Historical Marker Program

Edwards’s Post

Hughes County
Location: on OK-48 south of Holdenville
Coordinates: 35.018887, -96.367855
Material: Aluminum
Sponsor(s): Oklahoma Historical Society and the Oklahoma Department of Transportation
Topics: American Indians; Indian and Frontier Trade; Westward Expansion, 1803–1861

Edwards’s Post was established c. 1835 by the firm Edwards and Shelton near the site of Camp Canadian (also known as Fort Holmes), which had been established for the Dodge-Leavenworth Expedition and subsequently abandoned. James Edwards, the post’s chief proprietor, was a white trader married to a Muscogee (Creek) woman. Jesse Chisholm worked for Edwards and married his daughter, Eliza. Native and white traders met at Edwards’s Post to exchange goods, horses and mules, and captives prior to the Civil War.

Note: This marker replaced the Fort Holmes historical marker.

Fort Holmes

Hughes County
Location: on OK-48 west of Kenefic
Topics: American Indians; Military; Westward Expansion, 1803–1861

This frontier fort was established by Lieutenant Theophilus Holmes who later rose to the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate Army. Holmes built temporary barracks for troops in 1834 to serve as an advance base for troops stationed at Fort Towson. General Henry Leavenworth visited here on his 1834 expedition to the Plains Tribes.

Note: This marker has been replaced by the Edwards’s Post historical marker.

Shawnee Town

Hughes County
Location: on OK-12, one mile west of Atwood
Topics: American Indians; Settlement Patterns; Territorial Period, 1861–1907; Urban Development

The town was a settlement of Absentee Shawnee and Delaware on the California Road. The tribes had migrated from Ohio before 1800 and were allowed by the Choctaw National Council to remain in the area. The Absentee Shawnee occupied the site on the South Canadian River until 1857 when they moved northward to the Creek Nation and settled near Tecumseh in present Pottawatomie County.

Note: This marker was reported missing on 6/8/2023.

Whipple Survey

Hughes County
Location: on US-75, three to four miles south of Calvin
Material: Aluminum
Topics: Arts; Government; Military; Natural Resources; Transportation; Westward Expansion, 1803–1861

Under instructions of Jefferson Davis, US Secretary of War, Lieutenant A. W. Whipple (later Major General, US Army) made the first railroad survey from Fort Smith to the Pacific Coast in 1853. With H. B. Mollhausen, artist, Jules Marcou, geologist, and other scientists in the party, they crossed here on August 10 from camp a few miles east near Shawnee Town.

Note: This marker was reported missing on 6/8/2023.