Fort Kearny was a historic outpost of the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

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 Stephen Watts Kearny (sometimes spelled Kearney) ( ) (August 30, 1794October 31, 1848) was one of the foremost antebellum frontier officers of the United States Army. He is remembered for his significant contributions in the Mexican–American Wa ...

. The outpost was located along the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

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 The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission (NGPC) is the State of Nebraska's State agency charged with stewardship of the state's fish, wildlife, state park, and outdoor recreation resources. The agency is led by a governor-appointed member commission ...

. The fort became the eastern anchor of the

Great Platte River Road 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 T ...

and thus an important military and civilian way station for 20 years. Wagon trains moving west, were able to resupply after completing about a sixth (16%) of the journey. The fort offered a safe resting area for the eastern immigrants in this new and hostile land. Livestock could be traded for fresh stock and letters sent back to the States. The fort continued to expand over the years, until there were over 30 buildings before its closure in 1871. It took on additional roles as a

Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pi ...

station, an Overland Stage station and a

telegraph station Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

.Comprehensive Management and Use Plan, Oregon National Historic Trail, Appendix III; Selected Historic Sites and Cross-Country Segments, Status and Recommendations; National Park Service, United States Department of the Interior; Washington, D.C.; August 1981; page 69-70

Origins and various missions of the fort

The fort was built in response to the growth of overland emigration to Oregon after 1845. The first post, Fort Kearny, was established in the spring of 1848 "near the head of the Grand Island" along the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itsel ...

by Lieutenant Daniel P. Woodbury. It was first called Fort Chiles,Letter datelined "Nebraska Territory May 26th 1849" to Chillicothe, Illinois, entered the mails with "Fort Leavenworth, Mo./June 14" datestamp, Spink Shreves Galleries, https://stampauctionnetwork.com/f/f12122.cfm, last accessed January 14, 2019: ""...wee are within Ten miles of fort Kerney formerly called fort Chiles…" named for Col. Joseph Chiles. but in 1848 the post was renamed Fort Kearny in honor of General

. Despite its lack of fortifications, Fort Kearny served as way station, sentinel post, supply depot, and message center for 49'ers bound for California and homeseekers traveling to California, Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The earliest surviving photograph of the post, taken in 1858 by Samuel C. Mills, shows the post as a collection of adobe buildings without any wall or fortifications. By the 1860s the fort had become a significant state and freighting station and home station of the

. During the

Indian Wars The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...

of 1864-1865 a small stockade was apparently built upon the earth embankment still visible. Although never under attack, the post did serve as an outfitting depot for several Indian campaigns. The fort was a precious source of provisions for emigrants on the early section of the trail for several decades during the height of the trail use until its abandonment in 1871. As it had been founded along the

to protect emigrants on the trail westward, the fort became an important stop along the eastern part of the trail for the following decade, offering the sale of food, reliable mail service and other amenities. At the height of the pioneer trail use in the 1850s, as many as 2,000 emigrants and 10,000 oxen might pass through in a single day during the height of the trail season in late May. One of the fort's final duties was the protection of workers building the Union Pacific. In 1871, two years after the completion of the transcontinental railroad, the fort was discontinued as a military post. Its buildings were disassembled and moved West to outfit newer posts.

Description

The fort was intended mostly as a supply post, and not as defensive position in the Indian Wars. Throughout most of its history, the fort consisted mostly of wooden buildings surrounding a central parade ground without fortified walls. Throughout the decades of its use until the completion of the

transcontinental railroad A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

, the character of the buildings became slightly more permanent, changing from adobe and

sod Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

structures to wooden frame construction. Although it was in the heart of area inhabited by American Indians aka Native Americans, and was near the center of hostile action in the 1860s, no direct attack was ever made on the fort.

History

First Fort Kearny

The fort along the

was the second of two army posts in present-day

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

to be named after Colonel Stephen W. Kearny of the U.S. Army. In 1838, Kearny had scouted the area along the Missouri River at the mouth of Table Creek near present-day

Nebraska City Nebraska City is a city in Nebraska, and the county seat of, Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,289. The Nebraska State Legislature has credited Nebraska City as being the oldest incorporated ...

looking for a suitable location for an outpost to protect westward travelers. In 1846, following Kearny's recommendation, the

United States War Department The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

had ordered the building of an outpost on the site and directed Kearny to construct one there. The Army then sent Colonel Kearny with a detachment of men from

Fort Leavenworth Fort Leavenworth () is a United States Army installation located in Leavenworth County, Kansas, in the city of Leavenworth. Built in 1827, it is the second oldest active United States Army post west of Washington, D.C., and the oldest perma ...

up the Missouri to the area with orders to construct an outpost at the selected site.Old Fort Kearny; Otoe County Historical Society, Historical Land Mark Council; East Central Avenue, Nebraska City; Otoe County, Marker 36; Nebraska Dept of Transportation; Lincoln, Nebraska; obtained 2016 The Army constructed a two-story wooden blockhouse on the site, which became known as Camp Kearny and later Fort Kearny. The Army quickly realized, however, the location was not chosen well, since few emigrants passed the site on their way west. Instead, the main routes of the trails preferred by emigrants lay to the north near Omaha and to the south. Construction was subsequently halted on the site, with the exception of the erection of a number of log huts for temporary quarters for a battalion of troops who wintered there in 1847–1848.

Second Fort Kearny

In September 1847, Kearny sent topographical engineer Lt. Daniel P. Woodbury westward along the Platte looking for a more suitable location for the outpost. Woodbury selected a site in present-day central Nebraska near the spot where the Trail westward from

Independence, Missouri Independence is the fifth-largest city in Missouri and the county seat of Jackson County. Independence is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020, ...

joined the trail westward from Omaha and

Council Bluffs Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha-Council Bluffs Metropolitan Area. It is loc ...

. Woodbury described the spot in his journals as: :I have located the post opposite a group of wooded islands in the Platte River ... three hundred seventeen miles from Independence, Missouri, one hundred seventeen miles from Fort Kearny on the Missouri and three miles from the head of the group of islands called Grand Island. In December Woodbury went to

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

with orders to secure organization of the new post. Woodbury requested an appropriation of $15,000 for construction, while advocating the employment of Mormon emigrants for construction. Although he did not receive these provisions, Woodbury received permission to build the fort from scratch with soldier labor. The Army abandoned the Table Creek post in May 1848 and arrived at the new site in June. Woodbury directed construction of the fort with 175 men as labor. They built wooden buildings around a four-acre (16,000 m²) parade ground, with cottonwood trees planted around the perimeter. Woodbury initially named the fort "Fort Childs" after Col.

Thomas Childs Thomas Childs (16 March 1796 – 8 October 1855) was a U.S. soldier who served with distinction during the Mexican–American War. Childs was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the son and grandson of Revolutionary War veterans. He graduated f ...

, a famous soldier in the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, as well as Woodbury's father-in-law. A directive from War Department, however, directed that the name "Fort Kearny" would be transferred to the new fort.''The National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, Volume XII; Soldiers and Braves, Historic Places Associated with Indian Affairs and the Indian Wars in the Trans-Mississippi West'', Robert G. Ferris (Ed), United States Department of the Interior, NPS, Washington, D.C. 1971 pg 206–07 The fort grew rapidly into an important trail stop. By June 1849, Woodbury noted in his journals that 4,000 wagons had passed the fort so far that year, mostly on their way to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The fort accumulated large stores of goods for travelers, with the directive of selling them at a beneficial cost to the emigrants. Specifically, the commander of the fort was authorized to sell goods at cost to emigrants, and in some cases of hardship, to give goods to them for free. In 1850, the fort acquired regular once-a-month mail service with the arrival of a stagecoach route between Independence, Missouri and

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

. It was the first regular mail service established along the trail.

Trail Junction

Fort Kearny's location was chosen based on its proximity to the junction of several existing smaller trails, which joined together into a single broader route that became known as the Great Platte River Road. At this location, immigrant trains from the Missouri River trail head converged and thousands of overland travelers passed by the fort each year. The Armies two functions included protection and aid to the thousands of emigrants moving westward and to protect the Indian tribes from the migrants and from other tribes. Over time, road ranches grew up nearby. Dobytown became the first settlement providing supplies and entertainment to the emigrants and the soldiers.Kearney-Fort Kearny: Department of Roads; Nebraska State Historical Society, Kearny Rest Area, I-80 E, Buffalo County; Marker 200 *Eastern Trailsheads ** Westport near Kansas City, used by most emigrants. **

St. Joseph, Missouri St. Joseph is a city in and the county seat of Buchanan County, Missouri. Small parts of St. Joseph extend into Andrew County. Located on the Missouri River, it is the principal city of the St. Joseph Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includ ...

became a major freight center during The Mormon War and after the discovery of gold in the Colorado and Montana Territories (1858-1865). Freighters found the Ox-Bow Trail, with more abundant grass and water although longer and prone to having muddy lowlands. This was replaced in 1858 by the "Steam Wagon Road" which was a more direct route and improved after 1862.Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cutoff; Nebraska State Historical Society; Nebr. 2, northwest of Syracuse - Otoe County; Marker 143; Nebraska Department of Transportation, Lincoln, NE, retrieved 2015 ** Omaha, along with

Florence, Nebraska Florence is a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska, United States on the city's north end and originally one of the oldest cities in Nebraska. It was incorporated by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature on March 10, 1857. The site of Winter Quarters ...

, which served the Mormon Pioneers from Winter Quarters.

Role in the Indian Wars

The early years of the fort were relatively peaceful. After 1854, and the creation of the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

by the

Kansas–Nebraska Act The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 () was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by ...

, the area around the fort in northern Kansas and southern Nebraska increasingly came under the hostile activity of the

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enr ...

and Sioux tribes. In the summer of 1864, the irritation of the Native Americans at the encroachment by white settlers culminated in violent attacks on wagon trains along the Platte and the Little Blue River. During this time, soldiers from the fort began escorting wagon trains, and the fort became a center for refugees fleeing from attacks. Earthwork fortifications were constructed at the fort, and the Army ordered the deployment of the First Nebraska Cavalry and the Seventh Iowa Cavalry to the fort. By 1865, the conflict between Native Americans and white settlers had shifted westward away from the area of the fort.

Later years and abandonment

The construction of the

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

across Nebraska starting in 1865 largely marked the end of the need for a fort to protect and supply wagon train emigrants. Following the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, the U.S. Army issued an order for abandonment of the post on May 22, 1871. In 1875, the buildings were torn down and the materials removed to barracks at North Platte and Sidney. The troops of the fort were restationed to Omaha and its stores were relocated to Fort McPherson 70 miles (110 km) to the west. In December 1876, the grounds were given over to the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the ma ...

for disbursement to settlements under the

Homestead Act The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of t ...

. Within several years, little remained of the fort except for cottonwood trees and the 1864 earthwork fortifications.Fort Kearny; Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, Nebraska State Historical Society, Fort Kearny State Historical Society; Kearny County, Marker 229; Nebraska Dept of Transportation; Lincoln, NE, obtained 2016

Fort Kearny State Historical Park

In 1928, the Fort Kearny Memorial Association was formed by Nebraska citizens to raise money to purchase and restore part of the grounds. The organization was able to purchase of the original site, which it offered to the State of Nebraska. The State Legislature authorized the purchase, which became final on March 26, 1929. Thus acquired by the State of Nebraska in 1929, part of the original site is now operated as Fort Kearny State Historical Park by the

. The site has been entered on the National Register of Historic Places. In cooperation with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, which operates the current State Historic Park, the Nebraska State Historical Society conducts ongoing archaeological investigations of the grounds. These digs have uncovered and marked the foundations of all major building on the site including headquarters, officers and troops quarters, parade grounds, storage and livestock stockade. A small theatre that shows a 20-minute history of the fort, a museum with collected artifacts and a reconstructed

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such as gates, gr ...

shop with period

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

s, caissons, tack and other equipment is behind the museum. There is space on the park for RV and trailer parking with some facilities. The park is only open during the summer months. Reenactors fire the authentic cannon every year on 4 July weekend ceremonies. In June 2010, Governor

Dave Heineman David Eugene Heineman (born May 12, 1948) is an American politician who served as the 39th governor of Nebraska from 2005 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the 39th treasurer of Nebraska from 1995 to 2001 and 37th li ...

signed a Proclamation re-establishing the 2nd Battalion, Nebraska Veteran Cavalry, the unit will be at the Fort on three major holidays, memorial day weekend, 4 July weekend, and Labor day weekend. This historical cavalry unit served at the fort during the Indian Wars, the unit is historically correct in every possible aspect; bugle calls used by the cavalry can be heard at differing times to announce the activities of the troop at the fort.

Depiction in fiction

In the novel '' Around the World in Eighty Days'' by Jules Verne, a train in the process of being hijacked by Sioux stops at Fort Kearny to request aid from the troops there. Such an event is somewhat of an anachronism, given that the conflicts with Native Americans had largely shifted away from the area by the time of the completion of the railroad. The fort is prominently mentioned and described as a stop along the Oregon Trail in 1855 in the novel "Westward Hearts (Homeward on the Oregon Trail Book 1)" by Melody Carlson, 2012 chapter 25. Fort Kearny also appears in the short-lived television western drama series The Loner starring actor Lloyd Bridges. The series, created and written by Rod Serling of "The Twilight Zone" fame, takes place in the late 1860s and features the fort in an episode titled "Westward the Shoemaker". The "Westward..." episode concerns an Eastern European Jewish immigrant who seeks a new life in Nebraska Territory as a bootmaker but runs afoul of a card shark. The fort is mentioned in the introduction to an episode of the TV series Wagon Train, "The Willy Moran Story" as the next destination of the settlers. The fort is also referenced in the HBO television series Deadwood in episode 5 of the first series as the closest place to find smallpox vaccine. The fort is mentioned in the 2014 film

The Homesman ''The Homesman'' is a 2014 Western historical drama film set in the 1850s Midwest and directed by Tommy Lee Jones. The screenplay by Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald, and Wesley Oliver is based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. ...

, as the post Tommy Lee Jones character was stationed when a soldier with the U.S. Dragoons. The fort is a stop in the ''Oregon Trail'' video game. The fort is mentioned in the Song "One Black Sheep" by Mat Kearney

References

External links

Fort Kearny State Historical Park
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Fort Kearny State Historical Park and State Recreation Area Maps
Nebraska Game and Parks Commission {{authority control Kearny 1848 establishments in the United States 1871 disestablishments in Nebraska Archaeological sites in Nebraska California Trail Kearny Mormon Trail State parks of Nebraska Oregon Trail Museums in Kearney County, Nebraska Military and war museums in Nebraska Pre-statehood history of Nebraska Protected areas of Kearney County, Nebraska Protected areas established in 1929 Kearny Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska National Register of Historic Places in Kearney County, Nebraska