Crazy Woman Crossing is a

historic place A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been rec ...

on the

Bozeman Trail The Bozeman Trail was an overland route in the Western United States, connecting the gold rush territory of southern Montana to the Oregon Trail in eastern Wyoming. Its important period was from 1863 to 1868. While the major part of the route us ...

, in

Johnson County, Wyoming Johnson County is a county in the north central part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. At the 2020 United States census, the population was 8,447. The county seat is Buffalo. Kaycee is the only other incorporated town in the county. Johnson Cou ...

, United States, about twenty miles southeast of

Buffalo Buffalo most commonly refers to: * True buffalo or Bubalina, a subtribe of wild cattle, including most "Old World" buffalo, such as water buffalo * Bison, a genus of wild cattle, including the American buffalo * Buffalo, New York, a city in the n ...

. Crazy Woman Crossing was one of three major fords used by travelers across creeks and rivers in this area. It is significant as the site of the Battle of Crazy Woman, a skirmish during

Red Cloud's War Red Cloud's War (also referred to as the Bozeman War or the Powder River War) was an armed conflict between an alliance of the Lakota people, Lakota, Cheyenne, Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapaho peoples against the United States and the Crow ...

in 1866. The United States pulled out of this territory after negotiation with the Lakota and allies of the Treaty of Fort Laramie of 1868. In the 1870s, the US attempted to claim some control of the Bozeman Trail, and the number of emigrants increased on this route. In 1878, August Trabing opened a store nearby to serve travelers on the trail, which came to be known as the Trabing Station. His was the first store in Johnson County. Crazy Woman Crossing became known as the place where what became known as Trabing Road crosses

Crazy Woman Creek Crazy Woman Creek is a creek in the United States, in Johnson County, Wyoming. There are several legends about the name. It was the site of a trading post and the site of battles in the American Indian Wars. It was also a locale of the Johnson ...

Bozeman Trail

In the spring 1863,

John Bozeman John Merin Bozeman (January 1835 – April 20, 1867) was an American pioneer and frontiersman in the American West who helped establish the Bozeman Trail through Wyoming Territory into the gold fields of southwestern Montana Territory in t ...

and his associates scouted for a direct route from the goldfields at

Virginia City, Montana Virginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. Virginia City was the territorial capital of Montana from 1865 to 1875. In 1961 the town and the surrounding area were designated a National Historic Landm ...

to central

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

in order to connect with the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and Westward Expansion Trails, emigrant trail in North America that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon Territory. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail crossed what ...

, which was then the major passage in the continental United States to the West Coast. The

followed many north–south trails which the American Indians had used since prehistoric times to travel through Powder River country. On July 6, 1863, forty-six wagons, eighty-nine men and an unspecified number of women and children crossed the North Platte at Deer Creek (present-day

Glenrock, Wyoming Glenrock is a town in Converse County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 2,420 at the 2020 census. History Glenrock, known as Deer Creek Station, had its beginning as a mail and stage station along the Oregon Trail. The station served ...

) and became the first wagon train to try the new trail. After travelers crossed the

North Platte River The North Platte River is a major tributary of the Platte River and is approximately long, counting its many curves.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 21, 2011 I ...

, the first three major river crossings on the

were Powder River Crossing, Crazy Woman Crossing, and Clear Creek Crossing (present-day

Buffalo, Wyoming Buffalo is a city in and the county seat of Johnson County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 4,415 at the 2020 census, down from 4,585 at the 2010 census. The city had experienced an economic boom due to methane production from the C ...

). At each water ford, travelers would often camp at least one night, to water their stock, review and renew supplies, and collect themselves. Between 1864 and 1868, the high risk of Lakota and allied attacks resulted in fewer than a thousand people using the Bozeman Trail. One Bozeman Trail emigrant was Ellen Fletcher. She recorded a series of diary and notes which described her experiences on trail during the summer of 1866. She wrote of the Crazy Woman Crossing:

Camped at "Crazy Woman's Fork." It was a beautiful spot near the stream, in a large grove of trees. The men built large campfires all around the wagons. It was a pretty sight, the circular correll (corral) of white topped wagons and tents scattered here and there, the blazing fires shining forth through the trees, the busy men and women hurrying to and fro, and the quiet moon looking down over it all. A large tree, bent over like an arch, crowns our wagon.

Crazy Woman Battle

The

Powder River Expedition (1865) :''This event should not be confused with the Big Horn Expedition during the Black Hills War.'' The Powder River Expedition of 1865 also known as the Powder River War or Powder River Invasion, was a large and far-flung military operation of the ...

and

(1866) were United States military actions intended to suppress resistance by the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho in the region and protect travelers on the

from attacks. On August 11, 1865, General Patrick Edward Connor's troops reached the Powder River Crossing, where they began building Fort Reno. After the

Battle of the Tongue River The Battle of the Tongue River, sometimes referred to as the Connor Battle, was an engagement of the Powder River Expedition that occurred on August 29, 1865. In the battle, U.S. soldiers and Indian scouts attacked and destroyed an Arapaho vi ...

on August 29, 1865, Connor was ordered to return to

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. At about the same time, another group of soldiers under Colonel James Sawyer were ordered to build a military road for freighting supplies along the Bozeman Trail. In 1866, a military force under Colonel Henry B. Carrington was ordered to secure the route of the Bozeman Trail. Carrington established

Fort Phil Kearny Fort Phil Kearny was an outpost of the United States Army that existed in the late 1860s in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail. Construction began in 1866 on Friday, July 13, by Companies A, C, E, and H of the 2nd Battalion, ...

on July 14, initiating a military struggle by the Lakota and their allies in the area known as

. The Lakota struggled to expel US forces. The Crazy Woman Crossing, a ford across Crazy Woman Creek, was one of the Indians' favorite spots for attack, as its terrain was amenable to ambush. On July 20, 1866, a group of thirty men and women settlers, led by Lieutenant A. H. Wand, left Fort Reno to travel to Fort Phil Kearny. Lieutenants Napoleon H. Daniels and George H. Templeton rode ahead to look for a suitable campsite at Crazy Woman Crossing. Unable to locate a suitable place, they turned back to join the larger group. Lieutenant Templeton described what happened next: "Lieut. (Daniels) remarked "look there" and spurred his horse up, going way ahead. I looked over my right shoulder but could see nothing, but upon looking over my left, I saw between 50 and 60 Indians mounted and in full chase about 150 yards in the rear. I spurred up old Pegasus, punched his (flank) with my gun and did everything to increase speed, but the horse seemed to me to be moving very slowly. After Mr. Daniels had gone 200 yards he was shot with an arrow through the back and fell off his horse, the saddle turning. I could do nothing to help him and did not expect to get away myself." Templeton, hotly pursued, reached the wagon train, which formed a defensive corral on a bluff overlooking Crazy Woman Creek. The battle continued for several hours, until a cavalry patrol traveling from Fort Phil Kearny to Fort Reno, under Captain George Burroughs' command, relieved the beleaguered party. During the fight, a second soldier, Lance Corporal Terrence Callary, was killed near the corralled wagons. The Americans' total casualties were two killed and several wounded. Red Cloud's War was decisive with U.S. forces withdrawing. Two years later, the United States negotiated the

Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 The Treaty of Fort Laramie (also the Sioux Treaty of 1868) is an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota, and Arapaho Nation, following the failure of the first For ...

, ceding control of some territory to the Lakota and allies. This being the only treaty where the government accepted all terms offered by the Lakota and its allies. The army abandoned the Bozeman Trail, along with three forts in the Powder River country.

Trading Station

As a result of the Great Sioux War of 1876, American armed forces reclaimed the

and established a series of forts ( Cantonment Reno, Fort McKinney, and Fort Custer). The Bozeman Trail was developed by the United States as a military road and telegraph route to serve these forts. Within a few years, several stage coach lines were established that hauled freight and passengers along the trail. In 1878, August Trabing established a trading post at the Crazy Woman Crossing. Trabing sold various goods including boots, hats, and liquor to local ranchers and travelers on the Bozeman Trail. In the fall of 1878, the store was robbed three times by a gang of about eight "road agents." Because of these robberies, Trabing moved his store in 1879 from the Crazy Woman Crossing to the Clear Creek Crossing (present day

). After Trabing left Crazy Woman Crossing, his building was used as a post office for ranchers and stockmen, and a stage station for the stagecoach lines. Local people described the Trabing building as a long, log structure paralleling the road, with three rooms. At the south end of the building were two small log outbuildings, one a schoolhouse, the other a blacksmith shop. To the east was another large log building served as the stable, with several corrals for livestock. According to Post Office records, Trabing City was established as a post office on January 20, 1879, with Abraham M. Baumann as postmaster. The post office was renamed Trabing and Andrew King was named as postmaster on August 26, 1880. The Trabing post office closed on December 13, 1913, and mail service was moved to

References

Photo gallery

File:Crazy Woman Battle Monument.jpg, Crazy Woman Battle Monument File:Monuments for Crazy Woman Battle.jpg, Monuments for Crazy Woman Battle File:Site of Crazy Woman Battle.jpg, Site of the Crazy Woman Battle File:Ruins of Trabing Store.jpg, Ruins of Trabing Store {{National Register of Historic Places Conflict sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Wyoming Geography of Johnson County, Wyoming Battlefields of the wars between the United States and Native Americans National Register of Historic Places in Johnson County, Wyoming Bozeman Trail