"Custer Put Fort Wallace in The Spotlight"

A Moment in Time

Kansas Historical Society

June 1998

By Rebecca Martin

"Custer Put Fort Wallace in The Spotlight"

Planning day-trips around Kansas this summer? Consider visiting one of our state's frontier forts!

A new book from the Kansas Historical Society focuses on one important military post. Fort Wallace: Sentinel on the Smoky Hill Trail by Leo E. Oliva, offers exciting stories about this western Kansas fort (near present Wallace).

Fort Wallace was founded in 1866 along the Smoky Hill Trail; a stage route between Atchison and Denver. Like other frontier forts, it was intended to protect western commerce and travel.

Among the stories associated with Fort Wallace is the court-martial of George Armstrong Custer. Although Custer was stationed at Fort Riley at the time, this important event centered around his activities near Fort Wallace.

In 1867 Fort Wallace was at the center of conflict between the U.S. military and Plains

Indians. Whites were moving westward in increasing numbers onto Native American lands, particularly those of the Cheyenne and Arapaho. While most chiefs urged peace, young warriors raided stage stations along the Smoky Hill Trail. Open warfare broke out when a white officer ordered the burning of an Indian village in retaliation for these raids.

Troops of the Seventh Cavalry under Custer's command were sent to the region in the spring of 1867. Frustrated by unsuccessful sorties against tribesmen, bad weather, and lonely letters from wife Elizabeth ("Libbie") at Fort Riley, Custer took out his anger on his men. Captain Albert Barnitz wrote to his wife about Custer, "You would be filled with utter amazement, if I were to give you a few instances of his cruelty to the men, and discourtesy to the officers."

In June Custer received orders to mount an expedition along the Republican River. He quickly made plans for Libbie to travel to Fort Wallace where a squadron would meet her.

Custer violated his orders throughout the expedition. He did not journey to Fort Sedgwick (northeast Colorado) for supplies and new orders. Instead, he sent troops to Fort Wallace, ostensibly for supplies but in reality to fetch Libbie (who was unable to be there). An 11-man detail sent out from Fort Sedgwick to find Custer was killed before reaching him.

Custer next moved his command west into Colorado to search for Indians despite signs indicating they had traveled to the east, in Kansas. The summer march was hard on both men and horses. "They do say that he just squandered that cavalry along the road!" Captain Barnitz wrote his wife.

In mid-July the column straggled into Fort Wallace. Not having heard from wife Libbie for some time, Custer became obsessed with seeing her. He immediately called a forced march to Fort

Harker (near present Ellsworth). On the march Custer was so preoccupied that he refused to look for a detail of soldiers (two of whom were shot by Indians) that he had despatched to locate his lost mare. Finally arriving in Fort Riley by train, Custer was happily reunited with his wife.

Hearing of this reckless behavior, Custer's superiors arrested him and accused him of absence without leave and use of government equipment for private business, among other charges. At a court-martial trial he was found guilty and suspended without pay for one year.

After just 10 months, however, Custer was asked to return to his command. Eight years later, in 1876, Custer and five companies of the Seventh Cavalry were killed during a battle with the Sioux along the Little Bighorn River in Montana.

Today, all that remains of Fort Wallace (which closed in 1882) is the post cemetery. The Fort Wallace Museum is just east of Wallace on U.S. 40.

Fort Wallace: Sentinel on the Smoky Hill Trail is the fourth volume in the Kansas Forts Series published by the Kansas Historical Society in cooperation with the Kansas Forts Network. Other books in the series address the histories of Forts Larned, Hays, and Scott. The fifth volume, due later this summer, focuses on Fort Dodge. To order any of these books, call the Museum Store at 785-272-8681, ext. 453 or 454, or write the Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615-1099;785-272-8681; TTY 785-272-8683; www.kshs.org