Wyoming History: Fort Laramie Was Where The West Was Won — And Lost

FORT LARAMIE — The trigger for the Great Sioux War and the treaty meant to stop it occurred there.

Jim Bridger allegedly told a tall tale there.

Hollywood actors pretended to be there, many times in many films.

For nearly four decades in the 19th Century the buildings in the meadows of Fort Laramie south and west of the North Platte and Laramie rivers provided provisions for emigrants, housed troops and offered a strategic meeting place for whites and natives to resolve their differences and trade.

U.S. National Park Service Guide Robert Cuevas said he would agree with those who call the fort the most important one in Wyoming, and maybe the entire West.

“If you are on the Oregon Trail, the Mormon Trail or California Trail this is going to be your first fort or first civilization you are going to see since Fort Kearny, Nebraska, about 250 miles east of here,” he said. “So, you are going to see it as a lifeline.”

The fort would offer emigrants the ability to purchase supplies, repair wagons, get fresh oxen or horses, and experience a taste of civilization before heading back on the trail. There would be no other place to get resupplied until Fort Bridger nearly 380 miles away.

It would also be the meeting place where two treaties were forged with Native American tribes. For a time, it housed the officer for whom Fort Collins is named.

It would also be the site that launched the fateful ride of that officer’s son, Caspar Collins, to Platte Bridge Station, where he died in battle.

A Trapper’s Legacy

Fort Laramie is named after the river that runs alongside it to the south and east. The river in turn was named for an obscure French trapper who allegedly died at the hands of natives in 1822 while checking on his traps. Other accounts state he just never came back, and no one knows what happened to him.

However, the name of that trapper, Jacques La Ramee, tweaked to Laramie, has become ubiquitous in the state, becoming the title for a river, county, fort, town, and city in the State of Wyoming carrying on his legacy.

“He was an enigma,” Cuevas said. “He just touched history and disappeared.”

Originally, the 80-by-100-foot stockade fort built in 1834 was a headquarters for the region’s fur trade. Built through the partnership of frontiersmen William Sublette and Robert Campbell, it was formally called Fort William, but Cuevas said many referred to it as Fort Laramie.

The American Fur Company purchased it in 1836 and it became a trade center. Fort William was later replaced with a larger fort, Fort John, which lasted from 1841 to 1849.

Sioux and Cheyenne would go to the fort to exchange buffalo robes for other goods such as tobacco, beads, powder, lead and tobacco.

The U.S. Government seeing a need to establish itself in the West as more immigrants were filling the country, purchased the fort in 1849 and renamed it Fort Laramie, sending an initial company of troops to provide security. The fort’s role, its infrastructure and boundaries grew over the decades.

At its height, the fort boasted 110 buildings and housed six to eight companies of men comprised mostly of infantry and some cavalry troops. Cuevas said each company had 60 soldiers.

Treaty of 1851

A location not far from the fort was the site of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 that defined Native American territory and promised $50,000 per year to the tribes for safe passage of emigrants along the overland trails.

The chief selected to represent the Lakota people at the treaty signing was Conquering Bear, whose tragic death three years later removed any semblance of peace.

Cuevas said the fort became the launching ground for an infamous incident involving Conquering Bear on Aug. 19, 1854, when a green U.S. Army Lt. John L. Grattan took 29 troops, or half the post to go arrest a Miniconjou man who allegedly stole a Mormon’s cow.

An account of the incident in the Cheyenne Democratic Leader on April 4, 1882, states that several sources at the time agreed that the cow had “fallen in utter exhaustion in front of a Sioux lodge.” One warrior killed it, and Cuevas said one account reported that they ate it.

When Conquering Bear heard of the incident, he went to the fort to offer animals in trade for the dead creature. The commander demanded the warrior who killed the cow be brought in. The chief refused, saying the warrior was a Miniconjou and not of his tribe or under his authority.

Lt. Grattan and his troops were sent to go arrest the man who killed the cow. Grattan took two artillery pieces with him. The army’s translator was drunk and allegedly insulted the natives. When Conquering Bear again offered to provide animals as recompense, he was refused and was ordered to turn the “offending” native over.

Conquering Bear again refused and is said to have turned away when he was shot by Grattan, according to some accounts. Others point to another soldier. The Sioux warriors present retaliated, and Grattan and his command were killed.

Treaties And Tragedies

Cuevas said he believes the incident was a “significant trigger” for the Great Sioux War that would lead to tit-for-tat raids and retaliations between the U.S. Army and natives.

“The United States Army and the public out East were horrified that an entire command got wiped out. There had to retribution for this. They had to be put back in place,” he said. The fighting continued in 1855 during the Battle of Blue Water in Nebraska, where soldiers killed 86 Native Americans.

In 1858 gold was discovered in Montana and Colorado and the ensuing gold rush violated the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 as whites rushed into recognized native lands. Native Americans went to war to protect their lands, and the U.S. responded by establishing forts on the Bozeman Trail. The territory that became Wyoming was a battleground.

U.S. Army troops committed the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado on Nov. 29, 1864. Caspar Collins was killed in the Battle of Platte Bridge Station. The Battle of Red Buttes in what is now Casper occurred on July 26, 1865. Lakota Chief Red Cloud’s war would include the Fetterman defeat and loss of 81 soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny, which is near present day Sheridan, Wyoming. on Dec. 21, 1866.

Fort Laramie was then chosen as the location for a new treaty in 1868 in which the government promised to abandon the forts along the Bozeman Trail and give the Black Hills to the Sioux, among other provisions.

Famed U.S. General William Tecumseh Sherman was on hand to negotiate and sign the treaty with various Native American chiefs.

“The great treaty of 1868 where General Sherman was here to sign documents with all those people was quite significant,” Cuevas said. “And that significance continues today because it is still a living document. It’s never been unratified. And the Lakota still interact with the U.S. government based on that document.”

Logistical Hub

When the government again broke the treaty, leading to the Battle of Rosebud and Gen. George Armstrong Custer’s defeat, Fort Laramie again proved to be a key location for logistics supporting Gen. George Crook’s command that had marched out of the Fort Fetterman near Douglas.

A bridge across the North Platte River still stands here supplies and men were sent across.

In 1889, Fort Laramie was ordered closed, and the buildings were auctioned off to the public.

The U.S. Park Service took the site over in 1938. Among the restored buildings is the oldest building in Wyoming referred to as “Old Bedlam,” which was built in 1849. It was so-named because it held the single officer’s quarters, which could be noisy.

The building also served as the post headquarters, and it housed the commander’s apartment. Lt. Col. William Collins was in charge in 1863 - 1864. His son, Caspar, walked its boards during periods at the fort. In 1865, Caspar Collins rode from there to the Platte Bridge Station on his way to his assigned role at Sweetwater Station. While at Platte Bridge Station he was ordered to lead an escort for a wagon train, during which he was fatally attacked by native warriors.

Among the many names associated with Fort Laramie and its treaties are Red Cloud, American Horse, Iron Shell, Dull Knife and Big Head.

In addition to Generals Sherman and Crook, Kit Carson, John Fremont, Henry Stanley, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, and many other famous individuals passed through Fort Laramie.

The 2nd U.S. Cavalry, the 4th U.S. Infantry, 7th U.S. Infantry, and 9th U.S. Infantry, as well as the black unit, the Buffalo Soldiers, also spent time there.

Jim’s Tale

Famous mountain man, explorer, scout and Wyoming legend Jim Bridger was a familiar face within its realm, as well.

An 1882 article in the Cheyenne Democratic Leader on the history of the fort included a tall tale from Bridger, who was said to have been hired by Mormons to guide them to Utah.

While at Fort Laramie, a Mormon allegedly inquired about Bridger’s tenure out West.

“One of them said, Mr. Bridger, I suppose you have been in this place a long time,” the newspaper reported. Bridger removed a big wad of tobacco from his mouth and pointed to Laramie Peak, the newspaper said.

“‘D’ye see that high mountain over there,’ said Jim, looking like a saint. ‘When I first came here that mountain was a hole in the ground.’”

Hollywood may never have visited Fort Laramie, but put out movies such as “White Feather” and “The Revolt at Fort Laramie.” A radio show called “Fort Laramie” used it as a setting.

The Fort Laramie grounds are open from sunrise to sunset all year long.

Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.