Book Eight in the Series of Eight

This is the story of the oldest U.S. Army fort in continuous existence west of the Mississippi. Fort Leavenworth was built on the bluffs of the Missouri River in 1827 as a frontier post to protect trade on the Santa Fe Trail. It served critical roles during the Mexican War, Civil War, and early expansion of the West. Today this historic post is home to the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College.

The history of Fort Leavenworth represents the entire cavalcade of the westward expansion of the United States. Within two decades of Lewis and Clark passing through present eastern Kansas in 1804 on their epic journey to the Pacific Ocean, the United States Army had, and has continued to have, a dominating presence on the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River. Demonstrating the emergence of the United States as a regional power, Fort Leavenworth, established in 1827, replaced both Fort Atkinson to the north and Fort Osage to the east. The new post was but five miles from the former French outpost, Fort de Cavagnial, which was abandoned more than sixty years before. De Cavagnial represented the farthest extent of French colonial expansion in the New World while Fort Leavenworth would represent the United States portal to the Great American West.

The role of Fort Leavenworth would continue to change as the country continued to grow and expand. Initially part of a chain of forts along the permanent Indian frontier, the post's first role was to provide protection to the immigrant Indian tribes being relocated from the East. The role of protector was quickly expanded to cover the overland trade route to Santa Fe. As more areas were opened to settlement, Fort Leavenworth continued to act as a headquarters, staging area, and supply depot for the army operating in the West.

J. Patrick Hughes graduated from the University of Detroit, received his master's degree from Notre Dame University, and his doctorate at Ohio State University. He has taught at Oklahoma State University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Mainz in Germany. He served as an officer in the army for eleven years and a civilian historian for the Air Force for three years. For ten years he was at Fort Leavenworth in the command history office, and is presently command historian of the Ninety-ninth Regional Support Command in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jerry Thomas, a Manhattan resident, created cover artwork for each of the books in the forts series. He is a full-time artist who has received numerous national awards for his wildlife and historical paintings.

This series has been financed in part with federal funds from the National Parks Service, a division of the United States Department of the Interior, and administered by the Kansas Historical Society. The contents and opinions, however, do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of the Interior or the Kansas Historical Society.