In 1831 Fort Jesup had reached maximum in size and no new buildings were added after this date. The scale of the map thus shown, is 132 feet per inch.
A. Dragoon Stables. B. Stable. C. Blissville. D. Soldier’s Quarters—3rd Inf. E. Officers Quarters—3rd Inf. F. Mess House—3rd Inf. G. Officers Quarters No. 1. H. Officers Quarters No. 2. I. Officers Quarters No. 3. J. Store House. K. Powder Magazine. L. Guard House. M. Adjutant’s Office—3rd Inf. N. Quarter Master’s Office. O. Quarter Master’s Office. P. Commissionary Store. Q. Soldier’s Quarters 6 Buildings. R. Cottage. S. Officer’s Quarters—7th Inf. T. Officer’s Quarters. U. Adjutant’s Office. V. Hospital. W. Kitchens to Soldier’s Quarters. Y. Soldier’s Quarters. X. Band’s Quarters. Z. Officer’s Quarters. P. Parade Grounds. - - - - El Camino Real.
Note: Today’s Museum is a replica of one of the buildings listed as Z and Kitchen is original of those listed as W.
Lieutenant Colonel Taylor selected the site and then wrote to General Gaines informing him of his selection—on a hill which was the division between the watersheds of the Red River and the Sabine River. He went as far as he could to the west to establish a permanent command post. Camp Sabine on Sabine River which was established by General Wilkinson was not considered a permanent position, but only an encampment for the benefit of the United States Police Patrol established in the Neutral Strip to police the Sabine River border and to look after the safety of the settlers within the area known as The Neutral Land.
General Wilkinson and his detachment were never entirely successful in quelling the activities of the lawless element. Federal troops stationed at Sabine Town or Camp Sabine or Sabine Block-house (all one and the same site) had some 5000 square miles of territory to patrol. A patrol at that time would have consisted of ten mounted men and one officer. There were approximately 112 men and officers at Camp Sabine, and the detachment post would have consisted of ten patrols. If all were in activity at the same time each patrol would have had 500 square miles to patrol, which, of course, was an impossible task. At this time there were about 50 men and officers in Natchitoches at Fort Claiborne and even the two combined groups would not have been adequate for policing such an enormous area. The outlaws knew this and in the Neutral Strip the lawless roamed and pillaged at will and remained hidden in its thousands of hills and hollows.
It is interesting to note that at the time of the battle of New Orleans in 1815 General Jackson thought the Neutral Strip frontier so important that he did not withdraw the troops from that post to assist in the battle with the British.
In 1822 when Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor established a cantonment at Jesup at Shields Spring by the order of General Edmund Pendleton Gaines, on the highest hill between the Sabine River and the Red River, he had taken into consideration the claim of Cavalier Robert de La Salle, when in 1682, this Frenchman claimed all the land drained by that river for the King of France. With the Louisiana purchase, which consisted of all land claimed by France west of the Mississippi River, this would include the site of Cantonment Jesup on that hilltop. The rainwater falling on the western slope would drain into the Mississippi River via Bayou Adais and Bonna Vista into Bayou Dupont to Little River to Bayou Pierre to the Red River and thence into the Mississippi River. Waters falling on the western slope would find the way to the Sabine River via Phillips Bayou to Bayou LaNann, thence to the Sabine River. Thus, the establishment of Cantonment Jesup at this particular spot had argumentative value in favor of the United States against any outcome of the melting-pot development which could arise west of the Sabine River.
By November 9, 1822, the Quartermaster General’s report stated that the Federal militia was consolidated and located at the Garrison Post at Baton Rouge, three hundred fifteen officers and men of the First Infantry; and at Cantonment Jesup, one hundred forty-one officers and men of four companies of the seventh Infantry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Zachary Taylor.
1822 marked the end of the detachment at Sabine Town, Fort Selden on Bayou Pierre, near Grand Ecore, Louisiana and Fort Claiborne at Natchitoches, Louisiana.
When Mexico won her independence in 1821 the Empressario System was continued and by the end of the year 1823, Stephen Fuller Austin had executed the grant which had previously been given to his father, Moses Austin, in which nearly three hundred American families were allowed to settle in the Texas area. Colonel James B. Many, Commandante at Cantonment Jesup, was there to greet the emigrants on their way to Texas. The same year General Gaines decreed that Cantonment Jesup would be known as Fort Jesup, and made it a permanent establishment of the Army of the United States Government, which resulted in a more thorough settlement of the Sabine area known as the Neutral Strip.