To protect new settlements in the Republic of Texas, General Edward Tarrant (namesake for Tarrant county) commissioned Major Jonathan Bird to construct a fort near Caddo Village on the West Fork of the Trinity River. The location of the new Fort Bird would be on Caloway Lake, a now privately owned lake in today's Arlington, Texas. Upon completion of this new fort , Major Bird and his crew of 36 volunteers blazed a wagon trail back to the old Fort Inglish, creating the Bird Fort's Trail. Fort Bird became the first official settlement in today's Tarrant County.
General Sam Houston, president of the Republic of Texas, traveled the Bird Fort's Trail in the summer of 1843 to Grape Vine Spring. There his officers negotiated "a Treaty of Peace and Friendship" with 10 Native American Nations at Bird's Fort on September 29th, 1843.