The ruins and artifacts at the site of Historic Fort Towson, listed on the National Register of Historic Places is all that remained when the Oklahoma Historical Society acquired the site in 1960.

The fort was established in May 1824, under Col. Matthew Arbuckle, on the southern edge of Indian Territory to guard the border with Spanish colonial territory to the south. It was named for Nathaniel Towson, Paymaster General of the Army. After five years it was abandoned, but soon reestablished as \"Camp Phoenix\" to protect the Choctaw Nation, then renamed Fort Towson in 1831. The fort was also an important staging area for U.S. forces during the Mexican War of 1846. After the construction of Fort Washita 70 miles to the west, Fort Towson lost importance. It was garrisoned until 1854, when it was turned over to the use of the Choctaw Indian Agency (a precursor to the Indian reservation).

The Confederacy took over the fort at the beginning of the American Civil War, as the Choctaw allied with them. The fort was used as the headquarters of Confederate General Samuel B. Maxey. The last remaining Confederate Army troops were commanded by General Stand Watie, a Cherokee and longstanding principal chief of his nation through 1866. He surrendered to Union forces at Fort Towson on June 23, 1865, following the Battle of Doaksville. The post was abandoned at the close of the Civil War.