Fort Phil Kearny

Last updated
Fort Phil Kearny and Associated Sites
Fort Phil Kearney.JPG
Fort Phil Kearny, between Buffalo & Sheridan, WY
USA Wyoming location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fort Phil Kearny
Location in Wyoming
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Fort Phil Kearny
Location in the United States
Location Johnson County, Wyoming,
n SR W off U.S. 87
Nearest city Story
Coordinates 44°31′56″N106°49′35″W / 44.53222°N 106.82639°W / 44.53222; -106.82639
Built1866
NRHP reference No. 66000756
Significant dates
Added to NRHPOctober 15, 1966 [1]
Designated NHLDecember 19, 1960 [2]

Fort Phil Kearny was an outpost of the United States Army that existed in the late 1860s in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail. Construction began in 1866 on Friday, July 13, by Companies A, C, E, and H of the 2nd Battalion, 18th Infantry, under the direction of the regimental commander and Mountain District commander Colonel Henry B. Carrington.

Contents

History

The post was named for Major General Philip Kearny (1815–1862), a popular figure in the Civil War. The fort should be distinguished from the similarly named Fort Kearny in Nebraska, which was named for his uncle, Stephen Kearny (1794–1848). Today, the fort and the nearby Fetterman and Wagon Box battle sites are maintained by the State of Wyoming as the Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site.

The fort was located along the east side of the Bighorn Mountains in present-day northern Johnson County, approximately fifteen miles (24 km) north of Buffalo. Along with Fort Reno and Fort C. F. Smith, the fort was established along the Bozeman Trail in the Powder River Country at the height of the Indian Wars to protect prospective miners traveling the trail north from the Oregon Trail to present-day Montana.

At an elevation of 4,700 feet (1,430 m) above sea level, Fort Phil Kearny was the largest of the three stockaded fortifications along the trail. Its eight-foot-high (2.4 m) log walls enclosed an area of 17 acres (6.9 ha). The longer walls on the northeast and southwest sides each measured 1,496 feet (456 m) in length; the width of the northwest side was 600 feet (180 m) and this tapered to 240 feet (73 m) at the southeast side. The perimeter of the stockade was approximately 3,900 feet (1,190 m), and its construction took more than four thousand logs. Further building construction in 1867 required over 606,000 board feet of lumber and 130,000 adobe bricks.

The fort was under continuous construction and was nearing completion in December 1866, when its garrison was due to be re-designated the 27th Infantry. At its peak strength, the garrison numbered 400 troops and 150 civilians: 9 officers, a surgeon, and 329 enlisted men of five infantry companies of the 18th/27th Infantry, including the newly recruited Company K, 27th; one officer and 60 men of Company C, 2nd Cavalry, and 150 civilian quartermaster and contractor employees.

The fort, known to the Indians as the "hated post on the Little Piney", [3] played an important role in Red Cloud's War. The area around the fort was the site of the Fetterman Fight in 1866 and the Wagon Box Fight in 1867. By 1868, the Union Pacific Railroad had reached far enough west that emigrants could reach the Montana gold fields through present-day Idaho, rendering the dangerous Bozeman Trail obsolete [ citation needed ]. All three forts along the trail were abandoned as part of the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868). Shortly thereafter, Fort Phil Kearny was burned by Cheyenne Indians.

Fort Phil Kearny, including the nearby sites of the Fetterman Fight and the Wagon Box Fight, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960. [2] [4]

Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site

Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site includes a visitor's center with exhibits, videos, a bookstore, and self-guided tours of the fort grounds and outlying sites. The tour marks the archaeological remains of the fort's buildings. A cabin built by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) has been furnished to depict the period quarters of an officer's wife and a non-commissioned officer's quarters. Visitors can also tour the nearby battlefields which are located within a five-mile radius of the visitor center and include interpretive trails.

In 1966, NBC televised "The Massacre at Fort Phil Kearny" on the anthology series Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre . [5]

Fort Phil Kearny was also the subject of the 1951 movie Tomahawk starring Van Heflin, by Universal International (UI) Pictures. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) called the movie unusually accurate historically. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044135/

FortPhillipKearney.JPG
Fort Phil Kearney - Pilot Hill.JPG
Plan of Fort Kearney from Indian Fights and Fighters (1904) [6] (left). Pilot Hill, where a lookout was established. Communication with the fort was via signal flags. [7] (right)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Story, Wyoming</span> CDP in Wyoming, United States

Story is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP population was 903.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Cloud's War</span> Part of the Sioux Wars

Red Cloud's War was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States and the Crow Nation that took place in the Wyoming and Montana territories from 1866 to 1868. The war was fought over control of the western Powder River Country in present north-central Wyoming.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Laramie National Historic Site</span> National Historic Site of the United States in Wyoming

Fort Laramie was a significant 19th-century trading post, diplomatic site, and military installation located at the confluence of the Laramie and the North Platte Rivers. They joined in the upper Platte River Valley in the eastern part of the present-day U.S. state of Wyoming. The fort was founded as a private trading-post in the 1830s to service the overland fur trade; in 1849, it was purchased by the United States Army. The site was located east of the long climb leading to the best and lowest crossing-point over the Rocky Mountains at South Pass and became a popular stopping-point for migrants on the Oregon Trail. Along with Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River, the trading post and its supporting industries and businesses were the most significant economic hub of commerce in the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Kearny</span> United States historic place

Fort Kearny was a historic outpost of the United States Army founded in 1848 in the western U.S. during the middle and late 19th century. The fort was named after Col. and later General Stephen Watts Kearny. The outpost was located along the Oregon Trail near Kearney, Nebraska. The town of Kearney took its name from the fort. The "e" was added to Kearny by postmen who consistently misspelled the town name. A portion of the original site is preserved as Fort Kearny State Historical Park by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sioux Wars</span> Conflicts between the United States and indigenous Sioux tribes from 1854 to 1891

The Sioux Wars were a series of conflicts between the United States and various subgroups of the Sioux people which occurred in the later half of the 19th century. The earliest conflict came in 1854 when a fight broke out at Fort Laramie in Wyoming, when Sioux warriors killed 31 American soldiers in the Grattan Fight, and the final came in 1890 during the Ghost Dance War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bozeman Trail</span> Protected area

The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the Western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its most important period was from 1863 to 1868. Despite the fact that the major part of the route in Wyoming used by all Bozeman Trail travelers in 1864 was pioneered by Allen Hurlbut, it was named after John Bozeman. Many miles of the Bozeman Trail in present Montana followed the tracks of Bridger Trail, opened by Jim Bridger in 1864.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wagon Box Fight</span>

The Wagon Box Fight was an engagement which occurred on August 2, 1867, in the vicinity of Fort Phil Kearny during Red Cloud's War. A party of twenty-six U.S. Army soldiers and six civilians were attacked by several hundred Lakota Sioux warriors. Although outnumbered, the soldiers were armed with newly supplied breech-loading Springfield Model 1866 rifles and lever-action Henry rifles, and had a defensive wall of wagon boxes to protect them. They held off the attackers for hours with few casualties, although they lost a large number of horses and mules driven off by the raiders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry B. Carrington</span> American politician

Henry Beebee Carrington was a lawyer, professor, prolific author, and an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War and in the Old West during Red Cloud's War. A noted engineer, he constructed a series of forts to protect the Bozeman Trail, but suffered a major defeat at the hands of the warchief Red Cloud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William J. Fetterman</span> United States Army officer

William Judd Fetterman was an officer in the United States Army during the American Civil War and the subsequent Red Cloud's War on the Great Plains. Fetterman and his command of 80 men were killed in the Fetterman Fight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Fetterman</span> United States historic place

Fort Fetterman was constructed in 1867 by the United States Army on the Great Plains frontier in Dakota Territory, approximately 11 miles northwest of present-day Douglas, Wyoming. Located high on the bluffs south of the North Platte River, it served as a major base for the start of several United States military expeditions against warring Native American tribes. The fort is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Reno (Wyoming)</span> United States historic place

Fort Reno also known as Fort Connor or Old Fort Reno, was a wooden fort established on August 15, 1865 by the United States Army in Dakota Territory in present-day Johnson County, Wyoming. The fort was built to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail from Native American tribes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fetterman Fight</span> Battle during Red Clouds War

The Fetterman Fight, also known as the Fetterman Massacre or the Battle of the Hundred-in-the-Hands or the Battle of a Hundred Slain, was a battle during Red Cloud's War on December 21, 1866, between a confederation of the Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and a detachment of the United States Army, based at Fort Phil Kearny, Wyoming. The U.S. military mission was intended to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail. A group of ten warriors, including Crazy Horse, acted to lure a detachment of U.S. soldiers into an ambush. All 81 men under the command of Captain William J. Fetterman were then killed by the Native American warriors. At the time, it was the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. Army on the Great Plains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort C. F. Smith (Fort Smith, Montana)</span> United States historic place

Fort C. F. Smith was a military post established in the Powder River country by the United States Army in Montana Territory on August 12, 1866, during Red Cloud's War. Established by order of Col. Henry B. Carrington, it was one of five forts proposed to protect the Bozeman Trail against the Oglala Lakota (Sioux), who saw the trail as a violation of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The fort was abandoned in 1868 and burned by the Sioux under Red Cloud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of the Platte</span> Military unit

The Department of the Platte was a military administrative district established by the U.S. Army on March 5, 1866, with boundaries encompassing Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota Territory, Utah Territory and a small portion of Idaho. With headquarters in Omaha, the district commander oversaw the army's role initially along the Overland route to Salt Lake City, then later the construction route of the Union Pacific Railroad. The district also included the Montana road through eastern Wyoming. The district was discontinued when the Army's command was reorganized in 1898.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Platte River Road</span>

The Great Platte River Road was a major overland travel corridor approximately following the course of the Platte River in present-day Nebraska and Wyoming that was shared by several popular emigrant trails during the 19th century, including the Trapper's Trail, the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail, the California Trail, the Pony Express route, and the military road connecting Fort Leavenworth and Fort Laramie. The road, which extended nearly 370 miles (600 km) from the Second Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie, was utilized primarily from 1841 to 1866. In modern times it is often regarded as a sort of superhighway of its era, and has been referred to as "the grand corridor of America's westward expansion".

Banner is an unincorporated community in southern Sheridan County, Wyoming, United States. It lies near Interstate 90, south of the city of Sheridan, the county seat of Sheridan County. Its elevation is 4,580 feet (1,400 m). Although Banner is unincorporated, it had a post office, with the ZIP code of 82832, which closed in 2004. Public education in the community of Banner is provided by Sheridan County School District #2.

High Backbone also called Hump, or Canku Wakatuya was a Miniconjou Lakota military leader. He led troops in the Wagon Box Fight and the Fetterman Fight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crazy Woman Crossing</span> United States historic place

Crazy Woman Crossing is a historic place on the Bozeman Trail, in Johnson County, Wyoming, United States, about twenty miles southeast of Buffalo. Crazy Woman Crossing was one of three major fords used by travelers across creeks and rivers in this area. It is significant as the site of the Battle of Crazy Woman, a skirmish during Red Cloud's War in 1866. The United States pulled out of this territory after negotiation with the Lakota and allies of the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868.

The Battle of Platte Bridge, also called the Battle of Platte Bridge Station, on July 26, 1865, was the culmination of a summer offensive by the Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne Indians against the United States army. In May and June the Indians raided army outposts and stagecoach stations over a wide swath of Wyoming and Montana. In July, they assembled a large army, estimated by Cheyenne warrior George Bent to number 3,000 warriors, and descended upon Platte Bridge. The bridge, across the North Platte River near present-day Casper, Wyoming, was guarded by 120 soldiers. In an engagement near the bridge, and another against a wagon train guarded by 28 soldiers a few miles away, the Indians killed 29 soldiers while suffering at least eight dead.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "Fort Phil Kearny and Associated Sites". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2008-02-29.
  3. Keenan, Jerry; (2000:8) The Wagon Box Fight: An Episode of Red Cloud's War, Savas Publishing. ISBN   1-882810-87-2
  4. Stephen Lissandrello (January 3, 1976). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: Fort Phil Kearny and Related Sites" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying 25 photos, from 1953, 1987, 1960 and undated  (32 KB)
  5. "Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre: Massacre at Fort Phil Kearney". Internet Movie Database. October 26, 1966.
  6. Brady, Cyrus Townsend (1904). Indian Fights and Fighters-The Soldier and the Sioux. New York: McClure, Phillips and Co.
  7. Vestal, Stanley (1970). Jim Bridger. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 272,321–322. ISBN   9780803257207.

Further reading