Forts

toc = = = =
 * Military Forts, Camps and Reservations **


 * Casper Army Air Base**


 * Location:** near Casper
 * Operational:** September 1, 1942-1945
 * Named For:** Town of Casper


 * Camp Bettens**


 * Location:** 65 miles from Gillette
 * Operational:** 1892-1895
 * Named For:**

"This post appears to have been a temporary camp of instruction used by troops regularly stationed at Fort Robinson,Nebr." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Fort Bitter Cottonwood**


 * Location:** 22 miles west of Ft. Laramie
 * Operational:** 1856
 * Named For**:

"In letters sent for 1856 there is this notation in a letter from the commanding officer, Major William Hoffman, dated August 19, 1856,: 'I have a steam saw mill running 35 miles from the post, which will furnish an abundance of lumber for almost all purposes.' ....The 'fort' probably was of a temporary nature located close to the saw mill area to be used as a defensive position should Indians attack." (letter by John Cornelison, research assistant at the Wyoming State Archives, Oct. 26, 1970)


 * Fort Bonneville**


 * Location:** near Pinedale
 * Operational:** 1832
 * Named For:** Capt. Benjamin Bonneville

Also called Bonneville's Folley or Fort Nonsense, the site was used only a short time before heavy snows forced the abandonment of the site.


 * Fort Bridger**




 * Location:** near Evanston
 * Operational:** 1843-1890
 * Named For:** Jim Bridger

Fort Bridger was "established by Jim Bridger and Louis Vasquez in 1843 as an emigrant supply stop along the Oregon Trail" (Fort Bridger State Historic Site, 2016) It is n ow operated as the Fort Bridger State Historic Site.


 * Camp Brown**


 * Location:** 15 miles from Wind River
 * Operational:** 1869
 * Named For**:

("Military forts dotted Wyoming Territory" Casper Star-Tribune Mar 31, 1974)


 * Camp Carlin/Cheyenne Depot**


 * Location:** near Cheyenne
 * Operational:** 1867-1890
 * Named For:** Commander Colonel Carlin

"Camp Carlin, located one and a half miles west of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was selected by the War Department for the main distributing point for supplies to the various forts and military camps throughout the west." (letter by J.F. Jenkins, Captain of Commissary and appointed chief clerk of the commissary at Camp Carlin in 1876)


 * Fort Casper/Platte Bridge Station/Fort Platte/Mormon Ferry**




 * Location:** Casper
 * Operational:** 1859-August 1867
 * Named For:** Lt. Caspar Collins

"In 1847 Brigham Young led the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois to their new home in the Great Salt Lake Valley. In the Casper area, he established a ferry service for Mormons that were to Follow, and it continued to operate until 1852.....The first permanent occupation at the Fort Caspar site was in 1859, when Louis Guinard built a bridge and trading post. Guinard's post was also an overnight stage stop, a Pony Express mail stop, and a telegraph office. In 1861 a volunteer cavalry company was ordered to Guinard's bridge to guard agains Indian raids which were becoming more frequent. From 1865 to 1865, Platte Bridge Station was outfitted as a one-company military post....In 1865 the Army officially changed the name from Platte Bridge Station to Fort Caspar to honor the fallen Lieutenant [Caspar Collins]" (Fort Caspar Museum brochure)


 * Fort Connor/Fort Reno**


 * Location:** near Kaycee
 * Operational:** August 1865 - August 1868
 * Named For:** Gen. Patrick Connor, re-named for Maj. Gen. Jesse Lee Reno 4 months later

"Fort Connor (later named Fort Reno), Wyo., established by Maj, Gen P. E. Connor, U.S. Volunteers, on August 28, 1865, at the time of the northward march of the Powder River Expedition of 1865, as a supply base for that expedition." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Fort D.A. Russell/Fort F.E. Warren/Warren Air Force Base**


 * Location:** near Cheyenne
 * Operational:** 1867-present
 * Named For:** Gen. David A. Russell, re-named for Sen. Francis E. Warren in 1930

"This post was originally established to protect men working on the railroad...at the point where the Union Pacific Railroad would cross Crow Creek." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Camp Davis/Fort Clay**


 * Location:** Evansville
 * Operational: ** 1855-
 * Named For: **


 * Camp Devin **


 * Location ** : Little Missouri River
 * Operational ** : June 1878-Sept 1878
 * Named For ** :

"A portion of the troops at the post were engaged in the construction of a telegraph line to Fort Keogh." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Camp Dodge**


 * Location:** 130 miles west of Ft. Laramie on N.Platte River
 * Operational:** [1865]
 * Named For:**


 * Camp Elkins**


 * Location:**
 * Operational:** June 1892-Oct 1892
 * Named For:**

"Camp Elkins ....[was] established as a result of the Johnson County War, a civil disturbance in Wyoming" (letter from Wyoming State Archives dated 1969, referencing __The United States Army in the Aftermath of the Johnson County Invasion: April through November 1892__ in __The Annals of Wyoming (__Vol. 38, No. 1, April 1966)


 * Camp Emmet Crawford**


 * Location:** 20 miles from Colorado Springs
 * Operational:** Aug 4-31. 1908
 * Named For:**

"Camp Emmet Crawford, Wyo., Aug. 4 - The maneuver camp was practically complete today with the arrival of Company A, signal corps...Camp Emmet Crawford has been formally established by Brig. Gen. Charles Morton...The camp is well located and will continue for one month." (text of the first general order issued at the maneuver camp Crawford)


 * Fort Fetterman**


 * Location:** near Douglas
 * Operational:** 1867-1882
 * Named For:** Capt. William J. Fetterman

"When Fort Casper was abandoned and the three forts north of it, Fort Reno, Phil Kearney and C.F. Smith, [Fort Fetterman] became by necessity an important supply point for the army operating against the Indians in the northwest." ("Government Posts" by Mrs. J.L. Lowe in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Fort Fred Steele**


 * Location:** near Rawlins
 * Operational:** 1868-1886
 * Named For:** Gen. Frederick Steele

"The garrison at the [Fort Fred Steele] post was actively engaged in giving protection to the tie choppers and to the force employed in railway construction." ("Government Posts" by Mrs. J.L. Lowe in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Fort Halleck**


 * Location:** near Elk Mountain
 * Operational:** 1862-1866
 * Named For:** Maj. Gen. Henry Wagner Halleck

"It was [the soliders of Fort Halleck's] duty to escort the emigrant trains and the mail coaches and the guard and repair the telegraph line." ("Government Posts" by Mrs. J.L. Lowe in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Fort Laramie/Fort William/Fort John**


 * Location:** near Torrington
 * Operational:** 1834-1890
 * Named For:** William Sublette, renamed for John B. Sarpy in 1841, renamed for Jacques La Ramee

"This fort was reputedly first erected by William Sublett and William Campbell, fur trappers, in 1834." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1) It is now operated as the Fort Laramie National Historic Site.


 * Fort LaClede**


 * Location**: Bitter Creek in Sweetwater County
 * Operational: ** 1849
 * Named For: **


 * Fort McGraw/Fort Thompson**


 * Location:** near Lander
 * Operational:** 1833 or 1857
 * Named For:** Secretary of the Interior Thompson, later changed to Gen. George McGraw

Fort McGraw was established as winter quarters for a road improvement expedition led by W.M.F. McGraw. ("Diary Tells of Founding of Ft. Thompson, by Minnie Woodring, Wyoming State Journal, Lander, Wyo., July 4, 1961) That road improvement was "what is now called the Lander Cutoff. It was a wagon road from South Pass toward Idaho so emigrants could avoid the Mormons in Utah, who, at that time, were in conflict with the U.S. government." ("Thompson-Camp Magraw Marker Dedicated", Wyoming State Journal, Sept. 13, 1966)


 * Fort McKinney/Cantonment Reno**


 * Location:** near Kaycee
 * Operational:** 1877-1894
 * Named For:** Maj. Gen. Jesse Lee Reno, renamed for 2nd Lt. John McKinney in 1877

The site of Fort McKinney became the Wyoming Soldiers and Sailors Home in 1903 ("A History of Old Fort McKinney" by Edith Chappell, Buffalo Bulletin article, April 25, 1929), and is now operated as the Wyoming Veteran's Home.


 * Fort Mackenzie**


 * Location:** near Sheridan
 * Operational:** 1900-1918
 * Named For:**

"The post was one of the latest of the establishments designed to protect travelers and settlers from hostile Indians.....When the Veterans' Administration was inaugerated, a hospital for the treatment of the mentally ill and disabled was established at Fort Mackenzie. It is still being operated for this purpose." ("Mackenzie Still in Use" by Helen M. Peterson, Billings Gazette article, May 11, 1963)


 * Camp Marshall**


 * Location:** south of Douglas
 * Operational:**
 * Named For:**


 * Camp Medicine Butte**


 * Location:** near Evanston
 * Operational:** 1885-1887
 * Named For:**

"The troops were detailed to protect the United States Mail from anti-Chinese rioters who were destroying the property of the Union Pacific Railroad." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Camp O. O. Howard**


 * Location:** Pine Bluffs
 * Operational:** May 1885-Sept 1885
 * Named For**: Gen. O. O. Howard

"Camp O. O. Howard was established as a camp of instruction..." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Camp Payne**


 * Location:** near Torrington
 * Operational:** 1858
 * Named For:**


 * Fort Payne**


 * Location:** near Casper
 * Operational:** 1857-1858
 * Named For:**

Fort Payne was "established to protect the passers-by on Ward Richard bridge during the Mormon trouble. This was a very important bridge as it was the only one in that part of the state." (__Fort Payne__ by John Hunton, Sept 15, 1920)

**Fort Phil Kearny**


 * Location:** Big Horn mountains between the Big and Little Piney forks of Powder River
 * Operational:** 1866-1868
 * Named For:** Major General Phil Kearney

".... along the trail from Fort Laramie to Bozeman; these forts were built just after the Civil War to protect the prospectors' route to Montana gold fields. Col. Henry B. Carrington led a regiment up the trail in 1866...building Fort Phil Kearny..." ("Village Constructions: U.S. Army Forts on the Plains 1848-1890" by Alison K. Hoagland, __Winterthur Portfolio__ article,1999)


 * Camp Pilot Butte**


 * Location:** Rock Springs
 * Operational:** 1885-1899
 * Named For:**

"A riot resulting in the massacre of some Chinese workmen had occurred at Rock Springs on September 2, 1885, and these troops [who established Camp Pilot Butte], among others, were sent to this area to restore order." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Fort Piney**


 * Location:** Uinta Co, on Piney Creek
 * Operational**: by 1858, abandoned by 1886
 * Named For:**

"...from the fort which had been erected in Piney Canyon by Mr. B.G. Burche after his arrival there..." (US. Congress 35th cong. 2d sess. Senate Ex. Doc. no. 36 "Reports upon the Pacific Wagon Roads constructed under the direction of that department" (F.W. Lander report) page 49, Serial 984)


 * Fort Platte**


 * Location:** near Torrington
 * Operational: ** by 1843
 * Named For: **

"Fort Platte, owned by Sybille, Adams & Company, was being managed by Mr. (Joesph) Bissonette when Fitzpatrick's division of the Fremont expedition later visited the post (Aug. 1843). Theodore Talbot, journalist of this party, reports that the post, though smaller, was more active than its competitor, Fort Laramie, and that many Indians were continually about it." (__Annals of Wyoming,__ July 1930, and Oct. 1930, __History of Wyoing__ Vol. 1 -- Coutant)


 * Camp Platte River**


 * Location:** near Torrington
 * Operational** 1856-1859
 * Named For:**

**Fort Sanders**


 * Location: ** near Laramie
 * Operational**:1886-1882
 * Named For:** W. S. Sanders

"The purpose of this post was to protect the stage route." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Camp Scott**


 * Location:** near Evanston
 * Operational:** 1857-
 * Named For:** Gen. Winfield Scott

"Col. E. B. Alexander arrived with his army Sept. 28, 1857, on Ham's Fork River and General Albert Sidney Johnston, sent in November to take over, decided to winder on Black's Fork. He named the camp after his commander, Gen. Winfield Scott." ("Wyoming to Mark Camp Scott Site" by Carl E. Hayden, Tribune article, Aug. 1, 1964) Camp Scott was established "to control Mormons". ("Forts and Camps in Wyo" list in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)


 * Snake Indian Reservation Camp**


 * Location:** One in the Wind River district and one near Rawlins
 * Operational:** 1869 and 1879-1883
 * Named For:**

"This camp [1869] appears to have been a temporary post in the Wind River District..." (RG 98 Records of the United Stated Army Commands (Army Posts) in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Military - Camps and Forts #1)

"The troops [stationed at the 1879 camp] were engaged mainly in building bridges across the Little Snake River and in preparing material for bridges across the Bear River, which was south of the camp (in Colorado)" (Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Camp on Snake River 1879-1883")


 * Camp Stambaugh**


 * Location:** near Atlantic City
 * Operational:** 1870-1878
 * Named For:** Lt. Stambaugh

"Fort Stambaugh...protected miners and immigrants along the Overland Trail against hostile Indians." ("Wyoming fort got first news of Little Big Horn" by Blanche Schroer, Casper Star Tribune, March 25, 1979)


 * Fort Supply**


 * Location:** near Evanston
 * Operational:** 1853-1857
 * Named For:**

"On October 1853, a so called special mission to the Indians was set apart by the authorities of the Mormon Church..." (__A Brief History of Fort Supply__ by Paul Henderson (?), 1964 (?), in Wyoming State Archives vertical file "Fort Supply")


 * Camp Walbach**


 * Location:** near Laramie
 * Operational:** 1858-1859
 * Named For:** Gen. J. B. Walbach

Camp Walbach "was built at the entrance to Cheyenne Pass,for the protection of the emigrants treking to the west through Wyoming, from the Indians that then roamed the vast prairies" ("Unveil Shaft at old Ft. Walbach" Cheyenne State Leader article, Sept. 5, 1916)


 * Fort Washakie/ **** Camp Augur/Camp Brown **


 * Location:** Lander
 * Operational:** 1869-1909
 * Named For:** Major General C.C. Augur; changed in 1870 for Capt. Frederick Brown Changed again in 1878 for Shoshone Chief Washakie

Camp Augur, later renamed Camp Brown, was built at the stipulation of Chief Washakie of the Eastern Bank of Shoshones, to guard his tribe against raiding enemy tribes. The camp was moved to the Little Wind River in 1871. In 1878 it was renamed Fort Washakie. (Wyo State Journal, Lander, Wyo., Oct 26, 1965)


 * Fort Yellowstone/Camp Sheridan**


 * Location:** Yellowstone National Park
 * Operational:** 1866-1918
 * Named For:** Yellowstone National Park


 * Sundance Air Force Station**


 * Location:** near Sundance, Wyoming
 * Operational:** 1960-1968
 * Named For:** Town of Sundance

It served as a US Air Force General Surveillance Radar station from December 1, 1960, until it was closed in 1968. The site is now a part of the Vista West Ski Area.

=Military Battlefield Sites=

Connor Battlefield
=Battle of Platte Bridge Station=