Fort C. F. Smith

:"For the installation which served as part of the defense of Washington, D.C. during the American Civil War, please see Fort C.F. Smith (Arlington, Virginia)."

Fort C. F. Smith was a military post established the Powder River country by the United States Army in Montana Territory on August 12, 1866, during Red Cloud's War. Established by order of Col. Henry B. Carrington, it was one of three forts (along with Fort Phil Kearny and Fort Reno) that was intended to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail, which connected the Montana gold fields with the Overland Trail at Fort Laramie.

Originally named Fort Ransom, the post was renamed in commemoration of Gen. Charles Ferguson Smith. It included a 125-foot square stockade made of adobe and wood for protection, with bastions for concentrated defense. Two companies of the 18th Infantry Regiment (approximately 90-100 officers and men) were stationed at Fort Smith during 1866, and during 1867 the garrison consisted of 400 men of the 27th Infantry.

A large Sioux party unsuccessfully attacked haycutters guarded by 20 soldiers near the Fort in the Hayfield Fight in 1867. The Army abandoned Fort C.F. Smith as a condition of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868.

The site of the is located on what is today the Crow Indian Reservation.

References

* Frazer, Robert W. "Forts of the West". Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965.
* The Bozeman Trail: Historical Accounts of the Blazing of the Overland Routes, Volume II, by Grace Raymond Hebard, et al. digitized at http://books.google.com/books?id=Jc8BAAAAMAAJ - participant report.

Further reading

Barnes, Jeff. "Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars". Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.