Ft. Fetterman Wyoming

[Pat Holscher]

Fairly recently I posted a thread on Ft. Reno ( viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11399&hilit=Ft.+Reno#p101800 ) and on Ft. Phil Kearny ( viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11373 ) Here's another one that's similar, the well known post of Ft. Fetterman, which figured prominently in the Indian Wars on the Northern Plains in the 1870s.

Not much of Ft. Fetterman is left. Not because it was burned down, such as Ft. Reno, but because settlers and ranchers carted pieces off to use. The buildings you see today were rebuilt by the State. This is a Wyoming State Park.




Parade Ground at Ft. Fetterman, facing north.

[Pat Holscher]

Post Traders Store.




Remains of structures near post traders store.

[Pat Holscher]

Parade ground, southwest corner.






The building in this photo was reconstructed, and is one of the few structures on location.

[Pat Holscher]

Infantry barracks on the western edge of the post. I can't read the sign in the background, but cookhouses were located behind the barracks in this location, and the sign may depict one.






The view back towards the east.














View of the parade ground, looking toward the southeast

[Pat Holscher]

The Bozeman Trail:

[Pat Holscher]

Stables and shops:




Location of the stables.


Location of the shops.

[Pat Holscher]

Structures on the northern edge of the post, north of the Bozeman Trail:






Cistern.

[Pat Holscher]

Ferry location.


Hog ranch location. While not noted on the sign, at least one soldier drowned attempting to swim to it.

[Pat Holscher]

[Pat Holscher]

Crook in 1876. Crook started his 1876 campaign from here.

[Pat Holscher]

Looking back at the post from the northern edge of it.


Officers Quarters, northern edge of the parade ground.

[Pat Holscher]

Officers Quarters, Eastern edge of the parade ground.

[Pat Holscher]

Looking out toward the north eastern part of the post, from the southeastern part of the parade ground.




Route of telegraph line.


Supposed route of wagon road, but line of site leads to a post structure.

[Pat Holscher]

Hospital. Typical for 19th Century Army post hospitals, it was put quite some distance from the post, no doubt to try to keep the sick away from the well.






Ordnance storage, also outside the interior of the post a bit.

[Pat Holscher]

The Post Cemetery.

The hospital was quite some distance from parade ground, but nowhere near as far away as the cemetery. The cemetery was on a distant hill, which must have made for some of a grim horizon for the post.








Looking back on the post, from the cemetery.




Two tombstones for soldiers who lost their lives at Ft. Fetterman. Presumably the bodies have been removed, as with all other Frontier military posts.


Ft. Fetterman became a town after the Army abandoned it, although it faded away after the rail line went through nearby Douglas. Nonetheless, the Army cemetery remained a used civilian cemetery for quite some time.


The grave of an "old time" cowboy. He was only 24 years old when he died.




The grim reality of 19th and early 20th Century lives. Two young children of the same parents.

[Trooper]

Thanks for posting the photos Pat
It is great to see Fetterman again.
Nothing much has changed since 1976 except that it is much better sign posted now and so must be easier to understand than it was then.
I have a mule shoe from the site and like to think that it is a relic of Crook's pack train.

[Pat Holscher]

Thanks for posting the photos Pat
It is great to see Fetterman again.
Nothing much has changed since 1976 except that it is much better sign posted now and so must be easier to understand than it was then.
I have a mule shoe from the site and like to think that it is a relic of Crook's pack train.

The state has done a good job with signage in recent years at this, and other posts. It does really aid in understanding what's being looked at.

[Pat Holscher]

Bumped up due to related thread.

[Pat Holscher]

Crook in 1876. Crook started his 1876 campaign from here.

See today's history item.

[Trooper]

Apropos another thread, this campaign ended with "The Horsemeat March".....