The fort functioned as a base of operations rather than as a fortified point, and it became the center of a substantial network of roads, including the Butterfield Overland Mail.

The fort was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960, in recognition of its key role in securing the Texas frontier in the 1850s and 1860s.

[3] Some notable officers who were stationed at Fort Belknap include Captain Randolph B. Marcy and Lieutenant George B. McClellan.

"Northern Indians fell upon the hapless Texas frontier with such violence that a whole tier of frontier counties was disbanded..."[6]: 291  Families remaining in Young County "huddled in the abandoned buildings of Fort Belknap" and "during snow storms sought shelter in the abandoned buildings.

[7] The fort was gradually dismantled for building materials, so that by 1936, only the magazine and part of the cornhouse remained.