Beginning at the N. W. corner of the City of Cheyenne. Thence due south one mile to Union Pacific Railroad. Thence north 51½° West (by compass) 73 chains thence south (by compass) 40 chains, thence west (by compass) two Miles. Thence north (by compass) one mile 40 chains, thence due north one mile 45 chains, thence east (by compass) two miles 33 chains, thence south (by compass) 33 chains, thence due south one mile 62 chains, to the point of beginning.
The magnetic variation is 15° 31′ East.

The Military Reservation of Fort Francis E. Warren is located in the southeastern part of Wyoming, west and directly adjacent to Cheyenne, the State capital. The reservation is roughly rectangular in shape, with an area of 7,520 acres. It is crossed in the southern part by Crow Creek, a small prairie stream flowing eastward. The surface of the reservation, particularly where the buildings are located, is rather unevenly terraced, rising in irregular plateaus or benches from Crow Creek bottoms to the higher rolling prairie land above. The sandy soil contains much fine gravel; it drains readily and is seldom muddy.
The climate of southeastern Wyoming is characteristic of the great plains area in which it lies. The elevation is around 6,000 feet and there is, naturally, considerable wind, but never of great destructive force. There is much clear weather with bright sunshine throughout the year. Summer days are seldom hot and the nights are cool and refreshing. Winter weather may be moderate both as to snowfall and low temperatures, or it may be extreme in both. There may be sudden weather and temperature changes at any season of the year and at any time of the day. This feature is not always agreeable, but on the whole, the climate in this part of Wyoming is healthful and invigorating.
Cheyenne, the close neighbor of Fort Francis E. Warren, is a thriving western town with a population of about twenty-five thousand. The country surrounding Cheyenne is range land, with here and there a dry land farm. The important and most profitable industry of the locality is, and has always been, livestock raising.
Cheyenne and the Fort Francis E. Warren Military Reservation have a highly strategic location in the United States, being approximately 755 miles from the Mexican Border and 710 miles from the boundary line of Canada. They lie within a distance of 1,618 miles from New York and about 1,252 miles from the Pacific coast (Los Angeles). They are close to the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains, not far from Sherman Pass, a great natural land bridge, that extends from the open prairie to the top of the range thirty miles away. This pass over the mountains is used by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Lincoln Highway.
Fort Francis E. Warren is named in honor of Senator Francis Emroy Warren, who was, for many years United States Senator from Wyoming. President Herbert Hoover changed the name of the reservation by proclamation, January 1, 1920. Previous to that time, the reservation bore the name of Fort D. A. Russell, in honor of General David A. Russell, a Civil War hero who fell at the moment of victory at Opequan, September 19, 1864. In the early history of the reservation, the name, Fort D. A. Russell will be used.
Fort Warren proper is situated on the north side of Crow Creek. The permanent buildings are red brick. The grounds are well laid out and landscaped. There are barracks for a garrison strength of 3,367 men, quarters for 225 officers, 71 sets of non-commissioned officers' quarters, and numerous service buildings.
Until October, 1940, Fort Francis E. Warren had seen little change except that which comes with slow, steady growth and improvement. When the unlimited national emergency arose in 1940, making expansion of the Army imperative, changes on the reservation were profound and rapid. Plans for the building of the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center were quickly put into action. From December, 1940 to July, 1941, a military city, consisting of 282 temporary type frame buildings, complete with all utilities and streets, was built on the south banks of Crow Creek opposite and about half a mile distant from what is now referred to as “the old post”.
Further construction was authorized and the Quartermaster Replacement Training Center at the declaration of War December 8, 1941, has 387 buildings, sufficient for a garrison strength of 20,000 men,


The early history of Fort D. A. Russell, as the post will now be called, is full of interest, romance and adventure. Beginning with the Louisiana Purchase Treaty of 1803. the first western land acquisition of the United States, and following through the early explorations of this immediate part of the West, a logical and continuous historical background can be quickly and easily established.
The Louisiana Purchase Treaty had not yet been signed when President Jefferson, in a confidential message to Congress, suggested that a small, select group of able men be sent to explore the Missouri river and to find the best route of communication with the Pacific Ocean. He suggested that twelve men from the military service would make a sufficiently large exploring party and that $2500 should cover all costs. The men taken from the service were to volunteer for the expedition and, as the thrifty President remarked, would have to be paid by the army anyway. He also suggested that the men could be rewarded upon their return by grants from the public lands.
Captain Lewis and Lieut. Clark, 1st Infantry, were the able leaders chosen and their journey was certainly successful. They “ascertained, with accuracy, the geography of the country, its commerce and its inhabitants”. Whether or not Jefferson set the pattern for western exploration, for years afterwards small, select groups of able men from the military service explored the western lands, “ascertained the geography and learnt the characted of the country.” This branch of the service later became the Topographical Engineers.
The idea of a route of communication with the Pacific Ocean was dominant in the minds of some of the eastern financiers, perhaps on account of the rich trade with the orient. At any rate, John Jacob Astor, with a purely commercial idea in mind, .sent a party of explorers known to history as the Overland Astorians, to find a practical commercial route to the Pacific Ocean. The party crossed Wyoming on both the westward and the eastward journeys, 1811-12.
In 1832, when the nation possessed about 120 miles of railroad, a magazine called “The Emigrant” published an article suggesting that a transcontinental railroad be built. A little later (1845), Asa Whitney, a Boston merchant, presented a memorial to Congress explaining how a railroad to the Pacific Ocean could be built and what was equally important, how it could be financed by land grants to the builder. At this period it is important to note that a trade treaty with China had been made (1844). Oriental trade, however, languished for a time because the Chinese medium of exchange was gold and that the United States did not have, until after the California discoveries of 1849.
Then in 1855, Commodore Peary opened trade negotiations with Japan. In the meantime Texas had joined the Union in 1845 and the Mexican cession was completed by treaty, 1848. After our territorial claims were secure from ocean to ocean, the time had come for a great interior expansion and development, and this marked the beginning of the most fascinating period of our national history.
In 1853, Congress passed a law providing for a “Survey for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.”¹ The War Department was in charge of the Survey. The Topographical Engineers did the work under the direction of Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War. Five routes west of the Mississippi River were surveyed between the international boundaries of Canada and Mexico. These routes were designated as (1) The Northern Route of the 47th and 49th parallels; (2) The Overland Route, the Mormon Trail or the Central Route of the 41st and 42nd parallels; (3) The Buffalo Trail on the 38th and 39th parallels; (4) the route on the 35th parallel, and (5) the route on the 32nd parallel, called the Southern Route. The findings of these Pacific Railroad Surveys were published in twelve large volumes, 1855-56.
Following the Jeffersonian precedent of advancing geographical knowledge they were complete in topography, geology, botany, ornithology, zoology, and anthropology. The narrative accounts, as written by the Engineers, are seldom read today, but in 1856 they presented the first accurate and comprehensive knowledge of the unknown West. One fact stood forth; there were many practicable railroad routes to the Pacific Ocean. In Congress it was not a. question of whether a Pacific Railroad should be built, but which one should be built first.
The New England senators favored the northern route, the South wanted the southern route, and the Middle West wanted the central route. Localism and extreme sectional interests prevented any constructive legislation until the opposition of the Southern senators was removed by the secession. The central route was then chosen and the Railroad Act of 1862 was passed.
The Railroad Act of July 1, 1862² was the charter of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. While this act was not a war measure, it is doubtful whether it could have been passed at any other time or by any other Congress. It provided for large subsidies in land to the Union Pacific, and in return the United States was to be guaranteed the use of the railroad for mail and for military transportation. The law prescribed the route winch the railroad should follow. A single clause practically predetermined the location of Cheyenne and Fort D. A. Russell five years before the actual sites could be selected and surveyed. This clause required the definite location of the “east base of the Rocky Mountains” on the line of the railroad survey by a presidential representative. From that particular point westward the railroad subsidy was to be trebled. In other words, the Union Pacific Railroad Company was to receive $48,000 a mile in subsidy for mountain construction instead of $16,000 a mile as had been received for construction over the comparatively level prairie.
The eastern terminus of the Union Pacific was located by President Lincoln at Omaha. Construction began in December 1863 but no rapid progress was made until after the Civil War was over (April, 1865) and the nation could turn its attention to the frontier.
General Grenville M. Dodge, who had proved his ability in the construction of communications during the Civil War, resigned from the Army and became the Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific in May, 1866. The previous summer, General Dodge was on an Indian campaign in the Powder River country and it was while going from Fort Laramie southward on the Fort Laramie-New Mexico road that he discovered the famous Sherman Pass.
Under General Dodge the railroad construction acquired a distinct military character, due to the previous Civil War experience of many of the men and to the necessity for protection from the hostile Indians in the country through which the railroad was built.
Late in 1866, the end-of-track reached Julesburg, Colorado Territory. The final survey of the line over the Black Hills, as the mountains to the west of Cheyenne were then called, had been completed by Mr. Evans and his party. The survey west from Pine Bluffs, Wyoming had been delayed because of Indian hostilities and “a revision of the location” of the line of survey from the Lodge Pole Creek valley over to the Crow Creek valley. Before the discovery of Sherman Pass the line of survey followed Lodge Pole Creek and crossed the Black Hills at Cheyenne Pass about ten miles north of the present route of the Union Pacific.
General Dodge left the end of track at Julesburg, June 28, 1867, accompanied by Mr. Jacob Blikensderfer, Jr., the presidential representative who was to “fix” the east base of the Rocky Mountains. General J. A. Rawlins, Chief of Staff, U. S. A., was also in the party as well as high railroad officials. The line surveyed by Evans crossed Crow Creek and this point was called Crow Creek Crossing. Here General Dodge was joined by Gen. C. C. Augur, Commander of the Department of the Platte.³
General Augur’s instructions were to locate a military post where General Dodge located the end of a railroad division. Both locations depended on the point fixed by Mr. Blickensderfer as the “east base of the Rocky Mountains”. This point Mr. Blickensderfer fixed at 525.78 miles west from Omaha and 6.637 miles west from Cheyenne.
On July 4, 1867, General Dodge selected and named the site of Cheyenne, and General Augur selected the site of the military reservation that he was to locate where General Dodge located the division of the railroad. After these sites were selected, General Rawlins delivered an impressive and patriotic Fourth of July address, and then everybody celebrated.
Later in July, Lieut. R. W. Petriken, Corps of Engineers. surveyed the military reservation, three miles long, two miles wide, length north and south magnetic meridian. The “town and claim” of Cheyenne, two miles square, was surveyed by the Union Pacific surveyors, also on the magnetic meridian. The declination was 15° 30′ E. This perhaps explains the off compass directions of the streets of Cheyenne. The military reservation received its name, Fort D. A. Russell, formally on September 8, 1867.⁴
General Augur, while still at Crow Creek Crossing, directed Brevet Brigadier General John D. Stevenson, Colonel 30th Infantry, to assume command of all the troops in that vicinity and of all the detachments engaged in escorting and protecting employees of the Union Pacific Railroad. General Stevenson was also commanded to “assume and exercise such control of all inhabitants of the vicinity as was needful to preserve good order and protect property in the absence of all civil authority.” In addition to those duties, General Stevenson and the 30th Infantry laid out and built Fort Russell, proper, during the fall .and early winter of 1867.⁵
In August, 1867 Colonel Elias B. Carling selected the site of the supply depot which he was to establish on the military reservation abort a mile and a half down the creek from Fort Russell proper. It was about half way between Fort Russell and Cheyenne. This was a military “camp” and was usually garrisoned by a detached company of infantry. It was called Camp Carling in honor of Colonel Carling. From the beginning there was confusion in spelling the name, sometimes it was Carling, sometimes Carlin—even in official records. The granite marker that now stands on the site of the old flag pole says “Camp Carlin.” The official name of the supply depot was “Cheyenne Depot.”


Construction began at Fort Russell and Camp Carlin in September, 1867. As with other commonplace things of long ago true descriptions of these first buildings are difficult to find. Colonel Carling, Quartermaster at Cheyenne Depot, advertized for bids on building materials in the Rocky Mountain News, published in Denver, Colorado. According to the Secretary of War’s Report, the contract for these materials was given to J. Mason as follows: for green lumber, $80 per thousand feet; for seasoned lumber, $90 per thousand feet; for clear lumber, $100 per thousand feet; dressed, $10 additional; for tongue and groove, $15 additional; for shingles, $12 per thousand. There were no contracts for logs although the early Records of Medical History says, “Temporary log huts for the enlisted men were erected in September.”
The officers remained in tents. Permanent company quarters were erected in October and November, 1867. Officers quarters were completed and occupied in February, 1868. Drawings in the Records of Medical History show each officers quarters to have been a five room, story and a half frame house, built double. These houses were built of rough boards placed upright with the cracks battened. The inside was finished with planed boards and battens instead of plaster. The barracks were constructed in the same manner except that the walls were filled to the eaves with adobes. This method of building barracks can still be seen today at old Fort Laramie. A local newspaper article of the day said that a favorite method of building in Cheyenne was to fill the spaces between the studding with adobes and then plaster over the whole. Dr. Hayden in his geological report of 1868 says that a fine quality of lime was found in the foot hills west of Cheyenne and was much used by the people as it made a fine white plaster. Later Quartermaster reports on repairs show the barracks as being lathed and plastered. Not one of these first buildings remain on the reservation today. Four cavalry stables were built in Crow Creek bottoms, of rough lumber, stockaded.
The original form of the post was diamond shaped, one axis 800 feet; the other, 1,040 feet. Fort Russell never had a stockade. An early description of the post says that it was surrounded by an adobe wall, four feet high. The post entrance faced east, the infantry and cavalry barracks were on the southeast line of the diamond, adobe laundresses quarters on the southwest line, the hospital and officers quarters were on the northwest and northeast lines. A row of quartermaster sheds was near the east entrance, outside the post. Laundresses quarters, forty-six of them, were south, southwest, and west of the post. A row of these quarters was also built across the creek. These buildings were built, according to Records of Medical History, of pine slabs, stockaded, and were used by married, enlisted men as well as laundresses.
There were service buildings, carpenter shops, blacksmith shops, a bake house with ovens for 600 rations, an amusement hall and a post trader’s store. Each company had its own wash house back of the barracks. Cows and chickens could be kept by officers and these buildings were back of the quarters.


At Camp Carlin, large warehouses were built along the railroad siding so that freight cars could be unloaded on the platforms. There were deep cellars for storage of vegetables and potatoes and other supplies that might be damaged by frost. There were large stables and corrals for mules and horses, and living quarters for the packers and wagon masters. As to the actual number of civilians employed at Camp Carlin, accounts vary. Some say as many as 800 men were employed there. In the Records of Medical History the number of civilian employees at Cheyenne Depot averaged 285.
The road from Fort Russell to Cheyenne followed Crow Creek and passed through Camp Carlin, a convenient half-way stopping place on the way to and from the “city.”

During the Civil War Indian depredations increased throughout the West. Troops could not be spared, however, a few were required to garrison the frontier posts properly. Western travel on the Oregon Trail had been forced southward, following the South Platte River and the Lodge Pole Creek valley over the Cheyenne Pass. In 1866, the route changed again and went from Julesburg south-west to Denver, then northward to Fort Sanders near Laramie, and then on west to Salt Lake City.
When Fort Russell was established, the first duty of the troops was the railroad patrol. Every railroad surveying party and construction gang worked under protection of the troops. There were escort parties for travelers and emigrants, and scouts after stolen livestock. The distances of these scouts varied, some were only a few miles, others were two or three hundred miles away.
In 1867, Major Frank North was in command of a battalion of Pawnee Scouts. They were stationed along the Union Pacific right-of-way from Plum Creek, Nebraska to the Laramie Plains. In 1871, they were stationed at Fort Russell.⁶ The Pawnee Scouts, being hereditary enemies of the Sioux, were particularly valuable to the army at the time. The Union Pacific was completed by the Gold Spike ceremony, May 10, 1869. The Indians did not bother the railroad after its completion but troops were stationed along the right-of-way from May to November for some years afterwards.
There were no Indian Reservations near Fort Russell. The Indian title to the lands south of the North Platte River had been extinguished by a treaty with the Cheyennes in 1865.⁷ The Sioux treaty of 1868 set aside the lands north of the North Platte River and east of the summit of the Big Horns for the Sioux hunting grounds.’ Indian raids were conducted from this reserve on which no white man could legally enter.
The last Indian scout from Fort Russell ended in October, 1895.



The garrison life of the frontier troops depended upon the location of the post at which they were stationed. Fort C. F. Smith in the Big Horn Valley, Montana, was called “the place nearest to hell and yet not in it.” Fort Russell was different. There were no hostile Indians close by and no isolation in the full meaning of that word. There were dangers and hardships, but none greater than those on any frontier.¹²
During the months when grass was good and the Indian ponies were strong, the troops were in the field on scouts and patrols. A common saying among the pioneers was, “Spring is here, and so are the Indians.” Grass is five inches high meant only one thing: the Indians could leave their reservations to hunt and if they chose, steal, plunder and murder.
While the troops were away the garrison strength was often very low, frequently under a hundred men.
In the winter when the companies returned to the post. the strength would increase to as many as six or seven hundred officers and men.
At western posts the labor of building and repairing was performed by the troops, for in many localities there was none other available. The men so employed received the extra pay for constant labor at the rate of 35c a day. After July, 1884. the pay for extra duty was increased to 50c a day.
The everyday ways of living in pioneer times hold a deep human interest, and especially since those ways have so nearly disappeared. While there is something about the army that verges upon the eternal some of the old things have gone and perhaps may never return.
In the matter of clothing it is certain that the troops will never again he issued buffalo overcoats made from tanned buffalo skins, nor will they again be issued seal skin helmets and gauntlets as they were during the 1870’s. Buffalo shoes and buffalo moccasins were part of frontier equipment. Arctic overshoes, “snow excluders,” were experimental clothing in 1876. Sheepskin lined overcoats came later after the material for the buffalo overcoats became a scarcity.
Socks were “stockings” then, and worsted ones were 41c a pair. Gloves were issued three to a pair—two rights and one left. The infantry uniform was dark blue jersey—the cavalry wore dark blue blouses, sky-blue trousers. For some reason the “dragoons” did not care for the sky-blue overcoats, even at a far off frontier army post, and would not draw them with their clothing issue. The coats had to be returned to the Philadelphia depot.
Army shoes were frequent experimental clothing for both officers and men. In those days of long marches, shoes were important equipment. Even practice marches were long, sometimes five to six hundred miles. Shoes, it seemed, had to have stitched soles—otherwise the pegs, nails or screws would work loose and cause trouble. Corns were a common affliction in those days. Cavalry boots were huge, knee length, and very heavy.
As to barracks furniture: chairs were made by prison labor at Leavenworth; bunks were “iron” and in the early 1880’s for the first time, woven wire bunk bottoms were used with mattresses instead of bed sacks filled with straw. Whether barracks pillows were feather is not stated, but the hospital pillows were stuffed with horsehair, as shown on a bill for cleaning and repairing them—25e each.
The foot lockers were made according to the specifications stated in the Army law of 1866. not much different in size from those of today.¹³
The barracks were heated by stoves, with wood for fuel. during the first years; and later as Wyoming coal fields were developed, coal, especially Rock Springs coal, was used. One time the garrison supply of coal was very low, but the contractor could not furnish more until the Chinese millers at Rock Springs finished their New Year’s celebration, and went back to work. In the bitter cold of 1883, the post overdrew its coal allowance, and the Quartermaster was held responsible for the shortage. After considerable trouble involving weather reports and average temperatures (coal was allowed on a low temperature basis) the allowance was increased one-third.
The Quartermaster’s requisitions for stoves and stove repairs were very large. The stoves were east iron and in those days there were no standard parts. The quality and durability of today could not be bought then. It did not exist.
For lighting there were candles, and the candle lantern, candles being a component part of the ration. Sperm oil and mineral oil were used in small brass lamps, which held about a half pint. The mineral oil issue was measured in ounces, not hard tb understand when the price ranged from $2.50 down to a. dollar a gallon. Sperm oil was furnished when it was cheaper than kerosene, as late as 1876. As time passed, mineral oil (the Army always called it mineral oil) became cheaper and the post had “exterior illumination,” twenty street lamps, and after 1890 there were thirty. These lamps were cared for and lit by the prisoners.
The Quartermaster’s requisition for illuminating supplies always asked for many “lamp chimneys,” seven or eight hundred for the lamps in twenty-nine rooms. The old barracks were cold and draughty and the lamp chimneys were none too durable. When the lights were put out, they could be heard cracking for an hour afterward. The Quartermaster always added a note of apology for such large requisitions. “It’s a very windy country,” so he said.
There was another recurring item asked for in the Quartermaster’s stores for expenditure; two hundred feet of walnut for coffins for those who died on the reservation and were buried in the post cemetery.
Then, as today, there was experimentation with various kinds of army equipment—arms, intrenching tools, and field equipment. During the 1890’s a bicycle brigade was seriously considered, and earlier, a cannon that could be fired from the back of a mule—the mule didn’t like it and the bicycle troops never materialized. There was a combination bayonet and in-trenching tool that wasn’t exactly satisfactory either. From the report, it seems that the commanding officer marched the troops out to the hardest gumbo that he could find (no mention is made of deliberate purpose) and timed the men in the trial. Twenty minutes were required to scoop out a sufficient shelter, not to mention earth protection from gun fire, so the bayonet-intrenching tool never became a part of equipment.
The general reorganization law of the army after the Civil War provided for schools for enlisted men and post children at frontier army posts. School at Fort Russell was held in a room set aside in whatever building had unused space. At one time or another the school room was in unoccupied quarters in the old post hospital and in a partitioned off space at one end of the amusement hall. A school house was never built, although at one time the Post Quartermaster was notified by the Omaha depot that lumber for that purpose had been shipped to Fort Russell. The instruction was under the supervision of an officer. The teachers were enlisted men who received extra duty pay. The subjects taught were those of the common branches of English education, but after the Spanish American War, Spanish was a “recommended“ subject. All books, supplies, and school equipment were furnished by the government. Attendance varied with the garrison strength, and, as with many other things in the army, the interest of the Post Commander was a great factor for success.
The company laundress was an army institution that passed away upon the introduction of steam laundries and Chinese laundrymen. According to an old army law, each company was allowed one laundress to each nineteen men, or fraction thereof. These women were usually wives of enlisted men and drew rations on the same basis as the men. The company wash house was back of the barracks and here the laundresses washed the company clothes. These women lived with their families in the little frame and adobe houses just outside the post proper, south and west of the post across the creek. A row of these cottages was still standing at the time of the flood in 1904. The first steam laundry with its accompanying Chinese was installed by 1893, for a complaint about the sanitary condition of the Chinese laundrymen’s quarters was made a matter of medical record by the post surgeon.
Food is always an interesting subject and army rations especially so at this particular time. In 1802 Congress provided an army ration of meat and bread, and one gill of rum, whiskey or brandy daily, and to every one hundred rations; two quarts of salt, four quarts of vinegar, four pounds of soap, and a pound and a half of candles. Quantities as to bread and meat varied from time to time and the spirit ration was later replaced by sugar and coffee. As foodstuffs increased in variety and the food habits of the nation changed, army rations changed, too. When the process of preserving perishable foods by canning was perfected, army rations were greatly improved and the variety increased. On the frontier, game was added to the ration, and troops were issued ammunition for hunting purposes. Frontier posts were required to plant gardens, and the men, it seems, had to share in the cultivation of them. At Port Russell, the drawback to success was the lack of sufficient irrigation water. After the Spanish American War no record of gardens is shown on any report. Fort Russell troops never suffered for adequate rations while at the post and the greatest privation ever reported was on General Crook’s Big Horn Expedition in 1876, when a nine day march was made on two days rations and horsemeat.
The post exchange replaced the post trader and was a great improvement in all ways. Fort Russell’s Exchange has been, through the years, well managed and profitable. The first exchange was established about 1890.
The post had a library from the very beginning, and certain magazines and newspapers were supplied by the government. In this matter the Post Commander also exerted considerable influence.
Winter was the happiest time at Fort Russell in the early days. The Indians went back to their reservations and the troops came in from the field for the winter’s rest. The town was friendly and there was the exchange of hospitality and good will that comes from isolation and a certain dependence for safety. At the nation’s “notables” visited the West, Cheyenne and the Fort entertained all who came their way.
For amusements of their own there were dancing clubs and dramatic clubs; for sports there were the usual athletic contests, hook and ladder contests, horse racing and the fads of the day.
It was not until the 1890’s that organized recreation was recognized as a valuable asset to the army as a morale builder and not until after the reorganization following the Spanish American War was it made an integral part of army training.



The subjugation of the Indian by the white settlers of the United States covered roughly a period of three hundred years, assuming that the conquest began with the arrival of the first colonists at Jamestown and ended with the last sporadic uprisings of the western tribes during the 1890’s.
In 1785, while the influence of William Penn was yet strong, Congress passed a law recognizing the right of the Indian to the lands over which he roamed and claimed as his own. The law further provided that the right and title to that land could be obtained by the United States only through purchase and by treaty agreements. The Indian tribes were “domestic dependent nations” but nevertheless the United States executed treaties with them on the same basis as with foreign powers, as late as 1872. At this time Congress reduced the Indian Treaty to the status of a simple “agreement.”
Out of the many Indian treaties, two of them were of particular importance to Fort Russell. By the Treaty of 1865 the United States obtained from the Cheyennes and Arapahoes the title to the lands to be crossed by the Union Pacific Railroad, and thus removed those hostile Indians from the immediate vicinity of the Post. The second treaty was that made by the peace commissioners at Fort Laramie in 1868. This treaty set aside the lands north of the North Platte River and east of the summit of the Big Horns as a hunting reserve for the Sioux. This joined their permanent reservation in Dakota on its western boundary. As a model of appeasement this treaty was unsurpassed. The military posts, Fort Reno, Fort Phil Kearney, and Fort C. F. Smith, the farthest outpost in Montana, were abandoned. And it was further provided that no white person could legally enter that reserve. These provisions made the territory the soul and center of the Indian hostilities that finally culminated in the Sioux War of 1876.
The Indians could and did use the southern part of that rough country as a base from which to conduct their raids on the white settlers, and to steal their livestock. From the time of the territorial organization of Wyoming until the abrogation of the Treaty in 1877, in the thinly settled strip of country lying between the Union Pacific Railroad and the North Platte River, the Indians stole six hundred thousand dollars worth of livestock and killed seventy-three settlers. Wyoming’s total population at the time did not number ten thousand whites.
It was into this strip of country that the troops from Fort Russell on the railroad, and from Fort Fetterman and Fort Laramie on the North Platte, went on their scouts for the protection of the settlers and the recovery of stolen stock. Very little stock was recovered, chiefly because the whites could not cross the North Platte River in pursuit of the well mounted and well armed marauders.
The troops from Fort Russell were also sent on scouts into Colorado and western Kansas. This country was indeed buffalo land—and where there were buffalo, there were Indians. There were no engagements of particular importance on the part of Fort Russell troops in that locality, although scouts were frequent in that direction.
The Sioux War began early in 1876. Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, with small bands of anti-reservation Sioux, refused to come into their home reservation upon the order of the Secretary of Interior. As the dead line date of January 31 was ignored by the red men, the War Department took over the situation, February 7. General George Crook, Commander of the Department of the Platte, gathered all available cavalry at Fort Fetterman. Under the command of Col. J. J. Reynolds an attack was made on the renegade Indians in March. A great number of the Indian ponies were captured, but the weather suddenly became extremely cold and the Indians recaptured their horses. Thus the troops lost a decided advantage. They were forced to withdraw to neighboring posts and await warm weather. The Indians mobilized and recruited from surrounding restless tribes. The villages of Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse numbered about a hundred tepees at the opening of hostilities. The village that Custer sought to attack in June contained about 2,000 lodges, swarming with warriors.
There were a number of commands in the field and the general idea was to fight the Indians where the troops met the—in a battle field that covered 90,000 square miles. The troops from Fort Russell joined Crook’s command at Fort Fetterman late in May and moved northward through the sinister Powder River country. There was a battle with the hostiles on the Rosebud, Tune 17. Nine men were killed, twenty-three were wounded.
General Crook established his cantonment at Camp Cloud Peak on Goose Creek, northern Wyoming. On the evening of June 25, Col. Anson Mills reported a heavy pall of smoke in the northwest, but not until June 30 was word received that General Custer and his entire command had been wiped out.
General Crook received reinforcements and recruits at Camp Cloud Peak and then began his epic march in pursuit of the fleeing Indians through the rough, wild country, between the Big Horns and the Black Hills. Crook took no wagons on this march. Rations became low and before the little town of Custer, Dakota, was reached the troops were eating their horses. Lieutenant Joseph Lawson, Irish and a Kentuckian, said—“Eat my horse! I’d feel like a cannibal!” Cannibals or not, horses were eaten, and mules and captured Indian ponies, too.
The Fort Russell troops returned to their station November 2. The Records of Medical History says—“The hospital funds are low, due to extra rations for the emancipated men returned from the ‘Big Horn Expedition’.”
On March 2, 1877, Congress abrogated the Treaty of 1868 and the great Sioux Reservation existed no more. “Glory to God”—so said the Cheyenne Leader of March 3, 1877.
Immediately, new military posts were built in the country retrieved from the Indians. The summer of 1877 saw troops well armed and equipped, sufficient in number and under central command, ready to cope with any situation that might arise.
In late September, 1879, Nathan Meeker was brutally murdered by the Utes at the White River Agency in western Colorado. Nathan Meeker was the founder of Union Colony, now Greeley, Colorado. While unrest among the Utes was reported and troops were asked for by those who understood the situation, no steps were taken for protection—until too late.
On August 6, 1879, the Military Notes in the Cheyenne Leader said, “The Fifth Cavalry is enjoying the first summer leisure it has had in many years. Over fifty percent of the troops at Fort D. A. Russell have never been on a scout.&rdsquo; Then on September 18: “The Fifth Cavalry is to report at once to the Commanding Officer at Fort Fred Steele.” Thus began the campaign against the Utes in 1879. Accounts of the uprising have been given from more than one point of view, and one outstanding fact is evident. The strength, maliciousness, and treachery of the Indians were under-estimated by Nathan Meeker who was so brutally whipped to death at the White River Agency, simply because he advanced the theory that work didn’t hurt anybody, either white or red; by the governor of Colorado who did not ask for a sufficient number of troops—in time; by Major Thornburg, who started on his march to the White River Agency, September 25, from Rawlins with only three companies of cavalry and one of infantry in his command; and by the outside commentator who said, “In all probability they (Thornburg’s command) will march to the Agency and never see an Indian."
From Bear Creek, Colorado, Major Thornburg sent his last telegram. “Have met some of the Ute Chiefs. They seem friendly and promise to go with me to the Agency. Do not anticipate trouble.” This on October, 2: “Major Thornburg’s party was ambushed within 15 miles of the White River Agency. September 29th. He was killed and Grafton Sowery, a scout.” Captain Payne, Fifth Cavalry, took command and sent for reinforcements. The wounded—Captain Lawson, Surgeon Grimes, Lieutenants Paddock and Wolf, and 35 men. One hundred and fifty horses and mules were killed.
General Wesley Merritt, Commanding Officer at Fort Russell, left Cheyenne immediately for Rawlins with three hundred ’men and six hundred horses to relieve Captain Payne and remount the cavalry that had lost its horses. General Merritt reached Payne’s command after a severe fight with the Indians, killing. 37, with no loss to his command. On October 18th, two cars filled with the wounded from the Milk River fight were run into Camp Carlin and transferred to the post hospital. A long trip for the wounded—over three hundred and fifty miles.
During the 1880’s Fort Russell enjoyed comparative peace. The post was rebuilt in 1885. The Quartermaster’s record read rather monotonously—“No expenses incurred by Indian uprisings.”
In 1890, a, strange thing happened—a delusion called the Messiah Craze broke out among the western tribes, and a ceremony called ghost dancing became prevalent almost everywhere among. the Indians.
At this time the Indians had a just grievance, for the Congressional policy of “work or starve” was in full swing, and the Indians were starving at Pine Ridge, not because of not working, but because of the “irregularities” of the Indian agent.
On November 18, 1890, General Mizner, commanding Fort Russell, received orders to have seven companies of the 17th Infantry in readiness to move against the Sioux at the Pine Ridge Agency. On December 17, the troops left. by special train for Rushville, Nebraska. with full equipage for a winter campaign.
In the meantime, Sitting Bull, the anti-reservationist of 1876, and still a leader, was killed while resisting arrest. by Indian police, December 15, 1890.
There was no further serious trouble with the Sioux at the Pine Ridge Reservation after rations were issued and the starving Indians fed. The troops returned to the post early in January. Later remarks leave the impression that the garrison was not too well equipped for a winter campaign in the field, particularly in transportation equipment.
The last Indian scout from Fort Russell left the post on July 23, 1895, and returned on October 13 the same year. There were no engagements with the Indians, and, in fact, no trouble except such as was caused by an undue amount of newspaper publicity. The Bannock Indians at the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho were accustomed to making frequent visits to their friends, the Shoshones, on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. The Indians, in crossing the game country that lay between the reservations, were inclined to help themselves to more than their share—if they were supposed to have any share. (A U. S. Supreme Court decree said later that they did not.) At any rate, the newspaper build-up was such that it appeared as if every inhabitant in Jackson Hole was in imminent danger of being scalped; so the troops were ordered into the field. The guard reports and the morning reports of this scout are among the old records at Fort Russell. There is no harrowing account of battle or bloodshed. The sentry wrote his report with his “one lead pencil,” the only guard property for which he signed. These reports may not be exactly classic, but they tell with an unmistakable finality the end of a conquest.
The sentry made a record of all who passed by. It read from day to day like this: “An old man and a little boy in a wagon drawn by a horse and a mule—after wood.” “A man on horseback to Jackson Hole on business.” “A wagon, two women and five children to visit the camp.” “A Mr. Stevens on horseback, and Miss Stevens, his daughter.” And only once, “A Bannock, going to Jackson to recover his property.”
The West now belonged to the man on horseback, the women and children, to Mr. Stevens and his daughter.


The permanent and substantial growth of the West began after the subjugation of the Indians and the recognition of the value of western irrigated lands and western cattle ranges. as well as the mineral resources of the country.
After the Indians were fairly well confined to their reservations, new military posts were established nearby to provide a certain amount of necessary protection for the settlers in the surrounding country. After the new reservations were established, some of the old Wyoming posts could be abandoned, particularly Fort Sanders near Laramie and Fort Fetterman near Douglas. This was done in 1882. Fort Russell, having a strategic value because of its location on the railroad, was made a permanent post by the War Department. The last cavalry was withdrawn from Fort Russell, June 26, 1883, and when the post was rebuilt in 1885, it was as an Infantry Post for only eight companies.
Upon rebuilding, the form of the old post was changed. The entrance was moved eastward several hundred feet to provide a suitable place for the new brick barracks and new officers’ quarters. A row of non-commissioned officers quarters was also built to the south of the barracks.
There are today two large cottonwood trees still standing that mark the entrance to the “New Post” of 1885. These trees are in line with the eastern end of the row of one story barracks and the non-commissioned officers’ quarters built at the same time. The Quartermaster’s Record shows that $400 was expended by the War Department for trees for Fort Russell, and also that fifty bushels of grass seed were received from Omaha with hope that it would be successful. Twenty-seven buildings were constructed in 1885, and those still standing are in use today. The old hospital was built later, 1887, and an administration building in 1894. There was an amusement hall that was the center of social life for the troops. The amusement hall was also the chapel and the school. The wash houses, located back of the barracks, were later barber and tailor shops. The railroad station was located at the west end of the Post. The station called “Russell” had not yet been built. Stables and carriage houses were back of the officers’ quarters. The post exchange was not far from the stone building now numbered 253. Merchandise was sold in one building; in another was the restaurant and bar.
The water system is shown on the same tracing with the fire plugs at regular intervals. There was no sewer system until 1890.

To	Page 287-288
Quartermaster General U. S. Army Washington, D. C. Thru: Regular Channels	Fort D. A. Russell, Wyo. April 19th, 1886
Sir: In compliance with G. 0. No. 113, A. G. 0. 1882, I have the honor to report that since last Annual Report the form of the post has been completely changed. A number of new buildings have been erected and the old buildings overhauled and repaired which work was placed under the superintendence and direction of Captain James II. Lord, 0. Q. M. who it is presumed has rendered full report as to character and capacity of buildings, hut to render this subject complete, the following summary is respectfully submitted: NEW BUILDINGS FOR OFFICERS QUARTERS One double brick house for Commanding Officers’ quarters, capacity 10 rooms and cellar under back extension, two-story shingle roof. Six quarters for Captains, brick, capacity nine rooms including attic rooms with cellar under back extension one-story shingle roof. The old double frame quarters have not been changed in form but were partially repaired in the way of new floors, painting in and outside, and paper on walls. All of the old buildings,. sheds, etc. were torn down and new ones erected in their stead, a very great improvement giving the buildings a uniform appearance throughout and helping greatly sanitary conditions. Owing to the great amount of work which was required to be done to comply with the requirements of the War Department to make the post complete in the way of buildings, etc., some repairs had to be necessarily postponed for another year. The necessary estimates for the same accompany this report. Men’s Barracks Six new brick barracks have been constructed with extension of frame, being the old barracks added to or moved to meet the new form of the post. The capacity of barracks or main building 30 x 105 ,divided as follows: dormitory 93 x 30, orderly room and storeroom back of same 12 x 30. The back of the extension is SO x 30 divided as follows : day room, two store rooms or shops, dining room, kitchen, cook’s room, wash and bath rooms. The main or new buildings need but few repairs such as whiting the walls and compartments of shelves for convenience of the men for uniforms, etc. The flooring in the extensions need to be renewed, also a few of the locks and sash, estimates for which are herewith transmitted. Two of the eight companies occupy the old barracks, improved, but for comfort and convenience they do not compare with the new ones, besides they are off the parade proper being in the rear of the barracks taking the new order of things into consideration. When regular barracks are built they might he turned into storehouses with advantage as additional storage room is very much needed at the post. These buildings need general repairs in the way of new floors, sash, locks, etc., estimates for which accompany this report. The Band occupies its old quarters—new quarters should he built as soon as possible—this no doubt will be done should the appending appropriation become law. Miscellaneous Buildings Six small one-story brick buildings have been erected for non-commissioned staff officers—they are small and comfortable for man and wife, but when there are a number of children in the family they are too small and decidedly uncomfortable and unhealthy, but this defect in ease of a large family can be remedied by a small extension, one which is provided for in my estimate for the commissary sergeant who has four children. The capacity of these buildings is three rooms, shingle roof. One oil house, brick, capacity 18" x 30′, shingle roof. One frame shop for all purposes of the Quartermaster Department, dimensions 25′ x 8O.′ One frame ice house, capacity 1,000 tons, dimensions 30′ x 8O′ x 16′ One brick bake house, capacity 20′ x 55.′ capacity of oven (rations) 500 men. One brick magazine, shingle roof. One brick engine house, shingle roof, capacity 20′ x 25.′ Since last report a water system has been introduced and so far has given entire satisfaction with the exception of a few minor defects which are provided in estimates accompanying this report. The system consists of four-inch cast iron main which encircles the post, except the east side or entrance to the post. There are fire plugs at regular intervals and the water is conducted to men′s barracks and officers′ quarters by inch pipe. There is direct. pressure from the engine house and pressure by gravitation from a large tank elevated sixteen feet above the parade ground, capacity 20,000 gallons. In connection with my personal report of last year, I deemed it proper to mention to the Quartermaster General the subject of steam laundries at posts where steam power is available. A laundry of this character is in my opinion very desirable especially now since the great improvement in the men′s buildings, etc. Washerwomen are few at the post and the ones now remaining are not always reliable. I think there would be no serious trouble in its management as the work done would meet all current expenses. Rules based upon the management of laundries in cities might be devised, the simpler they are the better. In order to bring this matter more directly to the attention of the Quartermaster General, plans, and detailed estimates for a laundry to be constructed at this post are herewith transmitted.
	Very respectfully, Your obedient servant JAMES BEGAN 1st Lieut. R.Q.M. .9th Inf. A.A.Q.M.

The last decade of an eventful hundred years in our national history seems to mark the end of an era, perhaps because it marks the end of our isolation and the beginning of our off-continent wars. Wealth had increased enormously and our population was beginning to stabilize itself as American. The West was no longer an unknown quantity, and aside from the Indian Wars, 1898 marked the end of thirty-three years of peace. From 1874 until the Spanish-American War the strength of the army had been frozen at 25,000 officers and men, a ratio in the 1890’s of one soldier to 3,000 civilian population.
It is needless to say that the United States Army reached its lowest ebb during this time and that this neglect of the fighting forces was causing deep concern among thoughtful army leaders.
Appropriations from Congress for the army were meagre and hard to obtain. Military posts fell into disrepair, and in the case of Fort Russell, almost dilapidation. The morale of the army was low and desertions were very common. The type of recruit was not always the best either. Colonel Poland reports. “There have been twenty-five desertions since August 1, 1893, fifteen less than the preceding twelve months. As there has been no material change in customs of service, duties at the post, or general treatment of the men, it is to be inferred that the regiment has been supplied with fifteen better men than mustered in last year.” He comments further—“Winter recruits as a rule are unreliable, as only temporary shelter and subsistence is sought.” Boards of Survey reported upon desertions and made no particular deduction, except the very general one—“instability of human nature.”
The new barracks erected in 1885 were not large enough to accommodate a full company with the minimum allowance of 800 cubic feet of space per man. The old guard house was a source of aggravation, too, being small and hard to maintain in a sanitary condition. The water system of 1890 and the sewer system of about the same date were, however, very important improvements.
Camp Carlin was dismantled in 1890, and some of the buildings were sold to Cheyenne residents. Some of them were moved up to the post and according to the newspaper “the thirty handsome cottonwoods which formerly stood at Camp Carlin have been taken up and replanted at the Fort. The trees were very large, being over 15 years old.” One cottonwood remains at Camp Carlin to this day, not far from the granite marker. There is only one stone building on the reservation and it was built with the old foundation stones from Camp Carlin. It can he said, without dispute, that building number 253 contains one remnant of the original construction material used on the reservation in 1867.
The mule has done its part of faithful service in the army and now, no less than the cavalry and artillery horse, is passing into legend. At Fort Russell during the 1890’s, there was a mule pack train that was the pride of the 17th Infantry—“the only thoroughly trained pack train in the army and the best in the world.” In this train was General Crook’s mule “Apache.” When she was condemned, Captain Roach wrote a very eloquent appeal asking that she, as the riding mule of a distinguished officer, might live out her days in the train she served so faithfully. The request was granted.
It was from this pack train that the first of Fort Russell’s “cadres” were sent out to “activate” other trains at other stations.
Three times between 1890 and 1895 troops left Fort Russell for service in the field. First, to the Pine Ridge Agency against the Sioux in 1890; again in western Wyoming along the Union Pacific against a part of Coxey’s army, in 1894; and the last Indian scout in the Teton Pass country in the late summer and fall of 1895.
The Indian campaigns come under another topic so the Coley Army Affair will be described here as it has a certain historical significance.
Colonel John S. Poland reports under the topic, Troop Movements:


On the 13th of May, 1894, a telegram was received advising that the troops be held for quick action to proceed west and assist in preventing interference with the property of Union Pacific Railway by Coxeyites, Commonwealers, tramps, et al. On the 15th, the Second Battalion, 17th Infantry, B, C, E, and F companies under command of Colonel J. S. Poland left the post at about 3:30 p. m., Cheyenne at 4:00 p. m. for Green River, arriving there at 5:00 a. m., May 16. U. S. Marshal Rankin, Wyoming, requested troops to hold as prisoners 147 Commonwealers charged with seizing a train on the Oregon Short Line, Idaho Division of the U. P. R. R. at Montepelier, despite the officials of the road and U. S. Deputy Marshal (sic) and holding the same to Green River.
On the 18th, these 147 prisoners were examined by the U. S. Circuit Judge Renit, and adjudged guilty of an offense committed in Idaho, and ordered their return to Boise. Major Bisbee, 17th Infantry, with Captain Lovering, 4th Infantry, left Green River at 4:00 p. in. for Pocatello. Idaho, as guard, with orders to escort these prisoners to Boise, Idaho. At Pocatello, Captain J. M. Burns, Company “E” 17th Infantry, was left to protect railroad trains and property, and the remainder of company “C”, 4th Infantry was picked up and proceeded with Major Bisbee’s command to Boise, delivering the said prisoners into the jurisdiction of Judge Beatty. U. S. Circuit Court for the District of Idaho. On the 21st, Major Bisbee with Company “F” returned to Pocatello and took station until relieved, June 15th, to return to post, June 14, 7:00 p. m.
The two companies retained at Green River, “B” and “C”, 17th Infantry remained at that station, Captain C. S. Roberts, 17th Infantry, commanding, until June 9 when they returned to the post the same day. The colonel of the regiment rejoined his station May 28, 1894. This movement of the troops of the 17th Infantry entirely broke up the march of the so-called Commonwealers eastward, over the lines of the Union Pacific Railway from Ogden and Pocatello.
One little thing was overlooked by Colonel Poland. Idaho was a part of the Department of California and he had no jurisdiction there. This was later the subject of considerable correspondence between the departments. However, the Commonwealers were “stopped” and Colonel Poland added one more pertinent remark. “A great moral force,” so he said, “is a bayonet on a gun and a web-belt full of cartridges.”
The following extract from Colonel Poland’s request for change of station for his regiment is eloquent in its simplicity and truth. He was perhaps unaware at the time that he had lived and helped to shape the destiny of the West in its richest and most colorful era, when it was. as he said “beyond the ragged edge—”.
The 17th Infantry has made an excellent record, shown by recent inspections, as soldiers, conforming to regulations and orders with intelligence, cheerfulness, and persistency. No serious public events have occurred to mar its reputation as a peaceable, law-abiding, well-behaved organization, and worthy, for its extraordinarily long service at remote posts on the frontier since 1866, of a change to some eastern post which will afford every advantage of education and association with cultivated, intelligent society of that civilized country.
How such a privilege would he enjoyed after twenty-seven years of rough and tumble life beyond the ragged edge of civilization, even can better he imagined than described.
“In conclusion, I respectfully recommend feeling that my regiment has an almost incontrovertible claim to the consideration recommended, that the 17th Infantry be permitted to succeed the troops now occupying Fort McPherson or Fort Thomas, when their removal is decided upon—I have the honor to be

Very respectfully, Your obedient servant, JOHN S. POLAND.”

Note:
(After the Spanish-American War, the system of keeping army records changed and the fine examples of military literature found in the narrative reports of the army officers were to be forever lost—in impersonal printed forms).
The Spanish-American War began abruptly with the torpedoing of the battleship, Maine, in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, February 15, 1898. President McKinley lost little time in calling for a volunteer army and for a formal declaration of war by Congress. The Eighth Infantry, then stationed at Fort Russell, left for field service in Cuba, April 21, 1898, two days before the war was declared. A small detachment of the infantry troops was left at the post to care for company property. The Wyoming National Guard was mustered into the service on May 16 at Fort Russell as the First Wyoming Infantry, U. S., Major Frank M. Foote, commanding. This battalion moved to San Francisco and from there to Camp Dewey, Manila, arriving July 31. The troops disembarked August 6 and the city was entered and occupied August 13, 1898. The First Wyoming Battalion was the first organization of the First Brigade to reach the wall of Manila. At 4:15 p. in. of that historic afternoon, Major Foote received orders from General Anderson to occupy the Luneta Barracks. At 4:45 p. M. the battalion flag was hoisted—the first American flag raised in Manila. This flag now rests in the Historical Museum of Wyoming. These troops later took part in the Filipino Insurrection and did not return to the United States until September, 1899.
General Wesley Merritt, who commanded at Fort Russell during the years of the Indian campaigns, was in command of the forces at Manila.
Colonel Torrey’s Rough Riders were also mobilized at Fort Russell. They were mustered in as the Second United States Volunteer Cavalry. The regiment left Fort Russell for Camp Cuba Libre, Jacksonville, Florida, on June 22. The regiment saw no action and was mustered out, October 22, 1898.
On September 29, 1898, four companies of the 24th Infantry took station at Fort Russell. The 24th had just returned to the States from Siboney, Cuba, where the regiment had rendered heroic service at the time of the yellow fever epidemic during the months, July to September, 1898.


After war—reorganization.
The war with Spain lasted about one hundred days, long enough, however, for the United States to acquire foreign possessions and to assume responsibility for them. The Reorganization Act of February 2, 1901, fixed the maximum enlisted strength of the army at 100,000 men, including the Philippine Scouts. Not until the National Defense Act of June 30, 1916, was the maximum strength increased, and then only to 170,000 officers and men. The American people have always abhorred the idea of a large armed force, and will not adequately provide for one until the enemy compels them to action.
After the reorganization in 1901, the question arose again as to which military posts should be rebuilt and enlarged. The water supply at Fort Russell had to he guaranteed by a new contract before any building program could be started. This was done by the city contract of 1903. The first of the new building was the construction of two sets of artillery barracks and stables in 1904. In that year an electric light plant was installed, the first electric lighting of the post, although Cheyenne had had a plant in operation since 1882.
In 1905, William H. Taft was Secretary of War. He recommended that the “old frontier posts” should he rebuilt on modern lines, and a definite effort made to group the buildings properly and improve the general appearance of the post. In 1906 Taft recommended that Fort Russell be enlarged to a brigade post, as at the time there were barracks and quarters for a regiment of infantry, two batteries of field artillery and four troops of cavalry. There was also a target and maneuver reserve of 36,800 acres. This was done in the following three years. The first artillery at Fort Russell had arrived, September 29, 1901.
Troop movements during the years 1900 to 1910 are interesting chiefly because the regiments had seen overseas service. The 18th Infantry, Companies E, F, G, Field Staff and Band arrived at Fort Russell, October 22, 1901, and left for the Philippines, March 21, 1903. This regiment of Regulars had been in the Islands at the capture of Manila in 1898. On March 24, 1904, the 11th Infantry arrived at Fort Russell from the Philippines. In 1905 an insurrection arose against the organized government of Cuba, and the President of the Republic requested intervention by the United States. An expeditionary force was sent under Brigadier General Bell. In October, 1906, the 11th Infantry left Fort Russell. this time as a part of the Army of Cuban Pacification. They were stationed at Morro Barracks, Santiago, Cuba, until February 21, 1909. This army was a “moral force,” small in numbers, but covering every nook and corner of the Island, just as the frontier army of the West covered every nook and corner of a million square miles of territory. The 11th Infantry remained at Fort Russell from March 9, 1909 until February 26, 1913.
Trouble began on the Mexican border in 1911. In March of that year troops were mobilized for maneuvers at San Antonio, Texas. There were two innovations of far-reaching results, compulsory typhoid prophylaxis, and the use of aeronautical equipment in maneuvers. This mobilization for maneuvers involved 16,000 officers and men. The mobile strength of the army within the United States borders was only 31,850 once again causing uneasiness among military men for the ration of mobile strength to population was lower than in 1876.
The Army Air Corps saw its beginning as a branch of the Signal Corps. General Allen, Chief Signal Officer, wrote in 1910, “Aerial navigation has taken hold of the entire civilized world as no other subject in recent times, and represents a movement that no forces can possibly check.
“In its military aspects, it is a subject we must seriously consider whether we wish to or not, and the sooner this fact is acknowledged and measures taken to put us abreast with other nations, the better it will be for our national defense.”
The Field Service Regulations, 1910, provided for the organization of aeronautical companies of the Signal Corps and for wireless companies as well, and for “aero-wireless battalions on the same basis as field companies and battalions.”
Henry L. Stimson was Secretary of War in 1911. He remarked that our army was more of a local constabulary than a national organization, and that we were left far behind in the one indispensable adjunct of war—the airplane. Congress finally voted an appropriation of $125,000 for aeronautical equipment in the army appropriation bill of 1912.
In the meantime Madero had overthrown the Diaz regime in Mexico. It became necessary for the United States to patrol the border to enforce the neutrality laws. Later there were revolutions against Madero, and he in turn was overthrown by Fiuerta, February, 1913. On February 26, the 11th Infantry and 4th Field Artillery left Fort Russell for the Mexican border. There is no consolidated Morning Report for February 25, 1913, the only occurrence in all available records.
Carranza promptly instituted military operations against Huerta. The fighting occurred along the border, and the wounded that fell into American hands were cared for by army personnel. The troops were as busy keeping curious sightseers out of harm as they were in keeping the hostile Mexicans from crossing over and fighting on American soil. While it was not actual war, it was trying service for the troops and was so well accomplished with so little display that it was accepted simply as a part of the day’s work for the army. For the first time trucks, six of them, were used between the camps on the border and the base depots. Nineteen motorcycles were used for messenger service and reported upon as satisfactory.
In 1914, conditions were still very bad. The 1,703 miles of Mexican border were patrolled by 359 officers and 8,260 enlisted men. Vera Cruz, Mexico, was occupied by troops under command of General Funston. On June 30, 1914, the mobile army within the United States was 1,495 officers, 29,405 enlisted men. And on July 18, Congress finally authorized the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps, 60 officers, 260 enlisted men. The garrison strength at Fort Russell averaged about 350 officers and men from February 1913 until February 1916. During 1915, depredations on the border continued and on the nights of March 8-9, 1916, Francisco Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. killing American soldiers and civilians. On March 10, the following day, General John J. Pershing was put in command of the United States forces on the border. This command marched 400 miles into Mexico. All cavalry regiments of the army except the Second were in the field at this time. The first tactical unit of the aviation section was put into the field from the base of the First Squardon at San Antonio, Texas. Much was learned about aviation in this “practice war” that was very valuable later on. Truck transportation became an integral part of army transportation simply because there was no other in that land without railroads.
General Pershing’s column withdrew from Mexico, February 5, 1917. The purpose of the Punitive Expedition was accomplished after eleven months of hard campaigning.
The outbreak of the war with Germany, April 6, 1917, found the United States with an unprepared army. The first draft legislation was passed May 18, and the first registration, June 5. There were three recognized armies—the Regulars, the National Guardsmen, and the National Army. Fort Russell was a point of mobilization and later for training field artillery and cavalry. The outbreak of the war found the United States with no airplane industry and no system of training aviators. Newton D. Baker called the Liberty Motor “America”s first victory in the air. He trusted to American ingenuity to accomplish the rest.
New branches of service were created, and others placed under different commands. In July 1917, the Signal Corps received the Pigeon Service. On May 20, 1918. it was relieved of its aviation duties. Chemical Warfare Service was created as a separate branch June 28, 1918. The Tank Service of the National Army was placed under the control of the Chief of Engineers, February 1918. The Ordnance Department remained in charge of the design and production of the tanks.
One thing was true, when the American people settled down to production during the first World War, the results were astounding.
The Armistice was signed November 11, 1918. The demobilization plan for the army was by military units at the posts nearest home for the troops. Fort Russell, under this plan, received its first “casuals” in March 1919. Brigadier F. W. Wilson commanded the post during demobilization. Morning Reports of March 31, 1919, showed 385 casuals at the post; June 22, 1919, showed 1377; and September 30, 1919, showed 37. The garrison strength December 31, 1919, was 592 officers and men. December 31, 1920, showed no change in organization, and a garrison strength of 1,000.
The Reorganization Act of June 4, 1920, provided for a maximum strength of the Army to be 280,000 enlisted men and 17,717 officers.


The Reorganization Act of June 4, 1920, created new branches of army service, particularly the Finance Department, Detached Officers List and Detached Enlisted Men’s List, Chemical Warfare Service, and Air Service. Provision for reserves was made by the President, and the Enlisted Reserve and Reserve Officers Training Corps. The Tank Service created in 1918 was made a part of the infantry. This reorganization of the armed forces did not immediately affect Fort Russell, however, the reservation was at one time inspected as a possible air base.
The 15th Cavalry was transferred to the 13th Cavalry and the 53rd Infantry was placed on the inactive list. For five years, 1922-27, the post was garrisoned entirely by artillery and cavalry organizations. At this time it was not unusual for the animal strength to outnumber the garrison strength of the post.
From the time of the first. Frontier Days celebration in Cheyenne in 1897, the troops have always contributed to its success, especially the parades. While the garrison was composed of field artillery and cavalry organizations, the Frontier parades were the most picturesque ever staged in Cheyenne, or ever likely to be, for the grim utility of modern war equipment cannot compare in glamour with the magnificent cavalry troops of that day. The horses were some of the finest the army ever owned, for they were selected as nearest to standard from the thousands of World War purchases; and a G. I. truck can’t. inspire the same romantic thrill as the old white covered supply wagons drawn by the army mules.
In June 1927, cavalry troops were withdrawn from Fort Russell for the second and perhaps the last time.
Years of peace at army posts are usually pleasant years, or so it seemed at Fort Russell. By 1925 the United States had lapsed again into a profound state of peace. The commissioned strength of the army had been reduced to 12,000 officers, and the enlisted strength to 125,000 men. The garrison of Fort Russell was not affected by the reduction in any-particular way, but followed the old tradition and turned its collective attention to improving living condition, making roads and beautifying the grounds.
Relations between the post and Cheyenne were cordial and cooperative. Fort Warren bowl was built and sports received considerable attention. While the “horse” organizations were here, polo was the great game. There were three polo fields on the reservation, two practice fields and one exhibition field.
During the late 1920’s an extensive reforestation program was under way. Western yellow pines were brought down from Pole Mountain and planted according to a definite landscape plan. A detachment of men was sent to the Pike National Forest in Colorado for evergreens. They returned with two thousand trees, and today there is on the reservation ample proof of the success of their mission. Major Orlando Ward, 76th Field Artillery, and Lieutenant Jean Edens were the reforestation officers.
Several interesting activities were carried on during 1928. The buildings for the Reserve Officers Training Corps and the Citizens Military Training Camp were completed. A boundary survey of the reservation was made, the first since 1910. The old water tank, part of the water system of 1890, was used as a point of triangulation in the survey. This old tank was dismantled a few years later. A topographical survey was made in 1929, and the first aerial survey in 1930. The Department of Commerce installed its first radio station on the reservation that same year. On January 1, 1930, the name of the post was changed to Fort Francis E. Warren, in honor of Senator Warren, one of Wyoming’s most distinguished men.
Senator Warren came to Wyoming in 1868. and throughout his life was closely identified with the political interests of Cheyenne and of Wyoming. He served as United States Senator from 1890 to 1893 and from 1895 to 1929. Senator Warren was on the Military Affairs Committee in Congress and worked consistently for the welfare of the army and particularly for the reservation that now bears his name. He was the father-in-law of General John J. Pershing.
The early 1930’s were uneventful, aside from the depression years complicated by a rather extensive drought. In 1934 the War Department enlarged the rifle range by the purchase of about 1600 acres. In 1939 an exchange of a very small acreage was made, and to the present time the boundaries remain unchanged.
The new post theater and the gymnasium were completed in 1939. And so ends the era of peace at Fort Warren.
On September 8, 1939, President Roosevelt declared a state of national emergency, and a year later, September 16, 1940, the Selective Service and Training Act was approved at 3:08 p.m., E. S. T. The act provided for an armed force sufficient for the defense of our continental and territorial possessions.
In order to house this new army and provide for training, cantonments were established at various locations throughout the United States. At Fort Warren, construction was immediately begun for a Quartermaster’s Replacement Training Center. Beginning October 1940, the surveys on the reservation were quite as important as those in 1867. Crow Creek again assumes importance.
It is the dividing line between the old and the new. Fort Warren proper is the “old post.” The cantonment across the creek is the “center.” The National Guard units from Utah, North Dakota and California left the post, December 1941, and for the first time in its long and colorful history “no combat organizations are stationed at Fort Warren.”