Fort Zarah (Barton County, northeast of Great Bend, Kansas)

Barton County, northeast of Great Bend · Kansas · Indian Wars

Quick BriefFort Zarah operated in Barton County, Kansas, northeast of Great Bend, from 1864 to 1869. Established by General Samuel R. Curtis and named for his son, Major H. Zarah Curtis, who was killed in the Baxter Springs massacre in 1863. A second, more substantial fort was built in 1866 about half a mile upriver.

History & Significance

Camp Dunlap was established in July 1864 at the crossing of the Santa Fe Trail and Walnut Creek, two miles east of present-day Great Bend, responding to frequent attacks from indigenous tribes. Initially a series of tents and dugouts near the Rath Ranch trading post, work immediately began on a more permanent facility, which was renamed Fort Zarah.

In 1866 a second Fort Zarah, built of sandstone, replaced the original structure about half a mile upstream. The second fort featured Dakota sandstone walls about 16 inches thick with smooth faces, and hexagonal two-story towers at opposing corners equipped with rifle ports.

In 1866, councils were held with Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Apache nations to discuss amendments to the Treaty of the Little Wichita, though only two tribes signed. On October 2, 1868, the fort successfully repelled an attack by 100 Kiowas.

In October 1869, the fort was dismantled and valuable materials were removed to Fort Harker. A civilian town called Zarah developed around the fort, featuring at its peak a hotel, two saloons, blacksmith shop, livery stable, general store, post office, and homes, with several thousand Texas cattle wintered there.