Fort Assinniboine

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Coordinates: 48°29′59″N 109°47′39″W / 48.49972°N 109.79417°W / 48.49972; -109.79417
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the closed army fort in Montana, USA. For the similarly named hamlet in Alberta, Canada, see Fort Assiniboine. For the former Fort Assiniboine in Manitoba, see Brandon House.
Fort Assinniboine
Hill County, six miles southwest of Havre, Montana
Company Officers' Quarters at Fort Assinniboine
Site information
Controlled byUnited States
Site history
Built1879
In use1879–1911
Battles/warsCree Campaign
Fort Assinniboine
Fort Assinniboine is located in Montana
Fort Assinniboine
Fort Assinniboine is located in the United States
Fort Assinniboine
Nearest cityHavre, Montana
Coordinates48°29′59″N 109°47′39″W / 48.49972°N 109.79417°W / 48.49972; -109.79417
Area160 acres (65 ha)
Built1879
ArchitectLee, Col. J.G.C.; Devlin, L.K.
NRHP reference No.89000040

[1] [2]

[3] (original)
100002250 (increase)
Significant dates
Added to NRHPMay 31, 1989
Boundary increaseApril 2, 2018
1903 plan of the fort

Fort Assinniboine was a United States Army

Indian Wars
, the US Army closed and abandoned it.

In 1916 Congress authorized a reservation for the

Metis
, refugees from Canada, also settled at the reservation.

Context

During the

Nez Perce band of Chief Joseph in the Battle of Bear Paw
.

At that time,

Assinniboine people
. Neither the Sioux nor the Nez Perce in Canada ever attacked across the border.

Active period

The fort was located within a massive military reservation stretching south to the

Bear's Paw Mountains
. It encompassed 704,000 acres (1,100 sq. mi., 2850 km2) at its maximum extent in 1880. It later was reduced to encompass 220,000 acres (344 sq. mi., 890 km2). At its peak, it garrisoned more than 750 officers and enlisted men and their families. With 104 buildings, the fort was one of the largest ever built in the United States.

The

Buffalo Soldiers, made up of African-American soldiers, were part of the Fort Assiniboine garrison during the Indian Wars. They were called into service on the front during the Spanish–American War. They supported the flank of Roosevelt's "Rough Riders" at the Battle of San Juan Hill in 1898 in Cuba
. Eyewitnesses noted that the Rough Riders would not have prevailed without the Buffalo Soldiers.

From the late 19th century, the extensive lands of Fort Assiniboine served as a refuge for bands of landless Chippewa and Cree people, who camped within the military reservation. The fort was operated by the Army until 1911, when it was closed and abandoned, determined to no longer be necessary. The US believed that the Indians were peaceful or under control, mostly contained on reservations in the West, and on the decline. By 1912, a few hundred Native Americans were within the grounds.

Notable people

Closure

By the early twentieth century, the Indian Wars were finished and the Army determined it no longer had a need for Fort Assiniboine. At the same time, Chippewa leader Asiniiwin (Rocky Boy) appealed to the Theodore Roosevelt administration for land and education for his band, who had been pushed out of their traditional territory further east.

Gradually numerous

Chippewa and Cree people settled on the large military reservation; the Cree had come as refugees from Canada following the North-West Rebellion
. The Chippewa had been pushed west from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Both groups traded with the Army and had no land of their own.

In 1916, Congress authorized establishment of a reservation for the Chippewa, who had been supported in their quest by prominent whites in Montana. The government ceded a portion of Fort Assinniboine to the

Rocky Boy Indian Reservation
, established for the Chippewa band led by Chief Ahsiniwiin (Rocky Boy, or Stone Child.) He had died several months before the reservation was authorized by Congress, and it was eventually named in his honor. It is the smallest reservation in the state in terms of land area, with a total land area of 171.4 square miles (443.9 km2), which includes extensive off-reservation trust lands. (Some lands were added after the initial authorization.)

Most of the abandoned buildings at the fort were soon razed and hauled away by settlers for building materials. A handful of surviving structures have been adapted for use as both an agricultural research station associated with

Montana State University - Bozeman, and as a historical preservation site. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places
.

A portion of the Reservation, where the beaver creek ran through the Bears Paw Mountains, was first designated as a national park. The federal government later ceded it to the city of Havre, Montana for the purpose of a city recreation area. When they failed to use it, the Reservation transferred the land to Hill County, which created Beaver Creek Park. With 10,000 acres, it is the largest county park in the United States.[citation needed]

Tourism

It is possible to visit Fort Assinniboine. The Havre Chamber of Commerce and the Hill County Museum both furnish current visitor information. A tour guide is available during the summer season (June 1 through September 1), Monday through Sunday 9AM to 5PM. Tour guides are on-site. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

HWY 87 Overview Local Dirt Roads

See also

References

  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. ^ Grit, Guts & Gusto: A History of Hill County, January 1, 1976, Hill County Bicentennial Committee (Author)
  3. ^ Montana State University Library, Collection 2457 - Fort Assinniboine Telegrams Received, 1881

External links

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