ARKANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY, Volume 45, Autumn 1986, p. 217 A Dragoon in Arkansas Territory in 1833 BY DAVID WALKER LUPTON* and DOROTHY RULAND LUPTON* 1941 Oakwood Drive, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521   LANCASTER PLATT LUPTON graduated from West Point Military Academy n 1829 (1). He was twenty-two years old, given the rank of brevet second lieutenant, 3rd Infantry, and ordered to travel to Jefferson Barracks south of St. Louis (2). This post had been established to serve as a central location from which troops could be sent to outlying posts throughout the Mississippi Valley (3), and it was here that Lieutenant Lupton would embark on a turbulent military career that lasted six years. In the spring of 1831 Lupton was sent from Jefferson Barracks to assist in the rebuilding of Cantonment 9 later fort) Towson, six miles north of the Red River on Gates Creek in Arkansas Territory (present day southeastern Oklahoma) (4). The post had taken on more importance in line with the government's resettlement programs for the Indians and was chosen to be a permanent fort within the Choctaw Nation. During the two years he was at Fort Towson the government had been reviewing its need for a permanent mounted infantry on the frontier (5). _______________________ * The authors are employed at Colorado State University Libraries in Fort Collins, Colorado. 1. George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N. Y., from its Establishment in 1820 to 1890 (Boston 3d ed., rev. and extended, 1891), I, 435. 2. LeRoy R. Hafen, "Old Fort Lupton and Its Founder," Colorado Magazine, VI (November 1929), 222. 3. Richard E. Mueller, "Jefferson Barracks: The Early Years," Missouri Historical Review, LXVII (October 1972), 7. 4. Hafen, "Old Fort Lupton and Its Founder," 222. 5. Cantonment Towson was established in May 1824 and redesignated as Fort Towson in February 1832. Kenneth E. Lewis, "Archaeological Investigations at Fort Towson, Choctaw County, Oklahoma, 1971," Chronicles of Oklahoma, L (Autumn 1972), 273-274.           Contents  Words  Study Questions  Related Sites Next