The Cimarron Redoubt (also known as the Deep Hole Redoubt) was an improvised

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

fortification south of the city of Ashland in

Clark County Clark County may refer to: *Clark County, Arkansas *Clark County, Idaho *Clark County, Illinois *Clark County, Indiana *Clark County, Kansas *Clark County, Kentucky *Clark County, Missouri *Clark County, Nevada, containing Las Vegas *Clark County, ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

, United States. Built in 1870 near a major trade route's crossing of the Cimarron River, it was later used for a variety of civilian purposes, including a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

. Today, it lies abandoned amid farm fields in southern Center Township.

History

Southwestern Kansas was the location of some of the fighting of the Comanche War, fought between 1867 and 1875. In order to protect traffic on the Fort Supply/ Fort Dodge trail, U.S. Army soldiers built two

redoubt A redoubt (historically redout) is a Fortification, fort or fort system usually consisting of an enclosed defensive emplacement outside a larger fort, usually relying on Earthworks (engineering), earthworks, although some are constructed of ston ...

s north and south of the Cimarron River. The southern redoubt, constructed of

sandbag A sandbag or dirtbag is a bag or sack made of Hessian (cloth), hessian (burlap), polypropylene or other sturdy materials that is filled with sand or soil and used for such purposes as flood control, military fortification in trenches and bunke ...

s, was erected on the eastern side of Clark Creek south of its confluence with the Cimarron,Stein, Martin.
National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Cimarron Redoubt
'. National Park Service, 1976-04-26. Accessed 2009-09-09. while the earthen northern redoubt was built along the eastern side of Bear Creek.Stein, Martin.
National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Bear Creek Redoubt
'. National Park Service, 1976-04-26, 2. Accessed 2009-09-09. Named for the streams along which they lie, the two sites are located approximately fourteen miles apart: the Cimarron Redoubt lies nine miles south of Ashland, while the Bear Creek Redoubt lies five miles to the north of the city. Although fighting concluded in the immediate vicinity of the redoubt by 1875, it and the Bear Creek redoubt remained necessary fortifications in the Army's strategy of keeping hostile Native Americans away from settled areas. By the late 1870s, the region was sufficiently peaceful to render the Cimarron Redoubt unnecessary, and it was left to use by local civilians. The next few years saw it converted into a store, and by 1881, it was the location of the Deep Hole post office. After an undetermined period of time, it was abandoned. Since that time, the redoubt has been remarkably well preserved: the tall grass that now covers it has significantly reduced the rate of erosion. Located in the middle of a field now used for the storage of

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

, the grass-covered redoubt is Kansas' only known sandbag fort. In 1978, the Cimarron Redoubt's excellent state of preservation led to its being placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

, both for its historical role in military affairs and for the potential archeological value of excavation. The areas recognized as significant include both the fortification and some surrounding fields. Moreover, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

has recognized the redoubt as one of the principal sites in the valley of the Cimarron River.Rivers, Trails & Conservation Program: Kansas Segment

, 2009-02-27. Accessed 2009-09-09.

Structure

Built by soldiers under the command of Captain John Page,Haywood, C. Robert.
Trails South: The Wagon-Road Economy in the Dodge City-Panhandle Region
'' Meade: Prairie, 2006, 29-30. the redoubt was constructed in the shape of a square, sixty feet on each side. According to an account by Frances Roe, a later commander's wife who was stationed there in January 1873, it was laid out with many aspects of larger

fortification A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

s, such as

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s, ditches, and a ten-foot-tall

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an upward extension of a wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/brea ...

. Inside, the fortification included log-reinforced rooms for the garrison that, under Roe's supervision, were capable of becoming "clean and cheerful" for a military wife. Today, the walls have been eroded somewhat, especially along Clark Creek on the redoubt's southern side; they are generally only about two or three feet above the surrounding terrain. Nevertheless, its structure is overall strong enough that the redoubt is expected to survive essentially intact long into the future.

History

Structure

References

Further reading