Camp Devin (Carter County, near Alzada, Montana)
Carter County, near Alzada · Montana · Indian Wars
History & Significance
Lieutenant Colonel Luther P. Bradley and 520 men of the 9th United States Infantry left Fort Laramie following the Cheyenne-Deadwood Stage route to the Black Hills to construct a telegraph line between Deadwood and Fort Keogh, thus tying together Montana, Wyoming, and Dakota Territories. Colonel and Brevet Major General Thomas C. Devin, the late commander of the 3rd U.S. Cavalry, who had died on April 4, 1878, was honored by naming the camp after him.
Ulysses S. Grant stated that Devin was one of the best Cavalry officers in the union service. The completed telegraph line resulted in improved communications between forts and white settlements, opening the way for domestication of southeast Montana. Though short-lived, the camp's engineering mission succeeded in connecting key military and civilian infrastructure across three territories during a critical period of frontier consolidation following the Great Sioux War.
Key Facts
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Devin
- https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=42556
- https://theclio.com/entry/75305
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alzada,_Montana
- https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6vt3t38
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Devin