Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is a

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

located south of

Mandan, North Dakota Mandan is a city on the eastern border of Morton County, North Dakota, Morton County and the List of cities in North Dakota, eighth-most populous city in North Dakota. Founded in 1879 on the west side of the upper Missouri River, it was designat ...

, United States. The park is home to the replica Mandan On-A-Slant Indian Village and reconstructed military buildings including the Custer House.

History

The

Mandan The Mandan () are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still ...

Indian tribe established a village at the confluence of the

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

and Heart Rivers in about 1575. They built earth lodges and thrived in their community by hunting

bison A bison (: bison) is a large bovine in the genus ''Bison'' (from Greek, meaning 'wild ox') within the tribe Bovini. Two extant taxon, extant and numerous extinction, extinct species are recognised. Of the two surviving species, the American ...

and growing a number of crops. Two hundred years later, an outbreak of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

significantly decreased the Mandan population and the survivors resettled to the north. In June 1872, at the same location where the Mandan tribe had established their village, a military post named Fort McKeen was built by two companies of the 6th US Infantry under Lt. Col. Daniel Huston, Jr. (1824-1884) opposite Bismarck, Dakota Territory. The three-company infantry post's name was changed to Fort Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1872, and expanded to the south to include a cavalry post accommodating six companies. Among the 78 permanent wooden structures at Fort Lincoln were a post office, telegraph office, barracks for nine companies, seven officer's quarters, six cavalry stables, a guardhouse, granary, quartermaster storehouse, bakery, hospital, laundress quarters, and log scouts' quarters. Water was supplied to the fort by being hauled from the Missouri River in wagons, while wood was supplied by contract. By 1873, the 7th Cavalry moved into the fort to ensure the expansion of the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered b ...

. The first post commander of the expanded fort was Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, who held the position until his death in 1876. In 1876, the Army departed from here as part of the

Great Sioux War of 1876 The Great Sioux War of 1876, also known as the Black Hills War, was a series of battles and negotiations that occurred in 1876 and 1877 in an alliance of Lakota people, Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne against the United States. The cause of t ...

, resulting in Custer's defeat at the Little Bighorn, where they were to push the non-treaty Indians back to their particular reservations. Custer along with about half of his troops did not return to Fort Lincoln. The Fort was abandoned in 1891 after the completion of the railroad to

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

in 1883. A year after the fort was abandoned, local residents disassembled the fort for its nails and wood. In 1895, a new Fort Lincoln was built across the river near Bismarck. In 1907, President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

signed the deed to the original fort's land over to the state as Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. In 1934, the

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government unemployment, work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was ...

built a visitor center, shelters, and roads. They also reconstructed military blockhouses and placed cornerstones to mark where fort buildings once stood, as well as replicating Mandan earthen lodges. Additional reproductions have since been built on the site, creating a replica Mandan village, called "On-a-Slant Village." A reproduction of Custer's house was built in the park in 1989, in time for the state of

's centennial celebration.

Features

On-A-Slant Indian Village

On-A-Slant, Mandan Village (Mandan: Miti-ba-wa-esh) was established in the late 16th century and was inhabited until c. 1781. During those years the

tribe had between seven and nine villages (all located along the

Missouri River The Missouri River is a river in the Central United States, Central and Mountain states, Mountain West regions of the United States. The nation's longest, it rises in the eastern Centennial Mountains of the Bitterroot Range of the Rocky Moun ...

), with an estimated total population of 10,000 to 15,000. On-a-Slant was the furthest south of all these villages and consisted of approximately 86 earth lodges. Its population was about 1,000–1,500. It was located near the point where the Missouri and Heart Rivers come together and was named so by the Mandan because the village was built on ground that slopes towards the river valley. It was fortified with a ditch and

palisade A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymo ...

, to protect its wealth of food and trade goods. The women of the Mandan tribe were responsible for building the earth lodges, which were held up by a frame of cottonwood logs and covered with layers of willow branches, grass, and earth. These thick walls insulated the lodge effectively in both summer and winter. The top center of the earth lodge contained a hole to let out smoke from the fire pit and to let in sunlight. The earth lodges were placed close together with all entrances facing towards the village plaza in the center. Each lodge housed about ten to fifteen members of the immediate and extended family. The Mandan tribe lived on farming and hunting. The village became a center of trading because the Mandan were known for their ability to make pottery and prepare animal skins. In 1781, a smallpox epidemic ravaged the Mandan tribe, killing off a majority of the villagers. The remaining tribe members moved north to join the

Hidatsa The Hidatsa ( ) are a Siouan people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a pa ...

tribe along the Knife River.

Historic Fort Lincoln and the Custer House

George Armstrong Custer and wife Fort Lincoln Dakota Territory

Lieutenant Colonel

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point ...

and his wife, Libbie, lived at Fort Abraham Lincoln from 1873 until Custer died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in the summer of 1876. Approximately 500 troops were also stationed there. Custer's first home at the fort was built in the summer of 1873, but it burned down in February 1874. Today, the house and seven other major fort buildings, including a

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

, the fort's makeshift theater, a stable building, and several blockhouses, have been rebuilt.

Five Nations Art Gallery

Five Nations Art Gallery is part of the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to maintaining and promoting the heritage and historic perspectives of Fort Lincoln and other historic sites in North Dakota. Five Nations Arts is a local art store specializing in regional Native American art, showcasing the five Indian nations of the Northern Plains. They offer paintings, jewelry, sculptures, dream catchers and beadwork created by 200 local artists. Painted buffalo skins and local sewn quilts are offered. Music from national and local musicians is also available along with locally produced soaps made from buffalo tallow and natural local herbs, such as cedar, rose, sage, and sweet grass. Five Nations Arts is established in the former Northern Pacific Railway station, on Main Street in

. "Five Nations" refers to the five federally recognized tribes in North Dakota: the

Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...

(a.k.a. Chippewa and

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

of Turtle Mountain)

, and

Arikara The Arikara ( ), also known as Sahnish,
''Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation.'' (Retrieved Sep 29, 2011) ...

Nation (a.k.a. the Three Affiliated Tribes), and the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan languages, Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of ...

(Spirit Lake, Standing Rock and Lake Traverse Indian Reservations), or the five reservations in North Dakota:

Fort Berthold Indian Reservation The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S. Indian reservation in western North Dakota that is home for the federally recognized Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. The reservation includes lands on ...

(Three Affiliated Tribes), Spirit Lake Indian Reservation (Lakota),

Standing Rock Sioux Reservation The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South Dakota controls the Standing Rock Reservation (), which straddles the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lak ...

(Lakota),

Lake Traverse Indian Reservation The Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is the homeland of the federally recognized Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, a branch of the Santee Dakota group of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. Most of the reservation covers parts of five ...

(Lakota), and Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation (Anishinaabe and Métis).

Activities and amenities

Northern Plains Overland Trails 1866-1877 map on display at the Fort Totten Historic Site

Fort Lincoln Park offers living history tours of the Custer House every half-hour. The tour is roughly thirty minutes long and takes you back to the year 1875 when Custer and his wife were living at Fort Abraham Lincoln. The guides are dressed either as laundresses or soldiers from 1875. Interpretive tours of On-A-Slant Village and the earth lodges, in which the guides give a basic introduction to Mandan culture, are offered every half-hour and are about thirty minutes long. Along with the tours, there is a historical museum comprising On-A-Slant Village, Fort Abraham Lincoln, and Fort Lincoln State Park culture and history. A gift shop and coffee shop have been built in the re-constructed commissary storehouse. During the summers, melodramas, including ones originally performed at Fort Lincoln in the 1870s, are performed by the guides in the re-built granary. The park has 95 campsites, two sleeping cabins, and picnic shelters. Horseback tours, hiking, fishing, and playgrounds are also available.

Notable residents

Sheheke Sheheke, Sheheke-shote (Mandan: Shehék Shót), translated as White Coyote, and also known as Coyote or Big White (c. 1766–1812), was a Mandan chief. His name is also sometimes spelled Shahaka. Sheheke was at the time of the arrival of Meriwe ...

, Mandan tribal chief who accompanied Lewis and Clark with his family back to Washington D.C. in 1806 after the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

, was born here around 1766. * Mato-tope, Mandan tribal chief who was painted by artists

George Catlin George Catlin ( ; July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans in the American frontier. Traveling to the Wes ...

and

Karl Bodmer Johann Carl Bodmer (11 February 1809 – 30 October 1893) was a Switzerland, Swiss-France, French printmaker, etcher, lithographer, zinc engraver, draftsman, draughtsman, painter, illustrator, and hunter. Known as Karl Bodmer in literature and p ...

, grew up here. * Frank L. Anders,

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient and notable businessman, was born here November 10, 1875.

Notes

References

External links

Ft. Abraham Lincoln State Park
North Dakota Parks and Recreation Department
Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation
* {{Authority control Lincoln Civilian Conservation Corps in North Dakota

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

Great Sioux War of 1876 Historic house museums in North Dakota Living museums in North Dakota Mandan, North Dakota Military and war museums in North Dakota Military sites of the wars between the United States and Native Americans Museums in Morton County, North Dakota State parks of North Dakota Pre-statehood history of North Dakota Protected areas of Morton County, North Dakota 1872 establishments in Dakota Territory Protected areas established in 1907 Abraham Lincoln