Fort Griffin State Historic Site was a Cavalry fort established in the late 1860s in the northern part of West Texas, specifically northwestern Shackelford County, to give settlers protection from early Comanche and Kiowa raids. It was named for Charles Griffin, a former Civil War Union general who had commanded the Department of Texas during the early years of Reconstruction. On January 1, 2008, Fort Griffin was transferred from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to the Texas Historical Commission.