JULY 13:

 1609 Sorel Quebec Samuel de Champlain c1570-1635 sets off up the Richelieu River with two other Frenchmen and a group of Algonkians; will discover Lake Champlain and Lake George.

1661 Wisconsin René Ménard 1605-1661 leaves to visit Hurons at Blackwater River, Wisconsin; lost while trying to escape Iroquois.

1687 Scarborough Ontario Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville 1637-1710 burns several Seneca villages on the south shore of Lake Ontario with a canoe flotilla of 3,000 French troops and Indian allies; captures 200 Iroquois; returns across the Lake and camps on the site of Scarborough.

1755 Pittsburgh Pennsylvania British General Edward Braddock dies of his wounds after he and his force of British troops and colonial militia were caught in a French and Indian ambush on the way to attack Fort Duquesne; his aide George Washington assumes command of the army and retreats from the small, circular Fort Necessity in southwestern Pennsylvania, leaving the French in control of the Ohio Valley.

July 13, 1866: After reinforcing, and renaming Fort Reno, in northeastern Wyoming, Colonel Henry Carrington sets out to find a base camp from which he can protect the Bozeman Trail. He arrives at a point near Big Piney Creek with plenty of good grass for his horses. Here he starts building Fort Phil Kearny. The fort is in the middle of one of the best hunting grounds in the region, just south of present day Sheridan, Wyoming.

1991 Yellowknife NWT Gwich'in people of Mackenzie Delta settle land claim, getting 15,000 sq. km of land and $75 million; first regional settlement with northern native groups.
 
 

BACKGROUND:

From http://wyoparks.state.wy.us/kearny.htm
 

History of Fort Phil Kearny
1866-1868

Named for a popular Union general killed in the Civil War, Fort Phil Kearny was established at the forks of Big and Little Piney Creeks by Col. Henry B. Carrington of the 18th U.S. Infantry in July, 1866.The Mission of this fort and two other posts along the Bozeman Trail, Forts Reno and C.F. Smith, was three-fold: to protect travelers on the Trail; to prevent intertribal warfare between Native Americans in the area; and to draw attention of Indian forces opposed to Euro-American westward expansion away from the trans-continental railroad construction corridor to the south.

All three Bozeman Trail forts were stockade fortifications, with Fort Phil Kearny being the largest. Enclosing seventeen acres, the fort wall was eight feet high, 1,496 feet in length, and tapered in width from 600 feet on the north to 240 feet on the south. More than four thousand logs were used to erect the stockade, while over 606,000 feet of lumber and 130,000 bricks were produced in 1867 alone for the extension building construction. During its two year existence, Fort Phil Kearny was the focal point of a violent war between the U.S. Army and the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians opposed to intrusions into the last great hunting grounds on the Northern Plains. Besides the Fetterman and Wagon Box battles, many smaller fights took place in the area.

By 1868, the Union Pacific Railroad had reached a point to the west where travelers could bypass the Bozeman Trail route by going to Montana through Idaho, thus making the Bozeman Trail forts expensive liabilities. In the Treaty of 1868, the United States agreed to close the forts and the trail. Fort Phil Kearny was abandoned by the Army in early August, 1868, and burned soon afterwards by the Cheyenne.
 

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>From http://bchs.kearney.net/BTales_198806.html
 

FORT KEARNY - GUARDIAN OF THE PLAINS by Beverly Murray Kimball

The Great Platte River valley was a focal point in the settling of the West from the days of Coronadq who in 1541 marched northeast from Sante Fe seeking the kingdom of Quivera, to the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.

Thomas Jefferson, who initiated the Louisana Purchase in 1803, could hardly appreciate the vastness or the potential of this land. In 1804, Lewis and Clark began their explorations where the Platte empties into the Missouri River. In 1835, Col. Henry Dodge and 117 men were sent by the government to explore the Platte River valley and attempt to get the Pawnee Indians to accept a reservation. In following years, John C. Fremont, other explorers and cartographers, fur trappers, emigrants, Mormons, missionaries and endless wagon trains crossed this territory on the way West.

Kansas City, Leavenworth, St. Joe, Nebraska City and Council Bluffs-Omaha were the main "jumping-off places" on the Missouri River and the starting points for the Oregon Trail and California Road on the south side of the Platte and the Mormon Trail and Council Bluffs Road on the north side The government, realizing a series of military posts were necessary to support and protect the mass migration, in 1836 passed an act providing for such installations.

It was not until 1846 that the first Fort Kearny was established at Table Creek (near present Nebraska City) by Col. Stephen Watts Kearny. This was the same year as the acquisition of the Oregon Territory, the outbreak of the Mexican War and the mass exodus of the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois. The Table Creek site proved to be too near the beginning of the Oregon Trail and was discontinued. A new site was chosen some 197 miles farther west near the head of the Grand Island. Originally called Fort Childs, this post was later named Fort Kearny.

Lt. Daniel P. Woodbury had chosen this site because it was on a slight elevation two-thirds of a mile from the river - a guarantee against flooding; for the heavy stand of timber on the islands needed in the construction of buildings; for the natural hay bottoms which would provide forage for the cavalry horses; and for its strategic location for keeping the peace between the warring Pawnee and the Sioux. Construction began in 1848 and the fort became functional in 1849.

As in ancient times all roads led to Rome so in the mid-1800's all roads led to Fort Kearny on the Platte which became the starting point of the Great Platte River Road. The stream of wagons in 1848 became a torrent of emigration the following Wm. Though the fort would endure for more than twenty years, the greatest demands were made on this infant outpost during its first year.

Of the 30,000 people who made up the Gold Rush of '49, 25,000 used the Oregon Trail that passed Fort Kearny. Diaries of over 100 of these emigrants have survived and it is mainly from these personal accounts, plus government records, that frontier history is obtained.

In addition to the usual ten miles square, the military reserve was extended downstream for an additional six miles to include more timber. All timber and hay was for the sole use of the garrison, and no camping was allowed on the reservation. The fort was located two miles from the reserves western boundary, eight miles from its eastern boundary, and midway between its north and south boundaries. The nearest and largest camping area was located just beyond the western border near Kearney City, better known as Dobytown, but some camping took place at Valley City, also known as Dogtown, eight miles to the east.

When application for the Fort Kearny post office was made, an extra 'e was inadvertently added and never corrected. Fort Kearny now uses the correct spelling of the name of the man for whom the fort is named, Stephen Watts Kearny. Brig. Gen. Kearny's distinguished military service in the Mexican War led to the honor of having the fort named for him. (See Buffalo Tales, January 1979.)

The fort was laid out on a square with buildings surrounding the four-acre parade ground with a flagpole in its center. The buildings were primarily made of sod with native timber supports and earthen roofs, although there was some use of adobe, burned brick and rammed earth. By the spring of 1850, the principal buildings were a large adobe storehouse with a lead roof; the soldiers' quarters, blacksmith shop, trading store and stable made of sod; and two frame buildings - the hospital and a double two-story officers' quarters. By the end of 1859, a frame guardhouse, a two-story soldiers' barracks and quarters for the post commander were added around the parade ground. Outbuildings consisted of stables, corrals, the sutlees store and a post church. A third officers' barracks was added in 1852 and later more stables, an adjutant's office, laundresses' headquarters, a bakery and a powder magazine.

One journalist's account about soddies revealed, 'Me walls are thick and the interior is lined with coarse canvas. They are comfortable but not impervious to snakes which bore through and very frequently bivouac on the beds' A bullwacker, who agreed that the fort was "not a very prepossessing place," went on to say, 'but after a journey of 300 miles through the wilderness, we welcomed the sight as we also did the sound of the bugle that night and the roll of drums and the shriek of fife the next morning'

Many travelers were disappointed with the drab appearance of the buildings. Others condemned the fort as a desolate spot, a sickly place with 'musquetoes by the bushel" and plagued with storms. Another diary reveals, "One could not stand up for fear of being struck by lightning nor lie down for fear of being drowned" Lightning could produce eerie effects illuminating everything that stood upright. It stunned and killed both animals and men but its biggest threat was causing a stampede The choking road dust became axle-deep mires after rainstorms, often requiring twelve teams of oxen to pull wagons out. Yet other diarists commented, "The fort was an oasis" and "a breath of civilization on the endless prairie".

Travelers on the northern trail sometimes braved crossing the Platte to check on mail, buy provisions or just to say they had visited Fort Kearny. Many, however, felt the crossing of a river described as two miles wide and having ten channels and full of quicksand not worth risking life and limb especially when cholera was prevalent on the south bank.

It must be remembered that the fort was primarily established as a functional military post and with the scarcity of building materials took a lot of ingenuity and effort to build. Being halfway between the Missouri River and Fort Laramie, it was important as a way station, a message center and a supply post for emigrants and for military installations farther west.

Emigrants who found their supplies inadequate could buy such commodities as grain (when available), flour, bacon and pickled pork upon requisition from the commissary. Post gardens were inadequate to supply the vitamin-deficient diet of the garrison but buffalo meat was thought to be a source of vitamins and though professional hunters kept the garrison supplied, travelers were told to hunt their own meat. If wagons needed repair, the fort blacksmith shop could be used, usually on a do-it-yourself basis. Prices at the post sutler's seemed extravagantly high.

The fort hospital administered to the needs of the soldiers and their families and served in part for the benefit of the emigrants. Scurvy was prevalent in the garrison and the deadly cholera came westward with the emigrants. Three years after the fort was abandoned, 198 bodies of soldiers were removed from the Fort Kearny cemetery, located about one-half mile south of the fort, and reinterred in FC)rt McPherson National Cemetery. The most popular place at the fort was the post office where, no doubt, more mail was received to be sent than was ever delivered to anxious travelers who desperately longed for news from home. Moses Sydenham was appointed postmaster in 1858 and served until the fort was abandoned. He later took up residence in Dobytown publishing the first newspaper in the area. Fort Kearny continued to play a primary role on the Great Platte River Road from the days following the'49ers to 1866. Monthly mail between Independence, Missouri, and Salt Lake City began in the summer of 1850. In 1858, mail service went on a weekly basis and with this began the systematic transportation of passengers, first by mail wagon and later by the famous Concord stagecoaches. Stage stations for the Overland Stage were built every ten to twelve miles and became the real reason for the establishment of both Dogtown and Dobytown. In 1862, stages were operated two or three times weekly and by 1865 were on a daily basis. The fort was a stop for the Pony Express in 1860-61. Telegraph communications were so important that when the Pacific Telegraph line was built that office was added to Moses Sydenham's post office.

With the outbreak of the Civil War all regular troops were withdrawn to aid in putting down the Southern rebellion and replaced by volunteer regiments. Heavy ordnance was transferred to Fort Leavenworth leaving the post without heavy armament.

The garrison was always very small in contrast to the hordes of Pawnee and Sioux in the area. With the outbreak of the Indian War of 1864, a stockade was built to better protect both soldiers and civilians; however, the fort never came under Indian attack. The soldiers proved their role as "Guardians of the Plains" making patrols, keeping Indians pacified and providing travelers with supplies, advice and moral support on their 2,000 mile journey. And as the Union Pacific was being built, soldiers provided protection to the railroad workers laying tracks through Indian country. By 1865, the main Indian troubles had moved farther west. In 1866, Fort Kearny became the staging area for Col. Henry Carrington and his 2,000 troops as they headed west to establish new posts along the Bozeman Trail. The departure of this regiment was the last significant military event in Fort Kearny history.

The Union Pacific tracks, laid on the north side of the Platte in 1866, left the post stranded. With the railroad supplying cheaper, safer transportation for passengers, freight and mail, the need for Fort Kearny waned. For a time, the fort was used as a proving ground for several models of the new breech-loading rifles and a testing site for ammunition manufactured by the Ordnance Department and some private firms.

With the completion of the railroad in 1869, Fort Kearny was rendered obsolete By 1870, the garrison had dwindled to fifty men. Early in 1871, on the recommendation of Gen. Wm. T Sherman, the War Department ordered the abandonment of Fort Kearny as a military post. The garrison was transferred to Omaha Barracks and its stores to Fort McPherson.

Some 65,000 acres of military reservation was first occupied by squatters. In 1876, an Act of Congress transferred the land to the U.S. Department of the Interior to be disposed of under the Homestead Act of 1863. William 0. Dungan, a Civil War veteran, filed on and patented the quarter section which included the parade ground.

In 1922, the Fort Kearny Memorial Association was formed by local citizens for 'the perpetuation and preservation of the Old Fort Kearny Site as a patriotic and historic park and the marking of same by suitable monuments', Funds were raised to purchase the forty acres which were then deeded to the State of Nebraska. In 1960, Fort Kearny was officially classified as a state historical park and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission and the Nebraska State Historical Society devised a plan for the development and interpretation of this historic military post. The Memorial Association was replaced in 1960 by the Fort Kearny Preservation, Restoration and Development Board as decreed by Gov. Ralph Brooks. With the combined efforts of state personnel and private citizens, the future of Fort Kearny, the Quivera of the Plains, is assured.
 

SOURCES Fort Kearny on the Platte by D. Ray Wilson, 1980; The Great Platte River Road by Merrill J. Mattes, 1969; and Historical Atlas of Kearney County by J. H. Sears, 1894. Photos courtesy of Fort Kearny Historical Park
 

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From http://www.indianahistory.org/library/manuscripts/collection_guides/carringt .html
 

Henry Beebee Carrington was born in Walingford, Connecticut on March 2, 1824. Educated at Yale, Carrington made his career in the military. On May 14, 1861, he was appointed Colonel of the Eighteenth United States Infantry and on November 29, 1862, Brigadier General. Carrington's duties during the War included organizing and sending 120,000 Indiana volunteers to the front.

After the War, as an officer in the Army of the Cumberland, Carrington opened a wagon route to Montana through Wyoming. There, he built Fort Phil Kearney and fought off attacks by area Sioux. In 1889, he was instrumental in the signing of a treaty with the Flathead Indians of Montana. Carrington was also a scholar as he taught military history at Wabash College for a number of years. In 1890, he took a detailed census of the Six Nations (New York) and the Cherokees and in 1899, he wrote the book Washington the Soldier. Carrington made his home in Hyde Park, Massachusetts where he died on October 26, 1912