Fort McKinney (1878-1894) - Fort McKinney was established in 1878 and named after Lieutenant John McKinney, 4th U.S. Cavalry, killed in the nearby Dull Knife battle of 1876. The fort was first established south of fort Reno and later moved to a site west of Buffalo, Wyoming. The fort's primary purpose was to see that the recently hostile Sioux and Cheyenne tribes did not go back on the warpath and to keep the Crow, Arapaho, and Shoshone tribes and the settlers at peace with each other.
During the Johnson County War of 1892, troops at the fort received orders from President Benjamin Harrison to stop the fighting and escort big cattlemen and their hired Texas gunslingers safely out of the area before the irate citizens of Buffalo could lynch them. By 1894, the fort was no longer needed and it was closed. |
