Fort Richardson State Park and Historic Site

 THE TWO LIVES OF FORT RICHARDSON

In the 1850's the Texas Emigration and Land Office was offering land grants, drawing large numbers of settlers. This land, of course, already had residents... namely the Native Americans who had lived here for generations. At first, with smaller numbers of settlers the tribes accepted the newcomers, but as the numbers increased, understandably, they began to object to the changes they were seeing in their land. The conflicts that followed are the theme and purpose for this fort, which is now a state park.

Between 1867 and 1875 southern plains tribes, largely Kiowa and Comanche, saw their way of life under attack,  leading to violent battles with the U.S. Army.  The park interpretive center has some wonderful informative displays offering insights into the Native American cultures as well as the settlers and the military at that time. 

The nearby town of Jacksboro was already settled (in the 1850's) when the northernmost outpost Fort Richardson was established in 1868. The post hospital was completed in 1870.

The fort's tasks in this "first life" were protection of the settlement of Jacksboro, as well as the northern Texas border. Cavalry and infantry troops were assigned to duty on the northern Texas frontier, and Fort Richardson was a key post during these times of unrest. The Battle of Palo Duro Canyon (see previous post) took place in 1874 and is considered the final big battle of the Red River War 1874-1875. This fort was established before that battle took place.

Life at the fort was not luxurious. Long and difficult patrols, sometimes all the way to Palo Duro Canyon 300 miles away, often in treacherous weather, illness, spoiled food, in addition to wounds acquired in battle or from the routine of daily life in this harsh environment. These patrols, along with guarding the military road connecting Fort Richards to other forts in the southwest. Of the original 60+ buildings only a few remain, and some are modern replicas. The hospital, picture below, is one of the most complete buildings at the fort. 

Foundations remain for some that have been lost to time and the elements, and those remaining are now nicely supplied with furnishings and mannequins dressed for the period so one can understand how life must have been in those early years of the fort. The infirmary, shown below, must have been miserably cold in the winter with only one small wood stove to heat the high-ceiling room. 

After the Battle of Palo Duro, the north Texas frontier was relatively secure and soldiers were no longer needed at Fort Richardson. Orders to abandon Fort Richardson were issued March 29, 1878.

THE SECOND LIFE OF FORT RICHARDSON

During World War II, Fort Richardson was reactivated and became an active Texas National Guard installation as the mobilization site for Battery F, 2ndBattalion, 131st Field Artillery Regiment, 36th Infantry Division. This "second life" is an important contribution to the survival of some of the existing/original structures. 

In early 1942, the battalion fought alongside the Dutch on the island of Java to repel a Japanese invasion. The unit and 368 sailors from the USS Houston were captured when the Dutch surrendered the island in March. The fate of the men who were fighting there remained a mystery until the end of the war. They became known as the “Lost Battalion.”

Imprisoned for 42 months the men suffered harsh working conditions and tropical diseases and injuries with no medical treatment. The 738 members of the Lost Battalion who managed to survive were liberated on August 15, 1945. There is a state historical marker near the visitor center for the fort commemorating these men. 

THE TOWN OF JACKSBORO

The nearby town of Jacksboro was originally named "Mesquiteville" when it was established in the 1850's, due to the dominance of mesquite trees in the area, the name was changed in 1858 when it became the county seat for Jack County, named in honor of brothers William and Patrick Jack. 

The population of Jacksboro was a little over 4,000 in the 2020 census, but seems much larger. Several of the historic buildings on Main Street survive, though considerable restoration is needed for some of them. Most have been repurposed from their original use as banks and hotels to now housing smaller retail businesses, restaurants, and B & B's.  It is a pleasant little town and has all the services one might need. We enjoyed driving a few of the side streets and looking at the historic homes. 

This mural on Main street depicts the various industries in the area. 

We arrived at the state park late in the afternoon on May 3. It was a long drive from Palo Duro Canyon!  With gray skies overhead we scurried to set up camp, and by 7 p.m. we were deep into thunder and lightening and really high wind. Then came the rain and hail. Not really much total precipitation but it surely came down with a flourish! 

The camping and hiking facilities in the park are some of the best we've seen. There are trails everywhere, and huge fields of mown grass where that is appropriate and natural fields of wildflowers and blooming cactus in the plentiful wide open spaces. We enjoyed our site's open space and sat outside listening to the birds. My Merlin app identified several species by their songs, but most of them remained hidden in the dense shrubbery. Little furrows in the leaf duff along the walking paths indicated the armadillos were busy overnight, and the butterflies were out if full force, sampling the nectar in the wildflowers.

Rumbling Springs the feeds a lovely gurgling stream in the middle of the park, and the nearby twin lakes area offers fishing and swimming. The campsites here are larger and more widely spaced than usual, offering privacy as well as better views of the surrounding landscape than one usually has. This is really a beautiful and well maintained park!

Check the album for more photos and information about the park and the history of the town. 

North to Montana, and the Indian Wars

Sunday, June 11,

'Time to say goodbye to Devils Tower and wander our way further north.

We hadn't been on the road very long when we dropped down over a little rise to see this view...

 brrrrrrrrrrrrrr, us Texans aren't really ready for that!
Home for the night,  Deer Park, just outside Buffalo, WY.

The park turned out to be perfect for our one night stop. A nice little laundry room, a level site right on their central green area, and a trail along with a huge mowed meadow that worked for our evening ball toss with the dogs.

They really offer a variety of activities and housing choices. They have a few cabins, and there's a small playground for little ones, along with horseshoe pits.

We toured the town of Buffalo in the afternoon and what a nice little town it is.

They've really played up their western heritage. Everything is very clean and it's clear they are proud of their history. A few things really caught our attention.

One such item was this statue of Nate Champion in front of the museum.

This cowboy had the kind of grit it took to ranch in the old west, but big money and big ranching got the best of him in the end.

This article in American Cowboy describing his ordeal is worth a read . . .  The Story of Nate Champion. The situation described in the article was apparently pretty common at the time as we found the Nate Champion story referenced in several museums as an example of the situation that existed for small cattle ranchers at the time.

As usual, we're going to miss a big local event - the annual Longmire Days celebration. Anyone who's read Craig Johnson's series about Sheriff Longmire, or watched the series (now on Netflix) will get the picture. The little town in the stories is modeled after Buffalo. Their annual celebration brings the cast of the show and fans together for a week of activities. It sounds like fun! . . but we'll be in Nevada by then! If anyone's interested, here's the Chamber of Commerce's page with the key info.

In the morning we loaded up the wagon and headed for the freeway heading north toward Sheridan to find the on-ramp was being patrolled by a wild turkey! What a rare sight! We've gotten used to all the rolling green grassland dotted with cattle and antelope, but this is the first turkey sentry we've seen, and right in town!

Monday, June 12
On our way north to Sheridan, WY, we stopped first at a monument recalling the Fetterman Fight.

To put this in perspective historically, a full ten years before the infamous Battle at Little Big Horn the settlers and U.S. Army were engaging in armed battle with local tribes across the northern plains.

The Fetterman Fight was one such battle. In December of 1866, Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors engaged a force commanded by Capt. William J. Fetterman. The soldiers had been sent out to rescue a wagon train.

Using a decoy plan, something the Indians weren't noted for doing before, they lured the soldiers into an ambush. All 81 men in Fetterman's command were killed within 30 minutes. Only The Battle of the Little Big horn stands as a worse defeat for the U.S. Army, and victory for the Plains Indians.  The monument noting the details of the battle overlooks beautiful rolling grass covered hills. It's hard to envision the shooting, yelling smoke and chaos that must have taken place.

Unfortunately The Fetterman Fight was not the only incident of its kind. A treaty had been signed that allotted certain lands to the Indians and left a corridor open for settlers to travel, as well as for hunting. The idea at the time was that the military would be responsible for keeping the settlers out of the agreed upon Indian lands, then GOLD was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a large piece of the land deeded to the tribes, and that turned the agreement upside down.

In 1866 Fort Phil Kearny was established at the forks of Big and Little Piney Creeks. One of three forts along the trail, the mission of the post was three-fold - protect travelers along the Bozeman trail, prevent inter-tribal warfare among the Native Americans, and to draw the Indian forces away from the development of the railroad line that was under construction in southern Wyoming.

Site of Fort Phil Kearney

By 1868 the Union Pacific Railroad had reached a point to the west where travelers could bypass the trail forts and all the risk, and in the Treaty of 1868 the U.S. government agreed to close the forts. Fort Phil Kearny was burned shortly thereafter. It was in terrible shape by then anyway, having been built from green logs and green lumber. After drying for only a year the wood had shrunk so badly the walls all had huge cracks, and many structures were deemed unsafe for occupancy.

Shiner and a wagon box

The current buildings and structures on the site of the original fort are reconstructions, and do help to give visitors a feel for the place. Frequent sighting devices around the perimeter of the site make it easy to identify specific landmarks and the sites of specific events.

A short gravel road from the site of the fort leads visitors to the Wagon Box fight. Here, soldiers took refuge in a corral made of wagon boxes - Shiner lends scale - not a very large shelter as you can see, and though this was high ground, they had no shelter other than the boxes.

The Connor Battlefield State Historic Site, only a short distance north, is another memorial to the events of those days.

This was the site of the Battle of Tongue River, between the Army and the Arapaho.
This was the single most important military engagement of the Powder River Expedition of 1865 because this particular battle caused the Arapaho to ally with the Sioux and the Cheyenne. The alliance thereby creating the large force that overcame the Army in the Fetterman Fight, a year later.

The Conner Battlefield site is located along the tongue river, and has been developed into a very nice park and campground. One of those hidden jewels we really enjoy.

Conner Battlefield monument

The Tongue River curves around the park, which is beautifully maintained. Lots of trees, a few graveled pull-through sites and some tent sites and picnic spaces. $11 a night for a pull-through right on the river. No hook-ups. The park does have restrooms and water is available.

This area is dripping in history - one could do a tour here focusing on military history, another on the Native American aspect, and another focusing on the pioneer perspective.

To view them all at once is of course more realistic, but hard to process as there is so much information to digest. . . so many brave and hardworking individuals. No good guys and bad guys, just everyone trying to do what they thought was best at the time.

More Forts

Aug. 6 - Saturday
Wow - rough day of travel . . . 75 miles to our next stop!
From Malta we went east on highway 2 to Glascoe, then to nearby Fort Peck Lake.

The actual "fort" had quite a history. It was one of those forts that was originally a trading post. It served as an Indian agency from 1873- 1878, and then the agency was  moved to Poplar. The current, new, town of Fort Peck is about 2 miles from the original one. The new town has a very interesting theater, built many years ago, and several small businesses.

The visitor's center explains the history of the unique dam - an earth filled structure that was the largest project undertaken under the New Deal program.

Several men died during the construction phase, a sad story, and unfortunately not unique. Heavy construction is dangerous. There is a collection of memorials in a large parking area beside the road,  honoring those who died during construction of the dam.

There were approximately 60 deaths in all. This monument is remembering those who perished in an early phase when a huge mudslide buried several men and their equipment.

The lake is huge. This is the fifth largest "artificial lake" in the U.S.! and there are a variety of camping choices around the perimeter. We stayed at the West End campground, where electric is available but no water hook-ups. Electric but no water seems to be the standard in this land of harsh winters.

The visitor center is amazing. Though it explains a lot about the dam, the major emphasis seems to be on dinosaurs.

This whole area is rich with ancient fossil beds - and that includes dinosaurs. They have wonderful dioramas of dinosaurs skeletons, as well as more modern animals like buffalo and coyotes, set in natural surroundings. It's a great place to take the kids, and they have activity ideas and worksheets available to take home too.

We had fun watching the fish in the two demonstration tanks as well. It's the best visitor center we've seen so far this summer!

Aug 7-8
After driving for miles through flat land and wheat fields we arrived at Fort Buford, North Dakota, in the afternoon.

Steve's extensive Internet research had indicated there was a campground around here somewhere, but there weren't any signs that seemed to indicate such, so he inquired at a local office and we followed the directions, just past the fort buildings to what looked like a picnic area. No services, and no charge!

The camping area

Tables and trash barrels, fairly level parking places, and a beautiful view. The campground is bordered by the fort buildings, the cemetery (that's the white line to the right, in back of Steve), and the historic Masonic lodge site, so all are within walking distance. Who could ask for more?

We got set up, had supper and were enjoying the (constant) North Dakota breeze when a couple of other campers pulled in and got set up themselves.

We got to chatting later. One couple was from Buffalo, New York, (he a pediatrician and she a tour guide)   and the other outfit was two guys from "central North Dakota" (an electrician and an antique dealer) who had a goal of staying only on gravel roads to do their exploring. They got tired of being pounded though, so had finally settled for sticking to the more minor backroads and byways.  We had a lively time discussing everything under the sun, and then discovered everyone had similar taste in beer, and so a sampling session broke out. Travel stories, beer comparisons, tips for places to visit, and we all finally went to bed around midnight.

We took our tour of Fort Buford early Monday morning,

Fort Buford barracks

and our tour guide was a lively individual - he's also an actor who portrays several historic characters in local productions.  His knowledge of the history of the area, and the era was very helpful. The other docent took us around several of the outer buildings and her knowledge was  impressive too.

The fort has several restored buildings, most furnished with original or of-the-time period artifacts, and the perimeter of the original fort is fairly well defined.  Kitchen artifacts, cast iron stoves, lamps, china and tableware, even small oil lamps made of bent spoon are in the fort inventory. The items are displayed in the rooms just as they would have been in place when in use. There's a barracks with several cast iron heating stoves, the mess hall and kitchen, and outside, a powder magazine and officer of the guard building mark the far wall.  Much of the historic information is displayed in the officer's home, covering the residence of the Buffalo Soldiers, battles in the area, and much more.
One of the most famous historic events at this post was Sitting Bull's surrender of his rifle in  1881, after returning from Canada. The point was made that he surrendered his rifle, HE did not surrender, and he never signed a treaty.

The markers in the cemetery have been restored, and they tell fascinating, though brief, stories of those buried below. Actually, the military personnel who were buried here have been moved to a military cemetery, but the markers remain to tell the story. Children who died of disease, Indian scouts, Native Americans, all were buried here, side by side.

The fort's location, at the confluence of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers was strategically important for the purposes of defending settlements, during the civil war Civil War, as the cash flow from these gold fields was important to the Union government at that time.

Off to one side there's a new building, with a sculpture of a horse, and several flags. It's a Masonic Lodge, and it has an interesting history. The lodge now combines #88, which was the first Masonic Lodge in the area, with #135, which was brought with the Buffalo Soldiers from Fort Apache, Arizona.

Today the masons take a continuing interest in this historic site, and here is an interesting footnote. . . . . 
 When the North Dakota masons held a rededication ceremony for the Yellowstone Lodge monument in 2010, descendants of the buffalo soldiers were invited and attended, too-uniting brothers who in historic times there had been segregated. From this website.

From Fort Buford it's only a few miles to Fort Union, which is right on the Montana/North Dakota border. This fort was a commercial enterprise, not a military post. In fact, a docent there told us they were there for "an entirely different purpose" and they know the fort sold clothing and ammunition to Sitting Bull in the years before he surrendered at Fort Benton.

They have "living history" docents, who are pretty good at staying in character.

This young man was sitting by a fragrant, smoking fireplace when we stepped into the room and he gave us a very interesting rundown on the inventory of the trading post and how the procedures worked.

The visitor center has a nice display of artifacts along with a well stocked bookstore.

On the way back to our campsite we stopped at the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Center. The displays here tie together the military and economic importance of the two rivers, and connect to the work that the Lewis and Clark Expedition did as they moved across the Missouri to the west coast.

One of the things we've been impressed with is the importance of riverboats. Though river travel is always mentioned in the history of the era, the importance of these special, shallow draft boats isn't highlighted, as it should be. This is a model of the river boat that carried the wounded from Custer's ill-fated battle at Little Big Horn.

As we were leaving the interpretive center we decided to explore a gravel drive off to the side and discovered another campground. This one, right on the bank of the Missouri River, within sight of the confluence with the Yellowstone, has electric service available for $15/night. Non-electric sites are $10. Signage around here is pretty bad, and even when you ask directions, you get vague or incomplete information.

A few more photos in the album