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FORT LARAMIE
Fort Laramie. My own photo 2004
Fort Laramie
One of the most important forts in the settlement of the American West, Fort Laramie served many functions throughout its history. It was located along the Oregon Trail to protect and supply emigrant wagon trains. It later became a major link in the Pony Express, Overland Stage and transcontinental telegraph systems. It also served as a base of operations for the High Plains Indian Wars. Fort Laramie was truly the crossroads of the American West. The fort was begun by fur traders as Fort William in 1834 where the North Platte and Laramie rivers meet. In 1849, the U.S. Military purchased the fort and named it in honor of Jacques La Ramie, a local French fur trapper. Since 1937 it has been preserved as a National Monument and is maintained by the National Park Service.
One of the most important forts in the settlement of the American West, Fort Laramie served many functions throughout its history. It was located along the Oregon Trail to protect and supply emigrant wagon trains. It later became a major link in the Pony Express, Overland Stage and transcontinental telegraph systems. It also served as a base of operations for the High Plains Indian Wars. Fort Laramie was truly the crossroads of the American West. The fort was begun by fur traders as Fort William in 1834 where the North Platte and Laramie rivers meet. In 1849, the U.S. Military purchased the fort and named it in honor of Jacques La Ramie, a local French fur trapper. Since 1937 it has been preserved as a National Monument and is maintained by the National Park Service.
1812 - Robert Stuart, the first known white person to visit the site that would eventually become Fort Laramie. Stuart and his traveling companions camped at the mouth of the Laramie River on December 22, 1812 on their return trip to St.Louis from Fort Astoria, Oregon. Stuart inadvertently discovered the route that would later become the Oregon Trail.
1821 - Jacque Laramee is killed on the Laramie River somewhere near the present site of Fort Laramie. Several geographical landmarks later take his name.
1830 - Smith, Jackson, and Sublette haul supplies to the annual rendezvous by wagon, thus becoming the first to pass the future site of Fort Laramie and the first on what will become the Oregon Trail.
1830 - Smith, Jackson, and Sublette haul supplies to the annual rendezvous by wagon, thus becoming the first to pass the future site of Fort Laramie and the first on what will become the Oregon Trail.
1834 - William Sublette and Robert Campbell establish a log-stockaded fort at the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte rivers to trade with the Indians, and name it Fort William (the first Fort Laramie). In 1835 Fort William is sold to Jim Bridger, William Fitzpatrick, and Milton Sublette, and in 1836 Fort William is sold to the American Fur Company. The same year Elizabeth Spaulding and Narcissa Whitman visit Fort Laramie, and become the first white women to pass over the Oregon Trail, and the first known white women in the future state of Wyoming.
Fort Laramie paradeground. My own photo 2004
1841 - A rival fort, adobe-walled Fort Platte is built on the Platte River within a mile of Fort William. In response to the construction of Fort Platte, the American Fur Company replaces deteriorating log Fort William with a new fort, Fort John, also made of adobe (the second Fort Laramie). The Bidwell-Bartelson party passes Fort Laramie enroute to California, the first true wagon train bound for California and in 1842 Lieutenant John C. Fremont passes on his first exploratory trip to the Rockies. In 1843 The Cow Column passes Fort Laramie. This train represented the first of the wagon trains to Oregon. In 1845 Colonel Stephen W. Kearny councils with the Indians at Fort Laramie to insure safe passage for the growing tide of emigrants traveling along the trail. This is the first peace council at Fort Laramie. In 1847 Brigham Young leads the first of the Mormon emigrants through Fort Laramie in search of their Zion, the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
1849 - Fort John (Fort Laramie) is purchased by the Army for $4,000 on June 26th and become the first military post in the state of Wyoming. The first garrison is comprised of two companies of mounted riflemen and one company of the 6th Infantry. In 1850 the high tide of emigration passes Fort Laramie, nearly 50,000 people, and the first Post Office in Wyoming is established in the fort on March 14, the oldest continously operating post office in Wyoming. In 1851 the Fort Laramie Treaty (Horse Creek Treaty) is signed. In 1854 was the first major indian battle of the Northern Plains Indian Wars - the Grattan fight and in 1856 the first school in the state of Wyoming was established in the fort.
Many famous people passed through Fort Laramie for example: The Mountainmen and trappers Jedediah S. Smith, Thomas Fitzpatrick and James (Jim) Bridger. Kit Carson, Martha Jane Cannary - (Calamity Jane), Wild Bill Hickok, Mark Twain, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wyatt Earp, Father Pierre Jean DeSmet, Brigham Young and several United States Army officers like John C. Fremont, Colonel Stephen W. Kearny, Lieutenant Daniel P. Woodbury, Brevet 2nd Lieutenant John L. Grattan, General William S. Harney, Colonel Henry Carrington, General William T. Sherman,
General Phillip Sheridan, General George Crook.
Soldier barracks at Fort Laramie 2004
Spotted Tail (Sinte Galeska) - Chief of the Brule Sioux. He frequented the Fort Laramie region both as a child and as an adult. Spotted Tail was considered one of the greatest Sioux chiefs of his period. He was a brilliant orator, as well as a distinguished warrior. Lt. Eugene Ware states that Spotted Tail had counted 26 coups in personal combat. Spotted Tail was considered a peace chief. After witnessing the destruction of his village by General Harney in 1855, he recognized the futility of war with the whites. However, he was consistently an outspoken advocate for the rights of his people. Perhaps the most notable of Spotted Tail's many visits to Fort Laramie occurred in 1866, when he came to bury his daughter. Wheat Flour (Ah-ho-ap-pa) was the daughter of the Brule Chief Spotted Tail. Legend has it that she was enamored by the white way of life. She reputedly fell in love with an army officer at Fort Laramie, but was separated from him when he was transferred to another post. Apparently one of Ah-ho-ap-pa's favorite pastimes was watching the soldiers at formal dress parades. Although much of her life is a mystery, we do know that in keeping with his daughter's wishes, Spotted Tail brought her to Fort Laramie for burial. Colonel Henry Maynadier provided a military escort for the burial party and arranged to have a scaffold erected on the high ground overlooking the fort to the north. Maynadier issued orders to provide full military honors to the girl. After the tumultuous events of 1876, Spotted Tail retrieved his daughter's bones and took them to the reservation for reburial.
Red Cloud - (Mahpialuta) - Chief of the Oglala Sioux. He was a frequent visitor to the Fort Laramie area. From 1866-1868 he led the Sioux in opposing white encroachment into the Powder River country. "Red Cloud's War," as it became known, proved to be very costly to the U.S. Army and white emigrants on the Bozeman Trail. Red Cloud signed the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Crazy Horse - (Tashunka Witco) - Probably the greatest of the Sioux leaders and still considered to be a sacred personage among the Sioux. Although legend states that Crazy Horse never visited the "white man's" fort on the Laramie, he certainly passed through the area very near Fort Laramie. As a boy, in 1851, Crazy Horse witnessed the Grattan Fight eight miles east of Fort Laramie.
In the 1850s, one of the main functions of the troops stationed at the fort was patrolling and maintaining the security of a lengthy stretch of the Oregon Trail
In 1853 the Platte Ferry, just north of Fort Laramie, is seized by the Sioux. A skirmish results between Fort Laramie soldiers and the Sioux with the result of three Indians killed, three wounded, and two taken prisoner. In 1854, an incident involving a passing wagon train precipitated the Grattan Fight in which an officer, an interpreter, and 29 soldiers from Fort Laramie were killed. This incident was one of several that ignited the flames of a conflict between the United States and the Plains Indians that would not be resolved until the end of the 1870s. On September 3, 1855 General William S. Harney lead his troops to Ash Hollow, Nebraska, where Little Thunder and his band of Brules were encamped on Blue Water Creek. Harney attacked the village in retaliation for the Grattan fight a year earlier. Harney killed 86 Indians and took another 70 women and children captive. Harney then proceeded to Fort Laramie for a council with a delegation of Sioux chiefs. Harney threatened the Indians with continuing military action if any further depredations occurred along the trail. In 1856 Mormon emigrants pass Fort Laramie using "handcarts," the first of many handcart pioneers.
Officers Quarters (Old Bedlam) my own photo 2004
The 1860s brought a different type of soldier to Fort Laramie. After the beginning of the Civil War, most regular army troops were withdrawn to the East to participate in that conflict, and the fort was garrisoned by state volunteer regiments, such as the Seventh Iowa and the Eleventh Ohio. 1860 - April 6th, the Pony Express starts its express mail delivery through Fort Laramie. The stream of emigrants along the Oregon trial began to diminish, but the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line in 1861 brought a new responsibility to the soldiers. Inspecting, defending, and repairing the "talking wire" was added to their duties. During the latter part of the 1860s, troops from Fort Laramie were involved in supplying and reinforcing the forts along the Bozeman Trail, until the Treaty of 1868 was signed. 1864 - The only recorded attack on Fort Laramie. A scout detachment unsaddled their mounts on the Parade ground and approximately 30 warriors dashed through the fort, stealing the command's horses. No injuries or loss of life were reported. 1865 - Powder River Expedition is organized at Fort Laramie under General Patrick E. Connor to punish Indians in the region.
My own photo from Fort laramie 2004
Here I am at the Saloon, Fort Laramie 2004
LOOK AT THIS!! FT LARAMIE PANORAMA PICTURE
Walk in beauty
Colonel Thomas Moonlight was probably the most incompetent of the long list of officers who commanded Fort Laramie. Of all the tragic blunders that Moonlight made, the hanging of Chiefs Two Face and Black Foot in 1865 was probably the most infamous. Two Face and Black Foot brought white captive Mrs. Eubank and her baby to Fort Laramie to turn them over to the Army. Mrs. Eubank had been taken captive during a raid by the Cheyenne on the Little Blue the proceeding year. Apparently the chiefs had bought Mrs. Eubank's freedom to gain the favor of the whites. Instead, they received death. Despite protests from several individuals, Colonel Moonlight had the chiefs hung with chains and left their bodies hanging for months as an example to other chiefs. Of course Moonlight's action brought further hostilities to the area.
John "Portugee" Phillips (Manuel Filipe Cardoso) made the legendary ride from Fort Phil Kearney to Fort Laramie (December 21 to 25, 1866) to deliver messages to the commanding officer of the post following the Fetterman Fight.
John "Portugee" Phillips (Manuel Filipe Cardoso) made the legendary ride from Fort Phil Kearney to Fort Laramie (December 21 to 25, 1866) to deliver messages to the commanding officer of the post following the Fetterman Fight.
My own photo from Fort laramie 2004
Unfortunately, the Treaty of 1868 did not end the conflict between the United States and the Plains Indians and, by the 1870's, major campaigns were being mounted against the plains tribes. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills, in 1874, and the resultant rush to the gold fields had violated some of the terms of the treaty and antagonized the Sioux who regarded the Hills as sacred ground. Under leaders such as Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, they and their allies chose to fight to keep their land. In campaigns such as the ones in 1876, Fort Laramie served as a staging area for troops, a communications and logistical center, and a command post.
Conflicts with the Indians on the Northern Plains had abated by the 1880s. Relieved of some of its military function, Fort Laramie relaxed into a Victorian era of relative comfort. Boardwalks were built in front of officers' houses and trees were planted to soften the stark landscape.
By the end of the 1880s, the Army recognized that Fort Laramie had served its purpose. Many important events on the Northern Plains had involved the Fort, and many arteries of transport and communication had passed through it. In March of 1890, troops marched out of Fort Laramie for the last time. The land and buildings that comprised the Fort were sold at auction to civilians.
Conflicts with the Indians on the Northern Plains had abated by the 1880s. Relieved of some of its military function, Fort Laramie relaxed into a Victorian era of relative comfort. Boardwalks were built in front of officers' houses and trees were planted to soften the stark landscape.
By the end of the 1880s, the Army recognized that Fort Laramie had served its purpose. Many important events on the Northern Plains had involved the Fort, and many arteries of transport and communication had passed through it. In March of 1890, troops marched out of Fort Laramie for the last time. The land and buildings that comprised the Fort were sold at auction to civilians.
Here I am at the Saloon, Fort Laramie 2004
LOOK AT THIS!! FT LARAMIE PANORAMA PICTURE