Fort Reno (Wyoming)

Coordinates: 43°49′39″N 106°14′24″W / 43.82750°N 106.24000°W / 43.82750; -106.24000
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Fort Reno (disambiguation).
Fort Reno
Old Fort Reno
Fort Reno (Wyoming) is located in Wyoming
Fort Reno (Wyoming)
Fort Reno (Wyoming) is located in the United States
Fort Reno (Wyoming)
LocationJohnson County, East of Sussex on Powder River
Nearest citySussex, Wyoming
Coordinates43°49′39″N 106°14′24″W / 43.82750°N 106.24000°W / 43.82750; -106.24000
Built1865
Architectural styleFort
NRHP reference No.70000672
Added to NRHPApril 28, 1970

Fort Reno also known as Fort Connor or Old Fort Reno, was a wooden

fort established on August 15, 1865 by the United States Army in Dakota Territory in present-day Johnson County, Wyoming. The fort was built to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail from Native American tribes
.

Establishment

One of the primary goals of the

Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory
on August 1, 1865.

Army units with the column included Companies L, and M, of the

2nd Missouri Volunteer Light Artillery Regiment
.

On August 15, 1865, Colonel Kidd's column selected the site of the fort on a bluff above the Powder River near the crossing of the

Fort Laramie
in October, 1865 to be mustered out of the army, leaving the four companies of Michigan cavalry under Colonel James H. Kidd to garrison the fort.

Renaming

The Bozeman Trail, built as a way around the Bighorn Mountains, crossed the Powder River at Fort Connor, offering emigrants traveling on it protection. Buildings constructed at Connor had sod-covered roofs and dirt floors. In October 1865, the 6th Michigan and Colonel Kidd turned the garrison of Fort Connor over to Captain George W. Williford, and Companies C, and D, of the 5th United States Volunteer Infantry Regiment, companies of the Galvanized Yankees, and a company of Indian scouts.

In November 1865, its name was changed to Fort Reno, in honor of

7th Cavalry who fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. The garrison of the fort endured the harsh winter of 1865–1866, and during this time suffered 33 casualties from desertions, illnesses, one soldier killed by an accidental gunshot, and the death of its commanding officer, Captain George W. Williford, who died of illness on April 29, 1866. Captain George M. Bailey became Williford's successor.[1]

The Bozeman Trail with Fort Reno.

Reinforcement

On June 28, 1866

Powder River country to begin construction of posts (Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C. F. Smith) on the Bozeman trail farther to the north. When Carrington reached the post, only 104 of the original 137 men of Companies C, and D, 5th U.S.V.I. remained, the rest having died mainly of illness and scurvy. Colonel Carrington left Companies B, E, and H of the 18th Infantry to garrison the post, and resumed his march north on the Bozeman trail on July 9, 1866, while the 5th U.S.V.I. traveled south to Fort Kearney, Nebraska
to muster out on October 11, 1866, "without a single regret."

The newly arrived Regular Army soldiers of the 18th Infantry constructed a log stockade around the unprotected garrison buildings, complete with log bastions on the northwest and southeast corners. They also built a sturdy adobe commanding officer's quarters. In 1867, the post was renovated and expanded. The garrison ranged from 125 to a high of 300 soldiers. The second battalion of the 18th Infantry, which was renamed the 27th United States Infantry Regiment in 1867, endured the routines of garrison life and the harsh winters and hot summers, occasionally skirmishing with hostile Indians and keeping the southern end of the Bozeman Trail open and passable.[1]

Abandonment

In 1868 the

Fort Reno Skirmish directly across the river from the abandoned post. Later that year, the army would again use the site as a supply base, eventually establishing the Fort Reno Depot several miles to the south. In the 1880s, soldiers buried in the post cemetery were reinterred in the Custer Battlefield National Cemetery near Crow Agency, Montana.[1]

Garrison

Fort Reno today

Fort Reno marker

The parade ground and surrounding area has generally returned to a natural prairie sod cover. The site, approximately 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Sussex, Wyoming, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 28, 1970. There is a large stone monument and several interpretive signs marking the site that are accessible by a gravel road.[2]

Other Fort Renos

Two other army posts were also named Fort Reno—one

Washington D.C. during the Civil War, and another frontier outpost called Fort Reno, built in 1874 in what is now Oklahoma
.

References

  1. ^ a b c Robert A. Murray (1968). Military posts in the Powder River country of Wyoming, 1865-1894. University of Nebraska Press. p. 189. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  2. ^ .Fort Reno, Fort Phil Kearny, archived from the original on July 17, 2012, retrieved August 19, 2012

Photo gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Reno (Wyoming).
  • Fort Reno Monument
    Fort Reno Monument
  • Fort Reno with Powder River in background
    Fort Reno with Powder River in background
  • Ruins of a building at Fort Reno
    Ruins of a building at Fort Reno
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