Fort Ransom (Ransom County, North Dakota)

Ransom County · North Dakota · Indian Wars

History & Significance

Fort Ransom (1867–72) was one of several small military outposts established by General Alfred H. Terry to place troops in strategic locations along frontier transportation routes as a defensive measure against Indian attack. Named for distinguished Civil War veteran Major General Thomas E.G. Ransom, the post was constructed of oak logs from the Sheyenne River Valley, with buildings arranged within earthen breastworks measuring 350 by 400 feet.

Buildings provided quarters for 200 enlisted men and 7 officers. The fort's location proved ideal, offering unobstructed prairie views, a natural spring for water, abundant grasses for livestock, and timber from the Sheyenne River.

Life was severe: soldiers fought bitterly cold winters and summer mosquitoes; two mail carriers froze to death on the trail, and drinking water had to be carried from a spring a third of a mile away. When the Northern Pacific Railroad reached Jamestown in 1872, the army determined that protecting railroad crews at the James River was a higher priority than protecting the overland route.

The post was dismantled in 1872, and its materials were used to build Fort Seward at Jamestown. On July 14, 1880, the military reservation was turned over to the Department of the Interior for survey and sale to homesteaders.

Map

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Sources

• https://www.history.nd.gov/historicsites/ransom/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Ransom,_North_Dakota
• https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=175426
• https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=176138
• https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr4/frontier-era-north-dakota/part-5-frontier-army/section-6-army-forts-1867-1870
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ransom_County,_North_Dakota

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