Fort Dilts was a makeshift sod fort built near Rhame, North Dakota, United States, in September 1864 to fend off attacks by Hunkpapa Sioux Indians led by

Sitting Bull Sitting Bull ( ; December 15, 1890) was a Hunkpapa Lakota people, Lakota leader who led his people during years of resistance against Federal government of the United States, United States government policies. Sitting Bull was killed by Indian ...

upon an encircled wagon train of would-be gold-miners and a small military escort of convalescent soldiers. The wagon train had set out from

Fort Ridgely Fort Ridgely was a frontier United States Army outpost from 1851 to 1867, built 1853–1854 in Minnesota Territory. The Sioux called it Esa Tonka. It was located overlooking the Minnesota River southwest of Fairfax, Minnesota. Half of th ...

, Minnesota, under the command of Captain James L. Fisk of the U.S. Quartermaster Corps. In 1864, amidst the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of ...

was relatively short of military protection. On September 2, the party came under attack by Sitting Bull and a group of Hunkpapa Sioux. Two days later, still harassed by the Sioux, the expedition found a suitable spot and constructed a defensive perimeter out of sod stacked high and in diameter. The defenders named it Fort Dilts in honor of Corporal Jefferson Dilts, one of eight U.S. Army soldiers who had been killed, out of 50. A number of civilians also died. and Lieutenant Smith and fifteen others managed to reach Fort Rice. Colonel Daniel J Dill organized a rescue expedition on 11th of September with a column of 850 men, 550 infantry, 300 cavalry, and one section of artillery (300 from the 30th Wisconsin, 200 from the 8th Minnesota, 100 from the 7th Iowa Cavalry (dismounted) and 100 each from the 2nd Minnesota Cavalry, Bracketts Battalion and the 6th Iowa Cavalry. The Minnesota units rendezvoused at Fort Ripley to head west. The defenders were rescued on September 20. When the wagon moved out, a wagon with poisoned food was left behind by Minnesotans that had lost family in the Sioux Uprising.Fort Dilts: Guns, arrows and poison?, Virginia Grantier, The Dickenson Press, 30 August 201

/ref> Upon reaching Fort Rice the wagon expedition disbanded.Fort Dilts, Fort Dilts State Historic Site, State Historical Society of North Dakota, 612 East Boulevard Ave., Bismarck, North Dakota 5850

/ref> Fort Dilts State Historic Site has been 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 ...

historic site since 1932. As "Fort Dilts", it was listed 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 ...

in 1980. The listing was for with one contributing site and one contributing structure. Remaining at the site are a sod enclosure, wagon ruts, several grave markers, and an interpretive sign.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Government buildings completed in 1864 Military installations established in 1864 North Dakota in the American Civil War North Dakota State Historic Sites Protected areas of Bowman County, North Dakota Dilts National Register of Historic Places in Bowman County, North Dakota Sioux Wars