Kansas Historical Quarterly

The Military Post as a Factor in the
Frontier Defense of Kansas, 1865-1869

by Marvin H.Garfield

THE name “fort” is perhaps a misnomer when applied to the military posts of the western frontier during the sixties. No huge, grim structure of defense which usually is associated with the name fort was ever erected on the western border. Nor did the western fort usually possess a stockade or blockhouse for defensive purposes. Officers' quarters, soldiers' barracks, stables, military storehouses and headquarters buildings, grouped around a trim parade ground, constituted the frontier fort. While no doubt a disappointment to many of its critics the military post of the Middle West admirably fulfilled the purposes for which it was constructed, i. e., the keeping open of lines of travel and communication and the protection of outlying settlements.

     Forts were located without any definite prearranged plan. A military necessity for a post at a certain point determined that the post should be there established. [1] During the Civil War and in the period immediately following, increased Indian activity on the plains caused an expansion in the total number of frontier posts. In 1860 there were seventy-three army posts on the frontier, four located in Kansas. These forts had an average garrison of 180 men. By 1864 the number of forts had increased to 101. Kansas, in the meantime, had had its quota raised to five. In 1867 the American frontier possessed 116 posts with an average of 212 men per post. This was the high mark in frontier garrisons. By 1870 the number of posts had decreased to 111 with an average garrison of 205 men. [2]

     Army forts were of two types: The permanent fort, and the temporary outpost or camp. The former was built as a definite protection to some route of travel or communication and was in service for years, whereas the latter usually was operated for only a few weeks or months as military needs determined.

     The first military post in Kansas, Cantonment Martin, was established in 1818 when Kansas was nothing but an unknown portion of the Louisiana Territory. The cantonment, or military camp, came

1. Raymond L. Welty,“The Army Fort of the Frontier,” North Dakota Historical Quarterly, v. II, No. 3, p. 155.
2. Ibid., 156-157.

(50)

GARFIELD: THE FRONTIER DEFENSES OF KANSAS 51

into existence as a base of supplies for Major Stephen H. Long's engineering expedition of 1819-'20. It was located on Cow Island in the Missouri river within the bounds of the present Atchison county, Kansas.

     Major Long and his explorers reached Cantonment Martin, August 18, 1819, on the Western Engineer, the first steamboat to go up the Missouri river. Before leaving Cow Island for his famous scientific journey into the Rocky Mountains, Major Long held a peace powwow with thirteen Osages and 161 Kanzas Indians. The Kanzas or Kaws as they were later called, admitted depredations against the soldiers but promised to be peaceful in the future. White Plume, ancestor of Vice President Charles Curtis, was one of the Kaw chiefs who signed the agreement.

     Cantonment Martin was occupied until Long's expedition returned in October, 1820. The camp was then abandoned until 1826 when it was temporarily occupied by the First United States Infantry and called Camp Croghan. No buildings remained on the island in 1832 due to numerous destructive floods of the Missouri. The island was not occupied again until the Civil War. On June 3, 1861, members of the First Kansas Volunteers used it as a base of operations against the Confederate town of Iatan, which lay opposite on the Missouri side of the river. [3]

     Nearly all the permanent military establishments within the state of Kansas were built to serve as guardians of the great highways to Colorado and New Mexico. The Santa Fe trail was defended by three of these: Forts Zarah, Lamed, and Dodge; while Forts Riley,

3. Authority for the statements concerning Cantonment Martin comes from the following sources: Andreas, A. T., History of Kansas, pp. 53, 64, 59. Remsburg, George J.,Atchison County Clippings, v. 1, pp. 3, 15, 28, 48, 69, 70, 92, 192. Adams, F. G., “The Kansas Indians,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. 1, pp. 280-285, 287, 289, 29-299, 301. McCoy, John C., “Survey of Kansas Indian Lands,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. 4, p. 303. Remsburg, George J., “Isle au Vache,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. 8, pp. 436-442. Chappell, Phil E., “A History of the Missouri River,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9, pp. 277, 278, 309, 312. Adams, Zu, and Root, George A., Historic Locations in Kansas, with map, Kansas Historical Collections, v. 9, pp. 565, 676. Montgomery, Mrs. Frank C., and Root, George A., compilers, “Indian Treaties and Councils Affecting Kansas,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. 16, p. 748. Morrison, T. F., “The Osage Treaty of 1865,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. 17, p. 699. Napton, William B., “The Pioneer Soldiers of Missouri, Kansas and Iowa. History of Cantonment Martin and Council Bluffs,” unpublished manuscript in Kansas Historical Society. Thwaites, Reuben G., ed., Early Western Travels, Maximilian, v. -22, pp. 255, 256. Long, Major Stephen H., Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains Performed in the Years 1819 and 20, Compiled by Edwin James, v. 1, pp. 110-113, 136, 137, 141; v. 2, p. 321, 324, 325. Apx. pt. 1, pp. 14, 15; pt. 2, p xlii.

52 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

Harker, Hays and Wallace stood guard over the Smoky Hill route to Denver. Fort Leavenworth, father of all the Kansas military posts, stood at the head of both these famous trails, in addition to being connected with the Platte trail to California and Oregon. Of the major forts, Fort Scott alone remained aloof from the busy thoroughfares to the West.

     Kansas was defended during the sixties by two types of forts; the U. S. army posts of both classes, garrisoned by army regulars, and the local defensive fort which sprang up to meet some sectional emergency and was usually garrisoned by state militia, although sometimes merely by local settlers. A map of Kansas in 1868 indicated eight United States army posts within the boundaries of Kansas. [4] A ninth, Fort Wallace, was also in service although not shown on the map. The following United States army posts were denoted: Fort Leavenworth in Leavenworth county, Fort Scott in Bourbon county, Fort Riley in Riley county [now in Geary county], Fort Ellsworth (Harker) in Ellsworth county, Fort Zarah in Barton county, Fort Larned in Pawnee county, Fort Hays in Ellis county and Downers Station in Trego county. The last was a temporary outpost; the first seven were permanent structures.

     To give a clear notion of the extent of frontier defense in pioneer Kansas it is necessary to do more than merely name the United States army posts. To do justice to the subject not only must each of these major military defenses be located and a brief history of each given, but mention must be made of the more important temporary camps or stations of the regular army as well as the local fortresses of the settlers. It would also be illogical to overlook those army posts located adjacent to but outside of Kansas. These materially aided in the state's defense. The following study, therefore, will concern itself with each class of fortifications in the order named: (1) Permanent United States army forts in Kansas; (2) temporary United States army camps or stations in Kansas; (3) local defensive forts in Kansas; (4) permanent United States army forts adjacent to, but outside of Kansas.

     Fort Leavenworth was the first permanent United States army fort established in Kansas. It was founded by Colonel Henry Leavenworth in 1827. From that date until well in the 70's this fort on the Missouri served as the chief unit in the system of frontier defense. In the fifties and sixties it was the general depot from which

4. Daily Kansas State Record (Topeka), June 19, 1868.

GARFIELD: THE FRONTIER DEFENSES OF KANSAS 53

supplies were sent to all the United States military posts, camps and forts in the Great West. [5] Here the military commanders of the department of Missouri, of which Kansas was a part, made their headquarters. With only a few exceptions Leavenworth remained the department headquarters. When necessity demanded the department commander shifted headquarters to the other forts within his department. For example, General Sheridan moved his headquarters to Fort Hays in 1868 and later to Camp Supply in Indian Territory. During the winter of 1869-'70 General Schofield was forced to shift his headquarters to St. Louis in order to make room at the post for the Seventh Cavalry, which had been on the plains the previous year. [6] The importance of Fort Leavenworth is demonstrated by the fact that General Sterling Price made it one of the objectives in his famous raid of 1864.

     Fort Scott was established four miles west of the Missouri line in east central Kansas in 1842. Because of its location it never was a factor in the frontier defense of the state against the Indians in the sixties; although for a short time in 1865 garrisons stationed in the town patrolled the eastern border of the state as a protection against possible bushwhacker invasion from Missouri. [7]

     Fort Riley was established in 1853 on the north bank of the Kansas river at the junction of the Smoky Hill and Republican forks. Since it was closer to the area of Indian troubles it soon became the point of departure for most of the mounted expeditions against the hostile tribes. [8] During the great Indian wars of the sixties, however, the forts farther to the west and south became the starting points for expeditions against the Indians. Fort Riley's chief function during that period became one of organizing and drilling troops and as headquarters for military supplies. Here the famous Seventh Cavalry was organized in the fall of 1866. The fort held a unique position in the military organization of the nation, being listed in army records as an independent post. [9]

5. Elvid Hunt, History of Fort Leavenworth 1827-1927 (Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, The General Service School's Press, 1926), 97. Hereafter cited as Hunt, History of Fort Leavenworth.
6. Ibid., 97.
7. Telegram from General Robert B. Mitchell to Governor Samuel J. Crawford, May 12. 1865, Correspondence of Kansas Governors, Crawford (Telegrams), 6, Archives, Kansas Historical Society. Hereafter cited C. K. G., Crawford, (Telegrams). [The various forms of this series of correspondence will hereafter be cited C. K. G.] Mitchell, commander at Fort Leavenworth, stated that Colonel Blair of Fort Scott was under orders to look after the eastern border of Kansas as far north as the Kaw river.
8. Hunt, History of Fort Leavenworth, p. 93.
9. Report of the Secretary of war, 1868, 40th Cong. 2d sess., House Ex. Docs., v. II, No. 1, part 1, p, 39.

54 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

     Of the guardians of the Santa Fe trail in Kansas during the sixties, Fort Larned was the oldest and most important. Established in 1859 as the “Camp on Pawnee Fork,” its history dates back further than that of either Forts Dodge or Zarah. On February 1, 1860, the place was rechristened Camp Alert, and later in the year received its permanent name, Fort Larned. The fort was located on the bank of the Pawnee Fork about eight miles west of its junction with the Arkansas river near the present town of Larned. Fort Larned's principal usefulness was as a headquarters for military forces detailed to guard traffic along the trail. It also served as an Indian agency and gathering place for the plains tribes. When a rumor reached Kansas in 1872 that General Pope proposed to discontinue Fort Larned as a military post Governor Harvey protested vigorously, stating that the people of south-central Kansas, and especially the workmen engaged in constructing the Santa Fe railroad, needed the fort as a protection against the Indians. [10] Accordingly the fort was not abandoned until 1878.

     Fort Zarah, located on Walnut creek about one mile from its confluence with the Arkansas, was established by General S. R. Curtis in 1864 and named in honor of his son. [11] Fort Zarah aided materially in the guarding of the Santa Fe trail, escorts being constantly employed to accompany trains west to Smoky Crossing between Zarah and Larned and east for twenty-five miles toward Council Grove. [12] The post was abandoned in December, 1869. [13]

     Fort Dodge, the most westerly of the big forts along the trail in Kansas, was established in 1864 by Major General Grenville M. Dodge. The post was near the intersection of the dry and wet routes of the Santa Fe trail. It lay between the two points where the Indians most frequently crossed the Arkansas -- the Cimarron Crossing, twenty-five miles west, and Mulberry Creek Crossing, fifteen miles east. It attained its greatest importance during the latter part of 1868 when it was used for a time by General Sheridan

10. Letter of Governor James M. Harvey to General John Pope, February 2, 1872, C. K. G., Harvey (Letter press books), v. I, pp. 101-102.
11. Landmarks, Barton County (a typewritten collection of notes and manuscripts dealing with the historical landmarks of Kansas, compiled by the library of the Kansas Historical Society, Topeka). Hereafter cited as Landmarks with or without the county name following.
12. W. F. Pride, The History of Fort Riley (n. p., n. pub., c. 1926), p. 148.
13. List of military forts, arsenals, camps, and barracks, T. H. S. Hamersly, Complete Army and Navy Register (New York, T. H. S. Hamersly, publisher, 1888), 162. Hereafter cited as Hamersly.

GARFIELD: THE FRONTIER DEFENSES OF KANSAS 55

as headquarters for his famous winter campaign against the Indians in Indian Territory and Texas. [14]

     That the locality near Fort Dodge was of strategic importance in guarding the trail is evidenced by the fact that several other forts preceded it in the region. The earliest of these was Fort Mann, established in 1845 near the Cimarron Crossing and abandoned in 1850. [15] While Fort Mann was in its prime another post called Fort Mackay was located farther to the east. The exact date of its establishment and abandonment are unknown. In 1850 Fort Atkinson was established, and was abandoned in 1854. [16] It was near the site of Fort Atkinson that Fort Dodge was later established.

     In 1864 and 1865 a chain of forts extended along the Smoky Hill valley through which ran the Butterfield Overland Dispatch from Leavenworth and Atchison to Denver. Forts Harker, Wallace and Hays were built in the order named to guard this short cut to Denver which passed through the most Indian-infested region in Kansas.

     Fort Harker, originally Fort Ellsworth, was built in 1864 near the present town of Ellsworth, thirty-six miles from Salina. It was located on the Smoky Hill river at the crossing of the old Santa Fe stage road. [17] A brief description of it is given by the traveler, Bell, who refers to it as a “well-built, three-company post, with spacious storehouses filled with munitions of war, but like all these military establishments, carrying out in no particular the term fort.” [18]

     During its active career of nine years Fort Harker proved to be a bulwark of defense against the hostile Indians. It was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, of the western Kansas forts and effectively protected the town of Salina from Indian incursions. [19] When General Pope, commander of the department of the Missouri, was considering the abandonment of Fort Harker in 1871, the Kansas legislature, on February 16, passed a joint resolution of protest to

14. G. D. Bradley, “Famous Landmarks Along the Trail,” Santa Fe Employees Magazine, v. VI. No. 11, pp. 41-42.
15. Letter of May 2, 1924, from Joseph R. Wilson to William E. Connelley, secretary of the Kansas Historical Society, Landmarks.
16. Ibid.
17. Hamersly, p. 136. With the construction of the Union Pacific, Eastern Division, through the Kaw and Smoky Hill valleys in 1866 and 1867, much of the Santa Fe traffic shifted north to the railroad. Travelers to Santa Fe took the railroad to “End of Track,” where the stage made connections. From there they went by way of the Fort Harker-Fort Larned military trail to its junction with the Santa Fe Trail at the latter place.
18. William A. Bell, New Tracks in North America (Second Edition, London, Chapman & Hall; New York, Scribner, Welford & Co., 1870), pp. 27-28.
19. The Republican Journal (Salina), January 31 1902, refers to Fort Harker as the strongest post on the plains in 1868. Perhaps local pride entered into the statement.

56 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

the government. The legislature gave as reasons, first that Fort Harker was essential to the defense of the north-central Kansas frontier, and second, that it would be a great financial loss, since the buildings cost the United States $1,000,000 and would sell under the hammer for about $25,000. [20] The government finally abandoned the fort in 1873.

     Forts Hays and Wallace came into existence at approximately the same time, Wallace being constructed in September while Hays was established in October of 1865.

     Fort Hays was known as Fort Fletcher until November 11, 1866. It was located on the line of the proposed Kansas Pacific railroad, near the site of the present city of Hays. Like all the forts on the Kansas Pacific line, Hays contributed much toward protecting construction camps along the road and keeping open the Smoky Hill route. In the Indian wars of 1867 it was headquarters for General Hancock during part of his campaign. Again in 1868 General Sheridan made Fort Hays the headquarters for his campaign. [21] This honor must be shared with Fort Dodge and Camp Supply, however. The famous Seventh Cavalry, under Colonel George A. Custer, was quartered at Hays from 1867 to 1870, and the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry was mustered out there in the spring of 1869. [22] The fort was abandoned by the government in 1889.

     Fort Wallace was first called Camp Pond Creek. It was located near the western boundary of Kansas on Pond creek, a tributary to the Smoky Hill. Wallace was the last and most western military post of any permanency in Kansas. From 1865 to 1878 it bore the brunt of the contest with the Indian tribes. [23] Its functions were similar to those of Forts Hays and Harker with the exception that the latter were larger and were more often selected as headquarters for large expeditions against the Indians. That Fort Wallace was unusually active in frontier protection cannot be doubted however. There is little evidence to refute the following statement concerning the importance of the fort:

     “It is very evident after checking up the assignments of troops and engagements between the Indians and the military in Kansas, that the small garrisons at Fort Wallace participated in more actual engagements with the Indians and were sent to the relief of more scout and escort parties than the soldiers from

20. Senate Miscellaneous Documents, p. 76, 41st Con., 2d sess.
21. J. H. Beach, “Fort Hays,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. XI, p. 571.
22. Ibid., p. 574.
23. Mrs. Frank C. Montgomery, “Fort Wallace and Its Relation to the Frontier,” Kansas Historical Collections, V. XVII, p. 189, Hereafter cited as Mrs. Montgomery, Fort Wallace.

GARFIELD: THE FRONTIER DEFENSES OF KANSAS 57

any other post in Kansas. Other posts were bases of supplies and regimental headquarters where large forces were mobilized for Indian campaigns. But none defended a larger territory on the western frontier of Kansas. . . .” [24]

     Garrisons at Fort Wallace were usually low during the Indian wars of 1866-'69, since troops were constantly acting as escorts for railroad surveyors and laborers, stage coaches, wagon trains, and for government officials and quartermasters trains. [25]

     Notwithstanding the fact that these forts comprised the backbone of the frontier defense in Kansas they were ably assisted by smaller outposts and camps of a temporary nature. Among those graced with the dignity of the term “fort” were the posts of Aubrey, Downer, Monument, Ogallah, Kirwin and Lookout. Of the camps the most prominent was Camp Beecher.

     Fort Aubrey was built to aid in the defense of the Santa Fe Trail during the Indian war of 1865. Its location was sixteen miles west of Choteau's island on the Arkansas river and approximately one hundred miles west of Fort Dodge by the wagon road and fifty miles east of Fort Lyon, Colorado. The site of the fort is four miles east of the present town of Syracuse, Kansas. Fort Aubrey was established by Companies D and F of the Forty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry in September, 1865. [26] The fort was abandoned April 15, 1866, during a lull in Indian activities along the Old Trail.

     Fort Downer, an outpost on the Smoky Hill route to the Colorado gold fields, was located about fifty miles west of Fort Hays in Trego county. It was established as a stage station in 1865 and was a military post in 1867-'68. [27] The place was abandoned May 28, 1868. The post was used by General Custer as a base for Indian operations in Trego County in 1867. An eating station of the Butterfield Overland Dispatch, located at this point, was burned in 1867 by hostiles. [28]

     Fort Monument or Fort Pyramid was another outpost which was short lived. It was established in 1865 and abandoned in 1868. The post was constructed in Gove county on the route of the Kansas Pacific railroad between Forts Hays and Wallace near some

24. Ibid., p. 203.
25. Ibid.
26. Landmarks.
27. H. Harlan, Trego County Clippings, p. 76. (A series of unbound newspaper clippings in the library of the Kansas Historical Society); Landmarks, Trego County. The first of these references gives 1865 as the date for the founding of Fort Downer, while the second Says 1867; Hamersly states that the fort was established May 30, 1867, p. 131, List of Forts; see, also, Kansas Historical Collections, v. IX, p. 573.
28. Landmarks, Trego County.

58 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

monument-shaped rocks which gave the station its name. Although originally merely a station on the Butterfield Overland Dispatch it was soon found necessary to station troops there as a protection to the stage road. General Dodge in 1865 placed soldiers at this point simultaneous with the garrisoning of Big Creek, Pond Creek, and other B. O. D. Stations. [29]

     Trego county boasted of another defense besides Fort Downer. Camp Ogallah, on the Kansas Pacific railroad about one mile west of Wakeeney, came into existence in 1867 or 1868. It protected the railroad builders during a most hectic period of Indian depredations. [30] According to one pioneer version the camp's name was taken from the expression “O Golly”! A better explanation is that early settlers corrupted or mispronounced the name of the famous Ogallala band of Dakota Indians and applied it to the fort. [31]

     Camp Beecher, located in June, 1868, at the junction of the Little Arkansas and Big Arkansas rivers, was a new unit in the defensive chain of forts in Kansas. It was built following the great Indian scare of 1868 when the Cheyennes raided the east central portion of the state. The primary purpose of Camp Beecher was as headquarters for a border cavalry patrol which extended northward to Marion Center. [32] During the Sheridan winter campaign of 1868-'69 against the Indians, Camp Beecher was used as a supply station by the Nineteenth Kansas Cavalry. The camp was abandoned in October, 1869. Even as early as 1868 the camp site was referred to as Wichita. [33]

     Somewhat different from that of other forts in Kansas is the history of Fort Kirwin. Built to meet the necessity of frontier defense, it failed to meet that need and consequently was abandoned. The fort was established in 1865 by Colonel Kirwin and a company of Tennessee volunteers who were sent to protect the Kansas frontier. The site chosen was near the confluence of Bow Creek with the North Solomon river in what is now Phillips county. Colonel John Kirwin, its builder, finding the country swarming

29. Mrs. Frank C. Montgomery, Fort Wallace, 198.
30. Ogallah should not be called a fort. It was never more than a railroad construction camp, although used for defense against Indians by construction gangs. Kansas Historical Collections, v. XVII, p. 228.
31. Trego County Clippings, 78.
32. Daily Kansas State Record (Topeka), June 12, 1868.
33. Daily Kansas State Record (Topeka), June 12, 1868. A news item reprinted from the Kansas Daily Tribune (Lawrence) mentions that “A company of United States infantry and eighty-four volunteers are stationed at Wichita at present and will probably remain there during the winter.”

GARFIELD: THE FRONTIER DEFENSES OF KANSAS 59

with the hostile Indians, judiciously decided to vacate. There were no settlers needing protection within one hundred miles of the fort. [34]

     Another of the lesser fortifications was Fort Lookout, in Republic county. Situated upon a high bluff commanding the Republican river valley, it guarded the military road from Fort Riley to Fort Kearney, Nebraska. Unlike the large military posts, it was constructed in the form of a blockhouse. This sturdy two-story log structure performed regular duty before 1868, when it was abandoned by the regular army. State militia used the building during the Indian war of 1868. Following their withdrawal the old fort was used as a rendezvous for settlers of the White Rock and Republican valleys during the Indian scares of the early 70's. [35]

     Pioneer Kansas was well supplied with local fortifications to which the settlers could fly for refuge during the numerous Indian raids and scares of the 60's. Included in this group were Fort Montgomery at Eureka, Fort Brooks in Cloud county, Fort Solomon in Ottawa county, Fort Camp Jewell on the site of present Jewell City, and two forts, names unknown, located in Mitchell and Republic counties respectively.

     At the beginning of the Civil War citizens of the Eureka neighborhood constructed Fort Montgomery as a fort for home guards. When they disbanded at the close of the war the fort was occupied by a detachment of the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry. [36] During the Indian scares of 1864-1869 it was used as a rallying place for settlers of Greenwood county.

     Enterprising militia of Shirley county, later Cloud county, constructed Fort Brooks in August or September, 1864. Situated on the left bank of the Republican river the log blockhouse was headquarters for the local militia engaged in frontier defense. [37]

     Fort Solomon in Ottawa county was a true frontier block house. Built early in 1864 as a defense against the Indians, it was the only shelter for the majority of the people of Ottawa county from the summer of 1864 to the spring of 1865. It consisted of log house, arranged in the form of a square and enclosed with palisades. For

34. Z. T. Walrond, Annals of Osborne County, Kansas 1870-1879 (a bound volume of clippings in the library of the Kansas Historical Society), p. 21.
35. Kansas Historical Society, Twenty-fifth Biennial Report, 1925-1926, pp. 74-75.
36. Greenwood County Clippings, 1, 15.
37. Clay Center Times, January 12, 1922.

60 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tunately for the settlers they were never forced to undergo a siege by Indians. [38]

     Home guards of Jewell county were responsible for the construction of a sod fort in 1870 as a protection against the Indian raids, while Republic county in 1869 and Mitchell county in 1867 each constructed an Indian defense. In May, 1869, nearly all the settlers on Salt and Reilly creeks, in the Republican river region, left their claims and took refuge in a log fort in Belleville township until a small body of militia was sent to their aid. [39] The Mitchell county fort was built by settlers in 1867 during the period of great Indian activity in northwestern Kansas. Indian scares during that year greatly retarded immigration into the county. [40]

     In harmony with the home-guard movement during the Civil War, the state capital built a wooden stockade at the intersection of Sixth and Kansas avenues. Although intended as a place of refuge against guerrillas, it was never forced to defend Topeka from invaders. Christened with the enlightening title of Fort Simple, its existence was never complex from its birth in 1863 to its final destruction by Topekans after the Civil War.

     Kansas was not entirely defended by forts within her own boundaries. Since the plains Indian roamed unwittingly over state boundary lines it frequently happened that Indian depredations were broken up by soldiers stationed in the forts of the adjacent territories of Nebraska and Colorado.

     Of these frontier watch dogs, Fort Kearney, Nebraska, was the most prominent. Located on the Platte river in southern Nebraska its jurisdiction often extended into northern Kansas. [41] From the time of its founding in 1848 this fort on the Platte trail was the headquarters for nearly all the military operations in Nebraska [42]

     Forts Cottonwood and Sedgwick also defended the Platte trail and contributed to the defense of Kansas. The former, located at Cottonwood Springs, one hundred miles west of Fort Kearney, on the south bank of the Platte, proved of valuable assistance in keeping

38. Landmarks, Ottawa County.
39. Landmarks, Republic County.
40. Letter from a settler in Ottawa County, Kansas, to Governor Samuel J. Crawford, September 23, 1867, C. K. G., Crawford (Incoming Letters).
41. Telegram from Adjutant General John P. Sherburne of Fort Leavenworth to Governor Samuel J. Crawford, July 20, 1866, C. K. G., Crawford (Telegrams), 28. Sherburne informed the Governor that one company of cavalry from Fort Kearney and Fort McPherson was scouting in the region of the Little Blue river.
42. Frank A. Root and William E. Connelley, The Overland Stage to California (Topeka, Kansas, published by the authors, 1901), p. 242. Hereafter cited as Root and Connelley, The Overland Stage.

GARFIELD: THE FRONTIER DEFENSES OF KANSAS 61

overland traffic going during the Indian raids of 1864. [43] Two years later the fort's name was changed to McPherson. During the grand trek to the western mining country, Cottonwood Springs was an important supply depot for the miners. [44]

     Farther west on the Platte trail, near Julesburg, Colorado, was a sod fort named Fort Sedgwick. It, too, was an important point since it was a depot of government supplies for a region extending fully one hundred and fifty miles along the South Platte. [45]

     South of Fort Sedgwick, on the Arkansas river, stood Fort Lyon. It was situated on the Santa Fe Trail about one hundred and fifty miles west of Fort Dodge. Known first as Bent's New Fort, from the time of its building in 1853 until 1859 when it was leased to the government, it later adopted the title of Fort Wise and finally, in 1861, Fort Lyon. [46] When it became necessary to relocate the fort in 1867, it was renamed New Fort Lyon. In 1890, by act of congress, the fort was abandoned. The site of New Fort Lyon is near the present town of Las Animas, Colorado. Although principally engaged in protecting commerce and travel on the Santa Fe Trail, the troops of Fort Lyon participated in numerous Indian campaigns, chiefly that of Sheridan into Indian Territory in 1868-'69.

     Particularly fitting is the observation of a prominent traveler of the period concerning the military forts of the frontier.

     “Along the main lines of travel throughout the whole western country, at distances from sixty to three hundred miles apart, the United States government are obliged to maintain a great number of these little military establishments . . . . In many instances not a white man lives in the intervening country, and yet without them overland travel would be impossible.” [47]

     A brief explanation of the military organization of the Middle West following the Civil War will help to an understanding of references to posts and commanders.

     The United States was divided into military divisions commanded by major generals of the army. The Middle West belonged to the military division of the Missouri, which was organized in 1865 by the War Department to include the states of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois and the terri-

43. Ibid., p. 498.
44. Julius Sterling Morton, Illustrated History of Nebraska (In two volumes, Lincoln, Jacob North & Co., 1905, 1906), v. II, p. 168.
45. Root and Connelley, The Overland Stage, p. 342.
46. For an interesting and colorful history of Bent's Fort see George Bird Grinnell, “Bent's Old Fort and Its Builders,” Kansas Historical Collections, v. XV, pp. 28-88.
47. W. A. Bell, New Tracks in North America, p. 28.

62 THE KANSAS HISTORICAL QUARTERLY

tories of Nebraska, Dakota, and Montana. Headquarters of the division was variously located at St. Louis, Chicago, Omaha and Fort Leavenworth. The division was subdivided at the time of its organization into four geographical departments of the Dakota, the Platte, the Missouri, and the Arkansas.

     The third of these, the department of the Missouri, maintained permanent headquarters at Fort Leavenworth. This department was subdivided into four districts: The District of Kansas with headquarters also at Fort Leavenworth; the district of the Upper Arkansas whose headquarters was Fort Harker; the district of New Mexico, headquarters at Santa Fe; and the district of the Indian Territory, with headquarters at Fort Gibson. [48] Of these districts in the department of the Missouri, the district of the Upper Arkansas was of the most interest to Kansans. Within its limits were Forts Dodge, Lamed, Zarah, Wallace, Hays, Harker and Lyons. Downer's Station, Monument Station and “End-of-Track,” Union Pacific, Eastern Division, were also included. [49]

     From 1865 to 1869 the military division of the Missouri was commanded by Generals Pope, Sherman, and Sheridan in the order named. Department commanders changed even more frequently. The department of the Missouri during this period was in charge of Generals Dodge in 1865-'66, Hancock in 1866-'67, Sheridan in 1868-'69 and Schofield in 1869. Prior to the organization of the military division of the Missouri, the state of Kansas made up three districts of the department of Kansas under the command of General S. R. Curtis. [50]

     In addition to the national military organization each state had its geographical departments for militia organization. Under a legislative act of February 13, 1865, Kansas was divided into four brigade districts with a brigadier general of militia in command of each district. The entire militia was then under the supervision of a major general commanding. General W. F. Cloud, of Leavenworth City, acted in the capacity of state commander from 1865-'67, when he was succeeded by General Harrison Kelley.

48. Report of the Secretary of War, 1868, 40th Cong., 2d sess., p. 39. House Ex. Docs., No. II, No. 1, part 1.
49. Ibid., p. 40.
50. Kansas Daily Tribune (Lawrence), March 4, 1864.

Home | Kansas Historical Quarterly List of Articles, 1931-1977