FORT KEARNY IN THE TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF ITS EXISTENCE BECAME THE SYMBOL OF WESTWARD EXPANSION AND DEVELOPMENT. FORT KEARNY WAS THE FIRST FORT BUILT TO PROTECT TRAVELERS ON THE OREGON TRAIL. IT WAS THE HEADQUARTERS OF MILITARY AND CIVIL GOVERNMENT, AN IMPORTANT STAGE STATION, A HOME STATION OF THE PONY EXPRESS, AN OUTFITTING DEPOT FOR NUMEROUS INDIAN CAMPAIGNS, THE HOME OF THE PAWNEE SCOUTS. ITS LAST IMPORTANT FUNCTION WAS PROVIDING PROTECTION FOR THE BUILDERS OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD.

THE GREAT HUMAN MIGRATION ON THE OVERLAND TRAILS SWELLED TO SUCH PROPORTION BY THE 1840S, THAT A CHAIN OF FORTS ALONG THE ROUTE WAS RECOMMENDED BY THE WAR DEPARTMENT. THE GOVERNMENT URGED THE ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY THAT THE PLATTE RIVER AND THE OREGON TRAIL CROSSED UNDER THE NAME OF NEBRASKA TERRITORY. IN 1845, THE FIRST ACTION TAKEN TO CARRY OUT THESE RECOMMENDATIONS WAS THE EXPEDITION OF COLONEL STEPHEN WATTS KEARNY AND THE FIRST DRAGOONS. UP THE PLATTE RIVER TO FORT LARAMIE AND ON TO SOUTH PASS. COLONEL KEARNY REPORTED 2,325 PERSONS IN 460 WAGONS WITH 1100 HEAD OF LIVESTOCK HAD PASSED OVER THE TRAIL THAT YEAR. WITHIN A SHORT TIME, TWO MILITARY POSTS WERE IN WHAT IS NOW THE STATE OF NEBRASKA AND WOULD BE NAMED FORT KEARNY. THE FIRST WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1846 ON THE MISSOURI RIVER AT THE PRESENT SITE OF NEBRASKA CITY. THE SECOND WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1848 AT THIS SITE ON THE SOUTH BANK OF THE PLATTE RIVER.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT, REALIZING THAT THE MISSOURI RIVER SITE WAS NOT PROPERLY CHOSEN CONCERNING THE ROUTE TAKEN BY THE WESTERN MIGRATION, SENT LIEUTENANT DANIEL P. WOODBURY AND PARTY TO THIS AREA IN THE FALL OF 1847 TO EXPLORE FOR A MORE SUITABLE SITE. FOR SEVERAL YEARS THE SANTA FE TRAIL HAD BEEN THE MAIN ARTERY OF TRAVEL FOR TRADERS GOING TO MEXICO, AND IT WAS ONLY NATURAL THAT ANY WESTWARD MIGRATION WOULD FOLLOW AS FAR AS POSSIBLE AN ALREADY DEFINED ROAD OR TRAIL. HOME SEEKERS LURED BY FREE LAND IN OREGON TERRITORY FOLLOWED THE SANTA FE TRAIL A SHORT DISTANCE WEST OF INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI THEN TURNED NORTHWEST TO FOLLOW THE ROUTE ESTABLISHED BY THE MOUNTAIN MEN, TRAPPERS AND TRADERS YEARS BEFORE. IN THE SPRING OF 1848, TROOPS ARRIVED TO START CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW POST (WHICH WAS CALLED FORT CHILDS UNTIL GENERAL ORDER NO. 66 DIRECTED IT BE KNOWN AS FORT KEARNY). AN ADOBE STOREHOUSE WAS THE FIRST STRUCTURE ERECTED. THE LAND UPON WHICH THE POST IS LOCATED ORIGINALLY BELONGED TO THE PAWNEE, AND HAD BEEN PARTIALLY CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1833. THE PAWNEE RESERVED THEIR HUNTING RIGHTS.

GOLD WAS DISCOVERED IN 1848 AT THE MILL NEAR SUTTER'S FORT, CALIFORNIA, AND BY 1849 THE GREATEST GOLD RUSH OF ALL TIME WAS UNDERWAY. HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT ESTIMATED SOME 42,000 IMMIGRANTS PASSED OVER THE PLATTE ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA IN 1849. BY JUNE 1, 1849, 4,400 WAGONS AVERAGING 4 MEN AND 10 ANIMALS TO A WAGON HAD PASSED FORT KEARNY ACCORDING TO AN ACTUAL COUNT MADE AT THE FORT. THE FORT WAS A MONITORING STATION AS FAR AS IMMIGRANTS WERE CONCERNED. THE COMMANDING OFFICER WAS AUTHORIZED BY LAW TO ISSUE OR SELL SUPPLIES FROM THE GOVERNMENT WAREHOUSE UPON REQUISITION TO SUCH PERSONS AS HE DEEMED WORTHY OF AIDE.

ON OCTOBER 29, 1849, PRIVATE MARTIN, THE OLDEST OF THE FIRST DRAGOONS, WAS KILLED IN A SKIRMISH WITH NATIVE AMERICANS JUST 8 MILES WEST OF HERE. SEVERAL OTHER DRAGOONS WERE WOUNDED IN THIS BATTLE NEAR FORT KEARNY. UNREST AMONG THE SIOUX BECAME NOTICEABLE DURING THE SUMMER OF 1854. GUARDS WERE FURNISHED FOR IMMIGRANT TRAINS. WAGON TRAINS COULD NOT LEAVE THE POST UNTIL THEY WERE OF SUFFICIENT SIZE TO PROTECT THEMSELVES IF DANGER FROM ATTACK WAS IMMINENT. FORT KEARNY WAS NEVER UNDER ATTACK ALTHOUGH TROOPS FROM THE POST WERE ENGAGED IN NUMEROUS SKIRMISHES.

FORT KEARNY WAS ENLARGED DURING THE 1850S. BUILDINGS WERE OF ADOBE, SOD, LOG, AND FRAME. BY 1858, RUSSELL, MAJORS AND WADELL, THE GREAT FREIGHTING FIRM, HAD MOVED THEIR OPERATION TO NEBRASKA CITY. THE COMPANY OWNED 6,250 WAGONS CAPABLE OF HAULING LOADS FROM 2 TO 3 TONS EACH. TO MOVE THIS VAST CARAVAN OF WAGONS, THE FIRM USED A DROVE OF 75,000 OXEN. THE FAMED PONY EXPRESS HAD A STATION HERE UNTIL COMPLETION OF THE MISSOURI AND WESTERN TELEGRAPH LINE WHEN THE CLATTER OF THE KEY REPLACED THE CLATTER OF HOOVES. BY 1860, THE NEBRASKA CITY-FORT KEARNY ROAD WAS THE PRINCIPAL HIGHWAY TO THE WEST. NEBRASKA CITY BECAME AN IMPORTANT RIVER TERMINAL, AND THOUSANDS OF IMMIGRANTS SOON FOUND IT TO THEIR ADVANTAGE AS MANY MILES WERE ELIMINATED FROM THE LONG ROAD WEST. THE NUMEROUS ROADS HAD THE APPEARANCE OF A GREAT FUNNEL: FUNNELING INTO FORT KEARNY: AND FROM HERE WEST LAY ONE GREAT ROADWAY UP THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE PLATTE RIVER.

THE CIVIL WAR BROUGHT ABOUT THE REMOVAL OF THE REGULAR ARMY TROOPS, AND THE FORT WAS GARRISONED BY VOLUNTEER UNITS FROM IOWA AND NEBRASKA. IT WAS IN THE SUMMER OF 1864 THAT THE NATIVE AMERICANS OFFERED THEIR FIERCEST RESISTANCE TO WHITE OCCUPATION OF NEBRASKA. ON AUGUST 7, 1864, THEY LAUNCHED A CONCERTED ATTACK UPON STAGE COACHES AND IMMIGRANT TRAINS ALONG THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN STRETCHES OF THE PLATTE ROUTE. THAT DAY AND THE NEXT NATIVE AMERICANS STRUCK EVERY STATION AND RANCH BETWEEN JULESBURG AND FORT KEARNY. THE ATTACK SPREAD TO THE LITTLE BLUE AND THE REPUBLICAN. HERE THERE WAS NO TELEGRAPH TO WARN SETTLERS, AND LOSS OF LIFE WAS CONSIDERABLY GREATER. THE ENTIRE NEBRASKA FRONTIER WAS THROWN INTO A STATE OF PANIC, AND ALMOST ALL OF THE SETTLERS IN THE PLATTE AND LITTLE BLUE RIVER VALLEYS FLED EASTWARD. STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHT WAGONS CEASED OPERATIONS ALTOGETHER. THIS TELEGRAM RECEIVED AT FORT KEARNY POINTS OUT THE DESPERATION OF THE TIME. IT READS, "SEND COMPANY OF MEN AS QUICK AS GOD'CAN SEND THEM. 100 INDIANS IN SITE AND FIRING ON OX TRAIN". THE MESSAGE FROM PLUM CREEK STATION JUST 36 MILES WEST WAS TOO LATE. AN ENTIRE WAGON TRAIN WAS WIPED OUT THAT DAY.

A FEW DAYS LATER AFTER CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST STOCKADE FORTIFICATION AT FORT KEARNY, A GENERAL ORDER NO. 26 DIRECTS FOR CIVILIAN AND ARMY LIVESTOCK TO BE HERDED DURING THE DAY AND THAT DURING THE NIGHT, THE ANIMALS WILL BE DRIVEN WITHIN THE STOCKADE. CONTRARY TO THE POPULAR IDEA FURTHERED BY FICTION WRITERS AND MOVIE PRODUCERS, THE AVERAGE WESTERN FORT WAS NOT SURROUNDED BY PALISADES WITH BLOCK HOUSES AT EACH CORNER. MOST OF THE FORTS WERE CLUSTERS OF RUDE HUTS, LOG, SOD, OR ADOBE, AND WERE ESTABLISHED SEMI-PERMANENTLY. IN MANY CASES, FORTIFICATIONS WERE INCIDENTAL.

IN 1864, 100 PAWNEE BRAVES WERE RECRUITED AT THE PAWNEE RESERVATION TO FIGHT THEIR OLD ENEMY, THE SIOUX. THESE WARRIORS BECAME A LEGEND UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF FRANK AND LUTHER NORTH AND BUFFALO BILL CODY. COLONEL ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON WHO COMMANDED THE FIRST NEBRASKA REGIMENT IN THE CIVIL WAS WAS REQUESTED BY TERRITORIAL GOVERNOR SAUNDERS TO ESTABLISH CONTROL OVER THE TRAIL FROM THE MISSOURI TO JULESBURG. COLONEL LIVINGSTON WITH HEADQUARTERS AT FORT KEARNY DIRECTED THE CONSTRUCTION OF A LINE OF SMALL MILITARY POSTS ACROSS NEBRASKA TO COLORADO, AND AS A MILITARY TACTIC, HE SET FIRE TO THE PRAIRIE FROM COLORADO TO 20 MILES SOUTHEAST OF FORT KEARNY, THUS RENDERING THE PLAINS UNTENABLE TO THE NATIVE AMERICANS. TROOP BUILDUP AT THIS TIME INCLUDED A COLORFUL CONTINGENT. FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR, CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS AND DESERTERS; THESE MEN WERE KNOWN AS THE "GALVANIZED" OR WHITE-WASHED YANKEES. WITH THE CIVIL WAR OVER, OTHER TROOPS POURED ONTO THE WESTERN PLAINS, AND THE INDIAN WARS SHIFTED FURTHER WEST AND NORTH. ACTIVITY AT FORT KEARNY LESSENED.

 IN 1866, THE UNION PACIFIC RAILROAD PUSHED UP THE PLATTE VALLEY, AND WITH THE COMING OF THE RAILROAD, THE COUNTRY BECAME SETTLED, AND THE NEED FOR THE FORT WAS GONE. IN 1871, IT WAS DISCONTINUED AS A MILITARY POST. THE STORES AND SUPPLIES WERE TRANSFERRED TO FORT MCPHERSON, SOME 80 MILES WEST, AND SOON THE BUILDINGS WERE TORN DOWN. THE MATERIALS MOVED TO NORTH PLATTE BARRACKS AND FORT SIDNEY. THE LAND WAS LATER OPENED TO HOMESTEADING AND CAME INTO THE POSSESSION OF MR. WILLIAM O. DUNGAN. THE ORIGINAL RESERVATION WAS A 10 MILE SQUARE AREA. FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS THE SITE WAS A MEETING PLACE ON HOLIDAYS FOR MOST OF THE CIVIL WAR VETERANS WHO HAD SETTLED IN THE VICINITY. THE AFFECTION FOR THE OLD POST BY MR. DUNGAN CAUSED HIM TO PREVENT EXTENSIVE CULTIVATION WHICH WOULD HAVE DESTROYED THE REMAINING FEATURES OF THE FORT.

40 ACRES OF LAND WERE PURCHASED BY THE FORT KEARNY MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION IN 1928 AND 1929 WITH MONEY RAISED BY THE SALE OF CERTIFICATES. TITLE TO THE TRACT WAS TENDERED TO THE STATE OF NEBRASKA IN MARCH, 1929 AND LATER THAT YEAR GOVERNOR ARTHUR J. WEAVERS VISITED THE PARK AND ACCEPTED IT AS A STATE HISTORICAL AND SCENIC PARK AND BIRD RESERVE. LACK OF FUNDS PREVENTED FURTHER DEVELOPMENT UNTIL PASSAGE OF A NEW LAW BY THE 1959 LEGISLATURE. IN 1960, THE GAME AND PARKS COMMISSION CONTRACTED WITH THE NEBRASKA STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOR ARCHEOLOGICAL RESEARCH TO LOCATE THE IMPORTANT FEATURES OF THE FORT. BUILDING SITES WERE LOCATED, THEIR SIZES AND SHAPES DETERMINED AND ARTIFACTS SALVAGED. IN 1962, A REPLICA STOCKADE WAS CONSTRUCTED AND AFTER FURTHER ARCHEOLOGY IN 1964 A REPLICA OF A SOD BLACKSMITH-CARPENTER SHOP BUILT. THIS BUILDING HOUSES TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT OF THE PERIOD. IN 1975 THE POWDER MAGAZINE WAS RECONSTRUCTED IN THE NORTHWEST CORNER OF THE GROUNDS. A WALK ON THE GROUNDS WILL GIVE YOU A LOOK BACK INTO AN IMPORTANT TIME IN OUR NATION'S HISTORY.

Wilson, D. Ray. Fort Kearny on the Platte. Crossroads Communication.