill and Mary Ann Thurman).

Early settlers at Fort Lyday included Isaac and Andrew Lyday, Wiley B. Merrill, James McFarland, the Dillingham Brothers, Elbert Early, Ansalem and Andrew Terry, David Waggoner, James H. Woods, the McCowan family, the Lane family, M. W. Bledsoe, G. W. Wilkerson, R. Brown and Al Miller.

For further research and a more detailed account of life at Fort Lyday, including additional historical context surrounding these times, see the account written by Don Raney for the Dallas Geneological Society.