Fort Ellsworth (Ellsworth County, Kansas)
Ellsworth County · Kansas · Civil War
History & Significance
In 1864 General Samuel Curtis established a military camp at the Fort Riley–Fort Larned Road crossing of the Smoky Hill River in Ellsworth County, Kansas. The camp occupied a site where a stage station and trading ranch operated; Daniel Page and Joseph Lehman had established the hunting camp and trading ranch in 1860, and in 1862 the ranch became a station for the Kansas Stage Company.
In August 1864, soldiers from the 7th Iowa Cavalry under the command of 2nd Lieutenant Allen Ellsworth established the fort four miles southeast of the site that eventually became Ellsworth, Kansas. The fort consisted of a loosely organized collection of temporary structures not surrounded by any stockade, with dugouts and log huts serving as soldier quarters, along with a blockhouse, commissary, officers' mess, and makeshift shelter for horses, constructed largely from logs, sod, and brush.
On August 7, 1864, Indians drove off and captured most of the post's horses and the mules belonging to the stage company servicing the area. In 1865, the fort acquired a stage station for the Butterfield Overland Despatch Stage Line traveling along the Smoky Hill Trail between Atchison and Denver; stagecoaches were often in danger from Indians, who waylaid them and killed several drivers, and soldiers spent much time escorting them through the dangerous area. On November 11, 1866, the post was renamed Fort Harker in honor of General Charles Garrison Harker who had died on June 27, 1864, from wounds received at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and the fort was subsequently moved about one mile to the northeast with the old fort's buildings torn down in 1867.
Key Facts
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ellsworth_(Kansas)
- https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/fort-ellsworth/17158
- https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-fortharker/
- https://www.kansashistory.gov/kansapedia/ellsworth-county-kansas/15282
- https://fhsuguides.fhsu.edu/kansasheritage/ellsworthcounty
- https://legendsofkansas.com/ellsworth-county-kansas/