Fort C. F. Smith (Fort Smith, Montana)
Fort C. F. Smith Historic District | |
![]() Fort C. F. Smith historical marker | |
Nearest city | Fort Smith, Montana |
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Coordinates | 45°17′59″N 107°54′59″W / 45.29972°N 107.91639°W |
Area | 307 acres (124 ha) |
Built | 1860 |
NRHP reference No. | 75000163[1] |
Added to NRHP | October 10, 1975 |
Fort C. F. Smith was a military post established in the
History
The U.S. Army was ordered to build forts to protect the Bozeman trail after travel had become hazardous for any but the largest and best-armed parties. Colonel
Originally named Fort Ransom, the post was renamed in commemoration of Gen. Charles Ferguson Smith. It included a 125-foot square stockade made of adobe and wood for protection, with bastions for concentrated defense. Two companies of the 18th Infantry Regiment (approximately 90-100 officers and men) were stationed at Fort Smith during 1866, and during 1867 the garrison consisted of 400 men of the 27th Infantry.
A large Sioux party unsuccessfully attacked haycutters guarded by 20 soldiers near the Fort in the
The site of the fort is located on private land, on what is today the Crow Indian Reservation. It is just outside the town of Fort Smith, Montana. Since most of the fort's buildings were made of adobe, as of 2010 the foundations of the structures can still be seen as low mounds rising a foot or two off the pasture. By looking carefully, the arrangement of buildings around the perimeter of the old parade ground can be discerned. A stone monument in the approximate center of the parade ground (placed in the 1930s) commemorates the fort. A wooden sign, in poor repair, marks the Bozeman Trail.
Fort C.F. Smith was listed on the
See also
References
- ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- ^ Olson, Virgil J. (January 24, 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory – Nomination Form:Old Ft. C.F. Smith and related sites". National Park Service. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
- ^ a b "Fort CF Smith Part 1 The Establishment". Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area. National Park Service. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
Further reading
- Frazer, Robert Walter (1965). Forts of the West: Military Forts and Presidios, and Posts Commonly Called Forts, West of the Mississippi River to 1898. University of Oklahoma Press.
- Hebard, Grace Raymond; Brininstool, Earl Alonzo (1922). The Bozeman Trail: Historical Accounts of the Blazing of the Overland Routes. Vol. II. Arthur H. Clark Company.
- Barnes, Jeff (2008). Forts of the Northern Plains: A Guide to the Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indians Wars. Stackpole Books. ISBN 978-0-8117-3496-7.
External links
Media related to Fort C. F. Smith (Montana) at Wikimedia Commons
- "Fort CF Smith Part 1 The Establishment". Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area (U.S. National Park Service). 2015-02-24. Retrieved 2019-10-06.; and subsequent articles at Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area