Red Cloud’s people had traded at the fort for many years and were not happy about not being allowed to continue that practice. Ada Vodes, an officer’s wife stationed at Fort Laramie, described the scene on March 25, 1869: ‘At 8 o’clock, in came Red Cloud with a thousand Indians — young bold and dashing warriors — with their squaws and papooses. They came in two abreast, singing at the top of their lungs, and as they drew near the post, they formed into a line of battle around one side of the garrison…two companies of infantry were under arms for two or three hours — the artillery was brought to bear…everything had a warlike appearance for hours….Colonel Dye ordered them off, as they had no permission to come in such large numbers. One of the big chiefs made a singular noise, and they all started for their ponies…as they rode off, [the Indians] scattered off in all directions over bluffs and plains. It was a grand sight.’

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Eventually, the Lakotas relocated to the Red Cloud and Spotted Tail agencies. Then, despite Indian objections, the military established posts at these agencies in 1874.

That year the U.S. government also violated the 1868 treaty by sending Lt. Col. George A. Custer to check out rumors of gold in the Black Hills. In a dispatch Custer wrote, ‘I have on my table forty or fifty small particles of gold in size averaging a small pin head, and most of it obtained from one pan.’ The latest gold rush was on. White miners illegally swarmed all over the reservation, seeking the precious metal. At first, soldiers tried to arrest miners and send them to Fort Laramie for incarceration. Next, the government sought to buy the Black Hills from the Lakotas. By the time that option failed, the military could not contain the whites.

Expecting problems from Sitting Bull’s band, which had refused to stay on the reservation, the Army made a pre-emptive strike in 1876. Under the command of Brig. Gen. George Crook, troops from Fort Laramie participated in the campaign on the Crazy Horse Fork of the Powder River and the Battle of the Rosebud. In 1877, the Lakota leaders gave up hunting rights in Montana and Wyoming and surrendered the gold-rich Black Hills. The need for frontier forts had all but disappeared in the West, but troops remained stationed at Fort Laramie for another 13 years or so. The railroad moved in, but it bypassed Fort Laramie, choosing to make Cheyenne its base. Cattle ranchers and settlers replaced emigrants ‘just passing through.’ With them came a need for a different sort of law and order in the West.

The Army abandoned Fort Laramie in 1890. The government auctioned off the buildings and land to local citizens. More than 50 structures were moved elsewhere, demolished or dismantled. The remaining 20 buildings fell into disrepair until 1937, when Wyoming purchased the site. A year later, ownership was transferred to the National Park Service, and Fort Laramie became a National Historic Monument. Congress redesignated it a National Historic Site in 1960. In 1999, Fort Laramie commemorated its 150th anniversary as a military post.

This article was written by Sierra Adare and originally appeared in the December 1999 issue of Wild West.

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