HISTORY OF FORT DODGE
The assistance rendered by Fort Dodge to the expanding frontier was significant, yet it has been largely overlooked in the process of shaping the pattern of American military history. The men of the post were involved in scouts, marches, and campaigns almost continually from 1865 until 1878. Weary cavalrymen often found that they had ridden more than fifteen hundred miles during a single season while guarding the Kansas frontier.28 From 1867 until 1874, the fort was involved in several major campaigns to eliminate the menace of Indian depredations on the plains.
Although Fort Dodge was a part of the series of frontier forts that made settlement of the west possible, its historic significance has never been comprehensively evaluated. Properties with similar histories – like Forts Scott, Larned, and Leavenworth – are subject to federal preservation laws which require that buildings be evaluated for national register eligibility, and that projects be reviewed to determine their impacts on historic properties. But for various reasons, the historic preservation movement left this significant frontier fort behind.
The history of Fort Dodge is closely espoused to both the frontier experience of Kansas and the growing commercial roads which crossed that state to serve the entire nation. The commercial frontier stretched and spanned the prairies of Kansas by 1821, approximately three decades before the arrival of the settler's frontier.
Although Fort Dodge was a part of the series of frontier forts that made settlement of the west possible, its historic significance has never been comprehensively evaluated. Properties with similar histories – like Forts Scott, Larned, and Leavenworth – are subject to federal preservation laws which require that buildings be evaluated for national register eligibility, and that projects be reviewed to determine their impacts on historic properties. But for various reasons, the historic preservation movement left this significant frontier fort behind.
The history of Fort Dodge is closely espoused to both the frontier experience of Kansas and the growing commercial roads which crossed that state to serve the entire nation. The commercial frontier stretched and spanned the prairies of Kansas by 1821, approximately three decades before the arrival of the settler's frontier.
Fort Dodge Historical Timeline
WILLIAM BECKNELL EXPEDITION 1821
- Captain William Becknell's successful expedition in 1821 demonstrated the feasibility of crossing the plains to trade with Mexico.
FORT MANN 1846 (GPS: N37 45.142 W100 04.596)
- Fort Mann, established in 1846 as a quartermaster's station rather than a troop base, was used by some volunteer troops during 1847-1848.
FORT ATKINSON 1850 (GPS: N37 45.150 W100 04.974)
- The original Fort Atkinson was established on August 8, 1850, by the U.S. Army in an attempt to prevent Indians in the area from attacking travelers on the Santa Fe Trail.
ESTABLISHMENT OF FORT DODGE APRIL 10, 1865 (GPS:N37.730399 W99.937003)
- Captain Pearce officially established the post on April 10, 1865, and named it in honor of the departmental commander, General Dodge.
CONSTRUCTION OF FORT DODGE 1866
- Throughout the years of 1866 and 1867, the garrison labored to raise permanent facilities at Fort Dodge while keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding tribes of the Plains Indians.
- Gustav A. Hesselberger was a first lieutenant in the Army, stationed at Fort Dodge, Kansas, acting as assistant quartermaster in the year 1867. Hesselberger was in charge of the construction of the post of Fort Dodge, and had a large number of citizen employees on his rolls, and also was in charge of the purchase of construction materials as well as quartermaster's supplies for the troops at the post. The attachment is a report from the 45th Congress outlining some misfortunes of Gustav Hesselberger during his charge of the construction of Fort Dodge.
MAJOR HENRY DOUGLASS COMMANDER OF FORT DODGE 1867 - 1868
- In the summer of 1867, the Douglass's arrived at Fort Dodge from Columbus, Ohio, with three young sons. With questions of peace undecided but hoping to improve conditions, officers at Fort Dodge used civilian labor, to begin construction on two barracks, each designed to house fifty men, a formal headquarters, and commanding officer's residence, a hospital, a quartermaster's depot, and supply buildings.
- Limestone Construction
- Two Barracks
- A Hospital
- A Quartermasters Building
- A Supply Building
- A Headquarters Building
- Cholera at Fort Dodge July and August 1867
- Start of Hancock's War
- Limestone Construction
FORT DODGE AND THE HANCOCK CAMPAIGN OF 1867
- On March 27, 1867 General Winfield S. Hancock moved his command westward from Fort Riley, Kansas.
TREATY OF MEDICINE LODGE 1867
- As the fall of 1867 approached, new dimensions were being called for in the nation's Indian policy. When the terms of the Treaty of Medicine Lodge reached Fort Dodge, the garrison immediately recognized that the post would have a difficult military mission for the future.
COLONEL RICHARD IRVING DODGE TAKES COMMAND OF FORT DODGE 1872
- Colonel Richard Irving Dodge was given command of Fort Dodge on June 3, 1872. He arrived at Fort Dodge the next day. Upon his arrival, he found the post in an influx of an unruly population. His orders were to ensure Fort Dodge became an oasis of peacefulness and to establish the rule of law amid conditions that verged on chaos.
- General Pope reports that “Forts Larned, Dodge and Lyon are substantial, well-built posts, and will last a long time.”
- Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroad’s Construction gangs reach Dodge City and Fort Dodge is no longer in the “line of supply” for the frontier forts
- After Colonel Richard I. Dodge assumed command of Fort Dodge in the spring of 1872, he stopped the sale of alcohol at the fort.
COLONEL WILLIAM LEWIS TAKES COMMAND OF FORT DODGE 1877
- Lewis, a graduate from West Point in 1849, spent his entire career fighting Indians, first against the Seminoles in 1857, and then toured Utah as part of the Mormon expedition with Albert Sydney Johnston. Guided by Jim Bridger, Lewis surveyed the Mormon Meadow Massacre site. Promoted to captain, Lewis was ordered to Fort Union, New Mexico, in 1860, where he fought the Navajo in Colorado and across New Mexico. On July 4, 1874, he took command of Camp Supply and was 55 years old when he took command of Fort Dodge in 1877.
- Lewis participates in the Cheyenne Exodus and was first advised of Dull Knife's approximate location and direction of travel on September 10, 1878.
- On September 27, 1878 William H. Lewis led the Fourth U.S. Cavalry and Nineteenth U.S. Infantry engage in battle at Punished Woman's Fork with the Northern Cheyennes who were led by Chiefs Little Wolf and Dull Knife.