Fort Buford (Williams County, near Williston, North Dakota)
Williams County, near Williston · North Dakota · Indian Wars
History & Significance
On June 15, 1866, soldiers under the command of brevet Lieutenant Colonel William G. Rankin commenced building a new fort in Dakota Territory, named after Major General John Buford, hero of Gettysburg. The fort came under immediate attack: the second night after arrival, a band of Hunkpapa Lakota led by Sitting Bull attacked the camp, wounding one soldier, and the following day they attacked the company's beef cattle herd, with two Lakota killed in the repulse.
The Sioux attacked a sawmill work party on December 21, 1866, with raids continuing throughout the winter, all led by Sitting Bull according to Post Surgeon James P. Kimball. By 1867–1868, the fort was expanded from its original 360-foot square stockade to a larger 540 x 1,080 feet installation with five companies.
Colonel William B. Hazen's original Commanding Officer's Quarters building was constructed in 1871–1872. Fort Buford became a key element in the supply route for military campaigns of 1876–1877 in Montana Territory.
On July 20, 1881, Sitting Bull surrendered his Winchester .44 caliber carbine to Major D.H. Brotherton, Fort Buford's commander, with thirty-five families (187 people) traveling to the fort with him. Due to regional settlement and deterioration, Fort Buford was decommissioned on October 1, 1895, and in 1896 remaining structures were sold at auction.
Key Facts
Map
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🧳 Visiting
What you’ll see when you visit:
- Original Commanding Officer's Quarters and reconstructed adobe barracks from 1866
- Site of Sitting Bull's 1881 surrender, pivotal moment in Northern Plains history
- Confluence of Missouri and Yellowstone rivers with scenic Dakota landscape
- Museum exhibits on Indian Wars era military operations and frontier conflict
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Buford
- https://history.nd.gov/historicsites/buford/index.html
- https://history.nd.gov/historicsites/buford/bufordhistory.html
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