At Fort Jesup under the command of General Taylor were seven companies of the Second Dragoons and eight companies of the Fourth Infantry. Four companies of the Fourth Infantry were stationed at Camp Salubrity.
Texas expressed a desire at the July 1845 session of the Texas Congress to become a State of the Union.
General Taylor at Fort Jesup received instructions to place the Troops under his command in the Army of Observation in such locations that would be most advantageous to render support to Texas if such an occasion should arise.
The Mexican conflict seemed inevitable and Taylor ordered Camp Salubrity abandoned and the Companies of Infantry there boarded steamboats at Grand Ecore for New Orleans along with three companies of the four companies of the 4th infantry which were stationed at Fort Jesup.
This July 1845 Report from Fort Jesup explains the removal of the Troops from Fort Jesup and those who remained:
July 17, 1845, The 3rd Infantry under the command of Lt. Col. Hitchcock left this post for the point of embarkation for New Orleans.
July 25, 1845, The 2nd Dragoons under the command of Colonel Twiggs left this post for Texas Via the Texas Trail. On this day Lt. Zill P. Inge assumes command at Fort Jesup.
There remains at this Post, and all present accounted for the following: One Company of the 4th infantry and one company of the 2nd Dragoons. The names of these men appear on the July 31, 1845, Daily Report.
Conally Triche. George S. Darte. Quims Tomas. James Huntly. William Story. James Welsh. Francis Shaw. Samuel Tacker. George Waggoner. Andrew Munscle. John A. Goddard. Benjiman Peterson. David S. Barslette. John McDormott. Joseph McGee. Richard Goldring. Samuel H. Jordan. James Conway. Ferdinand Turkels. Thurman Patterson. Michael Sheridan. William H. McDonnald. Isaac Curry. John L. Creps. John B. Hickey. John Murphy. Paul Spencer. Hugh McHugh. John R. Bloomer. William Horton. Cazimiery Rosinowski. George Cassody. Ames W. Grimes. Reubin W Brenner. William Hearne. John B Rezzer. Alexinder Silves. James Sheene. Charles W Williams. John Adams. William Bayer. James Heath. Michael O’Keefe. William R Smith. John Mitchele. John W. Conway. William Stansbury. Jeremiach O’Leary. William Bailey. James Long. Edward Harrington. Patrick Connally. Thomas Kelley. Peter Savage. William Ashton. Stephen Turner. Joseph A Jinkins. Patrick Maloney. George Holmes. Louis H Tucker. John Hamilton. James Horton. James Foley. Horice Clark. William Howe. Isaac Trotter. William McGill. Berman Wellenbrook. William Taylor. Edward Melton. Gregory Bishop. John Goodele. Robinson McClellan. Michale Ryan. Archibald Turner. Samuel Turner. John Freeman. George Hendricks. Hamilton Taylor. James Doughtry. Asa Freleigh. William Pully. Francis Gillam. William R Keeper. Henry Burrows. Joseph R Steward. John Dorian. Frederick Leach. William Turner. Alexander Cody. William A Burks. John Hunter. Phillip Hoffman. Richard A Banks. Patrick Bigland. Charles W Livingston.
These men comprise the 1st Company of the 2nd Dragoons and One half Company of the 3rd Inf. and one half Company of the 4th infantry. Most of them were sick at the time of the dispersement of the troops at Fort Jesup.
Signed: 1st Lt Zill P Inge 1st Co 2nd Dragoons. Fort Jesup, La.
July 31 1845.
On November 29, 1845, the Adjutant General ordered that Fort Jesup was no longer required as a military post, all military supplies, buildings and land be disposed of.
Thus Zachary Taylor when a Lt. Col. executed the order to establish Fort Jesup and 23 years later as a Brigadier General executed the order to abandon it.
Ironic as it may seem, Fort Jesup brought law to a lawless land. It was a buffer zone through which passed softly, those intent on a new kind of freedom. It was the mould which shaped the southwestern section of these United States.
