(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Photo Diary: Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park, Mandan ND [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-07-26 Built to protect the Northern Pacific Railroad, Fort Abraham Lincoln is best-known for being the home base of George Custer and the 7th Cavalry. For those who don't know, I live in a converted campervan and travel around the country, posting photo diaries of places that I visit. The Dakota Territory was organized in 1861, just as the Civil War was breaking out. Much of this remote area was still claimed by the powerful Native American Lakota Nation, which already had several conflicts with the US, and had signed the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868 guaranteeing a large amount of land to the Lakota. As a result, the new Dakota territory attracted only sparse American settlement. After the war, however, a number of plans were made for railroad networks that would cross the Great Plains and connect the East Coast with the West, and one of these potential routes ran through what is now North Dakota—and was then still Lakota territory. By 1872, the Northern Pacific Railroad was laying track. To protect itself from Lakota war parties, the railroad requested help from the US government, and the Army responded in June 1872 by establishing a new fort near the tiny settlement of Bismarck, which the railroad had set up as a supply depot in the Missouri River (and which had reportedly been named after the Prussian leader in order to attract investment from German companies). The new military outpost was named Fort McKeen. It was manned by two companies from the US 6th Infantry Regiment. As it became more and more apparent that the Lakota would use force to defend their homelands and conflict was inevitable, however, the Army decided that it needed a larger and stronger fort which was more suited for cavalry operations, and Fort Abraham Lincoln was constructed a short distance away. It was finished in March 1873. Six companies of the US 7th Cavalry Regiment were assigned to Fort Lincoln. They were commanded by Lt Col George Custer, a flamboyant and ambitious officer who had been given the brevet rank of General during the Civil War (a “brevet” is a temporary battlefield promotion). Custer was also given command of the men from the 6th Infantry Regiment, which were later joined by a company from the 17th Infantry. Altogether, around 650 men were based at the Fort. One of Custer’s first acts was to lead a series of military expeditions to explore the surrounding territory, and in 1874, while illegally trekking through Lakota lands in the Black Hills, he found gold. Word quickly spread, and a flood of American gold-seekers arrived. The Lakota, who held the Black Hills as sacred territory and who had been guaranteed that land by the Fort Laramie Treaty, first protested ineffectually to the US Government, then began to send war parties to defend their territory. By 1876, several bands of Lakota, led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Gall and others, were ordered by the US Army to leave much of their territory, including the Black Hills, despite the fact that these lands had been guaranteed to the Natives by the treaty. When the Lakota refused to return to their designated “reservations”, the Army was ordered to force them out of the disputed territories. The military commander of the Division of the Missouri, which encompassed the Lakota lands, was Lieutenant General Philip Sheridan, a hero of the Civil War. Sheridan’s plan was for two bodies of troops under Generals George Crook and Alfred Terry to converge on the Native Americans in western Montana and surround them, forcing them to surrender. As the largest military fort in the area, Fort Abraham Lincoln became the center of this effort. Custer’s 7th Cavalry, part of the army force under the command of General Terry, was ordered to move west. He would be met in Montana by another column led by Col John Gibbon. General Crook’s force, meanwhile, would approach from Wyoming. On June 17, Gibbon’s column encountered a group of Lakota at the Rosebud River in what is now Montana and fought a violent but inconclusive battle with them. As the Lakota withdrew, General Terry’s scouts picked up their trail, and Custer’s 7th Cavalry was assigned to follow them. On June 25, 1876, Custer’s own scouts found the Lakota encampment on the banks of the Little Bighorn River, at a place the Lakota called “Greasy Grass”. After Custer’s death, his remaining troops returned to Fort Abraham Lincoln, eventually participating in the campaign against Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce in 1877 and the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. Fort Abraham Lincoln continued to serve as the headquarters of the 7th Cavalry until the unit was moved to Fort Meade, in South Dakota, in 1882. Once the railroad was completed and the fighting with the Lakota ended, Fort Abraham Lincoln declined in importance, and it was totally abandoned in 1891. All of the Fort’s 78 buildings were stripped by settlers of anything useful, including all the wooden clapboards which were disassembled and used to build farmhouses and barns. The Fort Abraham State Park was established in 1907 to protect and preserve the site. Making up around a thousand acres, the State Park contains the sites of both Fort McKeen and Fort Abraham Lincoln, as well as the reconstructed remains of a much older Mandan Native American village. Several of the blockhouses from Fort McKeen have been reconstructed, and several buildings from Fort Lincoln have been rebuilt, including Custer’s house, some of the enlisted barracks, and the stables. The Native village contains a number of reconstructed earthen lodges. There are guided tours for visitors through the Custer House and the Mandan village. Some photos from a visit. At the park Reconstructed Mandan village Wood and earth lodge Inside the lodge Fort McKeen Looking across the parade ground Blockhouse Stones mark the location of other buildings Looking down the hill, you can see Fort Abraham Lincoln, next to the Missouri River about a mile away Fort Lincoln A reconstructed barracks building Inside the barracks A footlocker representing Private John McGinnis of the 7th Cavalry. He was sick in the infirmary at the time Custer and his men left for Montana, and stayed behind. Custer’s house. His first house burned down, and he and his wife Libby had it rebuilt twice as big. The parlor Our tour guide explains that one of Custer’s favorite foods was a raw onion, eaten like an apple One of the guest bedrooms. The politically ambitious Custer spent a lot of time schmoozing. The billiards room The master bedroom [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/7/26/2179051/-Photo-Diary-Fort-Abraham-Lincoln-State-Park-Mandan-ND Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/