Fort Gibson trip planner

Fort Gibson is a town in Muskogee County which has expanded into Cherokee County as it grew in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The population was 4,154 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.5 percent from 4,054 at the 2000 census. It is the location of Fort Gibson Historical Site and Fort Gibson National Cemetery and is located near the end of the Cherokees' Trail of Tears at Tahlequah, Oklahoma.Colonel Matthew Arbuckle of the United States Army established Fort Gibson in 1824. The Army abandoned the fort in 1890. Some of the original fort still stands at the historic site.The town calls itself, "The Oldest Town in Oklahoma."HistoryAfter the founding of Fort Gibson in 1824, military families, Indians desiring military protection, and free African-Americans settled near the fort, forming a town. After the Army abandoned Fort Gibson in 1857, the Cherokee Nation took over the military stockade and renamed the town Keetoowah. The Army reoccupied Fort Gibson during the American Civil War, and the town again prospered as refugees from fighting elsewhere fled to the relative safety of the fort.On May 20, 1898, the Articles of Incorporation for the town of Fort Gibson were established under the Arkansas Statutes, placing all of the densely settled areas under one jurisdiction.