Fort Custer (Montana)
Encyclopedia
Fort Custer was established during the Indian wars
in the Department of Dakota
by the U.S. Army to control the Sioux
, Cheyenne
and Crow Indians
near present-day Hardin, Montana
. The post was named for General George Armstrong Custer
who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
to the Little Big Horn
, Montana, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel G. P. Buell
, 11th Infantry
, where they constructed the post of Fort Custer.
On June 9, 1877, Lieut. Col. Geo. P. Buell and 2 companies Eleventh Infantry (C and F), together with a number of mechanics, arrived, per steamer Florence Meyer, en route to build Post No. 2 on the Bighorn River.
The construction of Fort Custer, on the Big Horn, was intrusted to Lieutenant-Colonel G. P. Buell, of the Eleventh Infantry. Colonel Buell, with four companies of his regiment and a large force of mechanics and laborers, left Bismarck by steamers for the site of the post ou the 16th of May. Owing to the wretched character of his boats, and to an accident which happened to one of them, he did not reach his destiuation until the 23d of June. Subsequently two additional companies of his regiment were sent to him. It had been determined to build this post from material to be found in the country; aud as soon as Colonel Buell had put up temporary storehouses to protect his supplies, he commenced cutting logs, baking brick, and sawing lumber.
The lumber in this immediate vicinity is cotton wood, and, with the exception of some finishing
lumber—pine—sent up from Bismarck, the post was built of this material. The post is intended for the same number aud description of troops as Fort Keogh. The buildings are not framed, but they are built up of planks two inches thick by six inches wide, laid flat one upon another, forming a solid wall six inches in thickness. The officers' quarters are of one story aud an attic. All other buildings are of one story.
The site of the post is on an extensive elevated plateau in the fork of two streams. Colonel Buell was originally instructed to place it on the left bank of the Bighorn, as near to the mouth of the Little Bighorn as the nature of the ground would permit. Immediately after his arrival he made a thorough examination of the whole neighborhood, and became so well satisfied of the superior advantages of the plateau in the fork over any other possible situation, that he selected it as the site. His action in this respect was subsequently fully approved. Many unforeseen obstacles delayed the completion of the post ; but its construction is so far advanced, that the garrison, its animals and supplies, will be well sheltered during the winter. Lieutenant-Colonel Buell deserves great credit for the activity, energy, and resource which he has displayed.
Fort Custer had quarters for 10 companies including stables for 6 troops of cavalry. It was built with buildings surrounding a large parade ground but had no walls or other fortifications
General Orders, No. 1
Headquarters Big Horn Post, Mont.,
July 4, 1877.
Until the post be named officially, in orders from higher authority, it will be known as Big Horn Post, and the military reservation pertaining to it is hereby declared as 20 miles square, the center of which will be the flag-staff, the sides running north, east, south, and west.
Geo. P. Buell, Lieutenant-Colonel Eleventh Infantry, Commanding Post.
At the Bighorn Post, Lieutenant General Sheridan
and Brigadier General Crook
deliberated over the status of the forts and what to name them.
In General Sherman's report to Secretary of War George W. McCrary
regarding this matter stated:
We have discussed the subject of names for the new post I suggested the names of Custer... I find General Terry
indisposed thus to Honor Genl. Custer
, ...I think General Sheridan agrees with me, still we dislike to act without General Terry's consent.
The designation of the post was changed to Fort Custer, pursuant to General Orders, No. 101, Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, November 8, 1877.
. The fort supplied troops for some of the Plains campaigns, including the Bannock War
.
, Company C, Eleventh Infantry, was sent to the Custer battlefield
to police and rebury any exposed remains in April 1879.
Then on January 28, 1881, Lieutenant Charles F. Roe and Troop M, Second Cavalry, left Fort Custer for the battle-field on the Little Big Horn River, in charge of the materials for the monument to be erected to the officers and men who fell in that action.
and E and K of the Seventeenth Infantry
.
Yellowstone National Park
turned to the U.S. Army for help, and in 1886 men from Company M, First United States Cavalry, and Fort Custer, Montana Territory
under Captain Moses Harris came to Yellowstone to begin what would be more than 30 years of military presence in Yellowstone.
There was an uprising at the Crow Agency
in the fall of 1887, and on the morning of November 4, Colonel Nathan Dudley
left Fort Custer with Troops A, B, D, E, G and K, and Company B, 3d Infantry, with a section of Hotchkiss guns, to arrest "Sword Bearer" and the Indians who had fired into the agency buildings on the night of September 30. On December 31, 1889 Headquarters and Troops B, D, E, G and M, were at Fort Custer.
On April 20, 1892, Headquarters and troops A, B, E, G, K, and M, First Cavalry, Col. A. K. Arnold
commanding, left Fort Custer.
was given to the Black Cavalry by the Native American tribes they fought; the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866.
Troops A, B, E, and K, Tenth Cavalry and Companies B and D Twenty-fifth Infantry left Fort Custer and were sent to Fort Harrison
near Helena when the post closed on April 17, 1898 and the buildings were sold and used to build Hardin, Montana
. A Daughters of the American Revolution
marker designates the site, within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation
on an abandoned golf course. All that remains are scattered cellars and ground depressions. It is located just off of I-90 (U.S. Hwy 87) south of Hardin, Montana, where the Hwy crosses the Big Horn River.
A remnant of the fort can be found in the town of Fort Smith, Montana
as a Bed and breakfast
managed by the Crow Indians as well as a replica of the fort at the Bighorn County
Historical Museum.
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
in the Department of Dakota
Department of Dakota
A subdivision of the Division of the Missouri, the Department of Dakota was established by the United States Army on August 11, 1866 to encompass all military activities and forts within Minnesota, Dakota Territory and Montana Territory. The Department of Dakota was initially headquartered at Fort...
by the U.S. Army to control the Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
, Cheyenne
Cheyenne
Cheyenne are a Native American people of the Great Plains, who are of the Algonquian language family. The Cheyenne Nation is composed of two united tribes, the Só'taeo'o and the Tsétsêhéstâhese .The Cheyenne are thought to have branched off other tribes of Algonquian stock inhabiting lands...
and Crow Indians
Crow Nation
The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a Siouan people of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota. They now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana and in several...
near present-day Hardin, Montana
Hardin, Montana
Hardin is a city in and the county seat of Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,384 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Hardin is located at ....
. The post was named for General George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Construction
In April and May, 1877, three companies (C, F and G) were moved from Cheyenne Agency, and three companies ( A, B and H) from Fort Yates in the Standing Rock AgencyStanding Rock Indian Reservation
The Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States...
to the Little Big Horn
Little Bighorn River
The Little Bighorn River is a tributary of the Bighorn River in the United States in the states of Wyoming and Montana. The Battle of the Little Bighorn was fought on its banks in 1876, as well as the Battle of Crow Agency in 1887....
, Montana, under the command of Lieut.-Colonel G. P. Buell
George P. Buell
George Pearson Buell was an American civil engineer and soldier. He served as a Union Army general during the American Civil War, and remained in the United States Army following the conflict.-Early life and career:...
, 11th Infantry
11th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 11th Infantry Regiment is a regiment in the United States Army.-The First 11th Infantry:Under the authority granted the President by the Act of July 16, 1798, to raise twelve additional regiments of infantry, the first 11th Infantry came into existence in the Army of the United States in...
, where they constructed the post of Fort Custer.
On June 9, 1877, Lieut. Col. Geo. P. Buell and 2 companies Eleventh Infantry (C and F), together with a number of mechanics, arrived, per steamer Florence Meyer, en route to build Post No. 2 on the Bighorn River.
The construction of Fort Custer, on the Big Horn, was intrusted to Lieutenant-Colonel G. P. Buell, of the Eleventh Infantry. Colonel Buell, with four companies of his regiment and a large force of mechanics and laborers, left Bismarck by steamers for the site of the post ou the 16th of May. Owing to the wretched character of his boats, and to an accident which happened to one of them, he did not reach his destiuation until the 23d of June. Subsequently two additional companies of his regiment were sent to him. It had been determined to build this post from material to be found in the country; aud as soon as Colonel Buell had put up temporary storehouses to protect his supplies, he commenced cutting logs, baking brick, and sawing lumber.
The lumber in this immediate vicinity is cotton wood, and, with the exception of some finishing
lumber—pine—sent up from Bismarck, the post was built of this material. The post is intended for the same number aud description of troops as Fort Keogh. The buildings are not framed, but they are built up of planks two inches thick by six inches wide, laid flat one upon another, forming a solid wall six inches in thickness. The officers' quarters are of one story aud an attic. All other buildings are of one story.
The site of the post is on an extensive elevated plateau in the fork of two streams. Colonel Buell was originally instructed to place it on the left bank of the Bighorn, as near to the mouth of the Little Bighorn as the nature of the ground would permit. Immediately after his arrival he made a thorough examination of the whole neighborhood, and became so well satisfied of the superior advantages of the plateau in the fork over any other possible situation, that he selected it as the site. His action in this respect was subsequently fully approved. Many unforeseen obstacles delayed the completion of the post ; but its construction is so far advanced, that the garrison, its animals and supplies, will be well sheltered during the winter. Lieutenant-Colonel Buell deserves great credit for the activity, energy, and resource which he has displayed.
Fort Custer had quarters for 10 companies including stables for 6 troops of cavalry. It was built with buildings surrounding a large parade ground but had no walls or other fortifications
Naming
Fort Custer was originally called Post No. 2 on the Bighorn River.General Orders, No. 1
Headquarters Big Horn Post, Mont.,
July 4, 1877.
Until the post be named officially, in orders from higher authority, it will be known as Big Horn Post, and the military reservation pertaining to it is hereby declared as 20 miles square, the center of which will be the flag-staff, the sides running north, east, south, and west.
Geo. P. Buell, Lieutenant-Colonel Eleventh Infantry, Commanding Post.
At the Bighorn Post, Lieutenant General Sheridan
Philip Sheridan
Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S...
and Brigadier General Crook
George Crook
George R. Crook was a career United States Army officer, most noted for his distinguished service during the American Civil War and the Indian Wars.-Early life:...
deliberated over the status of the forts and what to name them.
In General Sherman's report to Secretary of War George W. McCrary
George W. McCrary
George Washington McCrary was a four-term Republican Congressman from Iowa's 1st congressional district, a United States Secretary of War in the cabinet of President Rutherford B. Hayes, and a federal circuit judge....
regarding this matter stated:
We have discussed the subject of names for the new post I suggested the names of Custer... I find General Terry
Alfred Terry
Alfred Howe Terry was a Union general in the American Civil War and the military commander of the Dakota Territory from 1866 to 1869 and again from 1872 to 1886.-Early life and career:...
indisposed thus to Honor Genl. Custer
George Armstrong Custer
George Armstrong Custer was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the Indian Wars. Raised in Michigan and Ohio, Custer was admitted to West Point in 1858, where he graduated last in his class...
, ...I think General Sheridan agrees with me, still we dislike to act without General Terry's consent.
The designation of the post was changed to Fort Custer, pursuant to General Orders, No. 101, Headquarters of the Army, Adjutant General's Office, November 8, 1877.
History
Most of the hostile Indians in the vicinity had been confined to reservations, when the fort was built. The Second Cavalry Regimental Headquarters, Band, and Companies C, D, K, and M were stationed at Fort Custer first in November 1877, along with Companies B, C, F, and H of the 11th Infantry11th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 11th Infantry Regiment is a regiment in the United States Army.-The First 11th Infantry:Under the authority granted the President by the Act of July 16, 1798, to raise twelve additional regiments of infantry, the first 11th Infantry came into existence in the Army of the United States in...
. The fort supplied troops for some of the Plains campaigns, including the Bannock War
Bannock War
The Bannock War was a series of conflicts in 1878 between various Bannock, Northern Shoshone and Paiute tribes against the United States.- Background :...
.
Custer battlefield
It was from Fort Custer that Captain George K. SandersonGeorge K. Sanderson
George Kaiser Sanderson was a career U.S. Army officer. Having enlisted as a Private he was latter commissioned and twice breveted for gallant and meritorious service during the American Civil War. He is most notable for being the first to erect a monument at the Little Bighorn Battlefield...
, Company C, Eleventh Infantry, was sent to the Custer battlefield
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument
Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument preserves the site of the June 25, 1876, Battle of the Little Bighorn, near Crow Agency, Montana, in the United States. It also serves as a memorial to those who fought in the battle: George Armstrong Custer's 7th Cavalry and a combined Lakota-Northern...
to police and rebury any exposed remains in April 1879.
Then on January 28, 1881, Lieutenant Charles F. Roe and Troop M, Second Cavalry, left Fort Custer for the battle-field on the Little Big Horn River, in charge of the materials for the monument to be erected to the officers and men who fell in that action.
First Cavalry
In 1884 the First Cavalry headquarters and troops D, G, I, K and M, were stationed at Fort Custer replacing the Second Cavalry and joining Companies I and H of the Fifth Infantry5th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 5th Infantry Regiment is the third-oldest infantry regiment of the United States Army, tracing its origins to 1808...
and E and K of the Seventeenth Infantry
17th Infantry Regiment (United States)
The 17th Infantry Regiment is a United States Army infantry regiment. While the 17th Infantry Regiment was organized on January 11, 1812, it was consolidated with the 3rd Infantry due to extremely heavy losses at Frenchtown, and lost its identity two years later until May 3, 1861, when it was...
.
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
turned to the U.S. Army for help, and in 1886 men from Company M, First United States Cavalry, and Fort Custer, Montana Territory
Montana Territory
The Territory of Montana was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 28, 1864, until November 8, 1889, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Montana.-History:...
under Captain Moses Harris came to Yellowstone to begin what would be more than 30 years of military presence in Yellowstone.
There was an uprising at the Crow Agency
Crow Agency, Montana
Crow Agency is a census-designated place in Big Horn County, Montana, United States and is near the actual location for the Little Bighorn National Monument and re-enactment known as Custer's Last Stand...
in the fall of 1887, and on the morning of November 4, Colonel Nathan Dudley
Nathan Dudley
Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley was a soldier who served as a Colonel of Volunteers and sometimes as an acting Brigadier General of Volunteers for the Union Army during the American Civil War.-Early military career:...
left Fort Custer with Troops A, B, D, E, G and K, and Company B, 3d Infantry, with a section of Hotchkiss guns, to arrest "Sword Bearer" and the Indians who had fired into the agency buildings on the night of September 30. On December 31, 1889 Headquarters and Troops B, D, E, G and M, were at Fort Custer.
On April 20, 1892, Headquarters and troops A, B, E, G, K, and M, First Cavalry, Col. A. K. Arnold
Abraham Arnold
Abraham Kerns Arnold was a US Cavalry officer during the American Civil War and, while a captain in the 5th U.S...
commanding, left Fort Custer.
Buffalo Soldiers
On May 5, 1892, Headquarters and Troops B, E, G, and K, Tenth Cavalry, Lieut. Col. David Perry commanding, arrived at Fort Custer; Troop A, being dismounted, marched from Custer Station and arrived at post May 8, coming from the Department of Arizona, and took station. The nickname Buffalo SoldierBuffalo Soldier
Buffalo Soldiers originally were members of the U.S. 10th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army, formed on September 21, 1866 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas....
was given to the Black Cavalry by the Native American tribes they fought; the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African-American regiments formed in 1866.
Troops A, B, E, and K, Tenth Cavalry and Companies B and D Twenty-fifth Infantry left Fort Custer and were sent to Fort Harrison
Fort William Henry Harrison
Fort William Henry Harrison is the Montana National Guard training facility.-History:Fort William Henry Harrison was authorized by a Congressional act of 12 May 1892 which was intended to establish, as a part of a greater consolidation program, concentrations of troops in a few larger...
near Helena when the post closed on April 17, 1898 and the buildings were sold and used to build Hardin, Montana
Hardin, Montana
Hardin is a city in and the county seat of Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 3,384 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Hardin is located at ....
. A Daughters of the American Revolution
Daughters of the American Revolution
The Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership organization for women who are descended from a person involved in United States' independence....
marker designates the site, within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation
Crow Indian Reservation
The Crow Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Crow Tribe of Indians of the State of Montana in the United States. The reservation is located in parts of Big Horn, Yellowstone, and Treasure counties in southern Montana...
on an abandoned golf course. All that remains are scattered cellars and ground depressions. It is located just off of I-90 (U.S. Hwy 87) south of Hardin, Montana, where the Hwy crosses the Big Horn River.
A remnant of the fort can be found in the town of Fort Smith, Montana
Fort Smith, Montana
Fort Smith is a census-designated place in Big Horn County, Montana, United States. The population was 122 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Fort Smith is located at ....
as a Bed and breakfast
Bed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
managed by the Crow Indians as well as a replica of the fort at the Bighorn County
Big Horn County, Montana
- National protected areas :* Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area * Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument- Economy :Coal Mining and Agriculture both play major roles in Big Horn County’s economy...
Historical Museum.