Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Fort Mitchell And The Road

Across The Fence

“The Gap” threaded through the wind-cut spires and time-worn edifices of nature’s carved cathedrals in the towering sandstone walls of Scott’s Bluffs. North of the bluffs, reaching to the banks of the Flatwater (Platte), lay a rugged expanse of land known as “The Badlands,” an area of deep-cut ravines and gullies that no team of horses or oxen, pulling an overloaded immigrant wagon, could possibly traverse. And so, about five miles east of the gap, the trail would leave the nearby banks of the river and strike more westerly toward the imposing fortress ahead. Once through the gap, ox teams and wagons, men horseback and on foot and women and children trudging behind, would wind their way down from the pass and follow the deeply rutted trail to the bend of the river. At the rivers bend the trail would return to its northwesterly course and on to Oregon while the picturesque bluffs dissolved in the distance behind them.

In 1849 the American Fur Company sold their trading post on the North Platte to the U.S Government and moved down river to Scott’s Bluffs in 1851. The former trading post property, which had been purchased by the U.S., then became Fort Laramie. And so, throughout the 1850’s, when travelers reached the bend of the river, they would likely stop for a spell at the American Fur Company’s post now located there. The trading post was known as Fort John and for a short time moved to the Wildcat Hills then back to the banks of the Platte.

During the late 1850’s immigrant and military traffic increased on The Great Platte River Road. An 1858 military expedition from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas followed the Oregon trail along the Platte, through the gap and on into the Wyoming and Montana Territories with 3,000 soldiers, nearly 5,000 wagons and just over 53,000 horses and mules. In 1859 more than 6,000 immigrants traveled the Platte River Road. As tensions between the Indians of the region and the U.S. Government continued to mount, attacks against the ever increasing numbers of intruders became more frequent.

The little post at the bend in the river, west of the gap, also became a U.S. Mail station in addition to the American Fur Company’s trading post and later, in 1860, the site became the Scott’s Bluff Pony Express station. By the end of 1861, the transcontinental telegraph had replaced the daring but short-lived Pony Express and the American Fur Company had abandoned their trading post. By 1862 the site had become no more than a road ranch where stagecoaches would stop to change teams while passengers took the opportunity to stretch their legs, grab a quick meal, a cup of stale coffee or perhaps something a bit stronger.

By mid-April of 1862, Indian attacks on the Overland Stage Company had become so frequent that Ben Holladay threatened to end all overland stage operations. As a result, President Abraham Lincoln promised increased military protection. Part of that promise included the assignment of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry to Fort Laramie. The 11th Ohio, stationed at Fort Laramie under the command of Colonel William Collins was responsible for the safety of travelers along the Oregon Trail from the Missouri River to the Continental Divide, a distance of more than 800 miles.

The effectiveness of Colonel Collins’ troops was minimal and less than two months later, the U.S. Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair, directed the abandonment of the North Platte River route and opened a southern route on the South Platte at Lodgepole Creek from Julesburg to Denver. Since immigrant travel continued on the northern route, this increased the area of Colonel Collins’ responsibilities by an additional 400 miles. The summer of 1863 saw an increase in attacks against westward expansion. Stagecoaches were attacked and travelers killed, telegraph lines were destroyed and operators murdered, wagon trains ambushed and would be settlers killed or captured and tortured, horses and cattle were stolen and homes burned.

In early 1864, Brigadier General Robert Byington Mitchell was named commander of the District of Nebraska and ordered to organize a peace council at Camp Cottonwood (later to be named Fort McPhearson). His efforts were unsuccessful. In order to increase the military strength along the Great Platte River Road and counter the increasing Native unrest, additional troops and military encampments were planned. There were to be two new forts, one at Scott’s Bluff and one at Julesburg. Also, fortified structures and telegraph stations were to be established at Mud Springs and Ficklin Springs, both were former Pony Express stations. The Julesburg post would become Fort Sedgwick and the Scott’s Bluff post would be located at the old trading post site near the existing road ranch, it would become Fort Mitchell. The Gap would become known as Mitchell Pass.

The open expanse of prairie west of Scott’s Bluffs was barren of trees and an ideal location for a defensive structure. Flat and open prairie to the south and west insured that there would be no chance for anyone to approach unnoticed. Corrals were built close to the southern bank of the Platte and adjoined the north side of the stockade. And finally the bluffs, towering in the east, blocked any approach other than through ‘the gap’.

Captain J. S. Shuman of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry was given the command along with the needed troops to construct the fort. The lack of building material dictated that the fort would be constructed of adobe. The outside walls of the fort were three and one-half feet thick. Overall, the fort was approximately 170 feet in length north to south and 80 feet east to west. The attached corrals were 170 feet by 30. Inside, along the west wall, there were nine rooms and two larger squad rooms on the south wall. The parade ground was 160 feet by 66. Each room had defensive rifle ports built into the outside walls and a sentinel tower was built above the guard room on the southwest corner.

Shortly after Fort Mitchell was completed, on November 29, 1864 Colonel J. Chivington, commanding the Colorado 3rd Cavalry of about 700 men, organized an offensive attack on the peaceful camp of Cheyenne, with Black Kettle, on Sand Creek. The unprovoked, surprise attack resulted in the massacre of nearly all of Black Kettle’s people. Few escaped the carnage as men, women and children were killed and mutilated. Black Kettle was killed as he ran towards the soldiers waving a flag of truce. Chivington’s men butchered many of the dead and displayed the gruesome body parts as ‘souvenirs’ when they rode, victorious, into Denver.

The atrocities provoked an outbreak of Cheyenne and Sioux that would become known as the Indian wars of 1864 and would last until the final massacre, 26 years later, at Wounded Knee, S.D. on December 29, 1890.

After Sand Creek, in December of 1864, 150 lodges of Oglala Sioux, 250 lodges of Brule Sioux and several Cheyenne, made up a force of nearly 1,000 warriors who came out of the Colorado grasslands on a sweeping raid that began at Julesburg and continued north to Mud Springs, killing 14 soldiers and four civilians. At Mud Springs, nine soldiers and five civilians held off hundreds of Sioux and Cheyenne while dispatches were sent to Fort Mitchell and Ft Laramie.

Troopers from both forts were sent to assist in the defense of Julesburg and Mud Springs, with the detachment from Fort Mitchell arriving first after a forced march in winter conditions with temperatures below zero. Troopers from Fort Laramie stopped at Fort Mitchell where a large number of troopers, suffering from frostbite had to stay. The combined forces, at Mud Springs, pursued the Sioux and Cheyenne north across the Platte but were unable to engage them.

From 1864 until 1867 the troopers at Fort Mitchell provided escort for the Overland Stage and immigrant wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. They were responsible for maintaining telegraph lines that were often cut down and dragged across the prairies. Also on the duty roster for Fort Mitchell was the order to supply firewood to the camps at Mud Springs, Court House Rock and Ficklin’s Ranch. Frequent skirmishes occurred along the Great Platte River Road and throughout the western Nebraska region. However, Fort Mitchell itself was never attacked.

The last communication to Fort Mitchell came from Ft. Laramie on November 22, 1867. The communication informed the post commander:

“…the post is to be abandoned entirely…how many wagons will be required for your removal...”

Today, nothing remains of Fort Mitchell except perhaps a few relics in local museums. Long forgotten footprints lay beneath the soil that has been turned countless times by wooden handled plows behind a team of oxen and diesel driven behemoths that turn more earth in an hour than grandpa could in a day.

But maybe, if you stand at the gap, peer into the setting sun and let your imagination soar, like the hawks that ride the winds above the bluffs, just maybe…

M. Timothy Nolting is an award winning Nebraska columnist, freelance writer, cowboy poet and entertainer. To contact Tim, e-mail; [email protected]

 
 
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