In the early 19^th century, various fur trapping companies set up posts along the front range of the Rocky Mountains in what is now Colorado: Bent and St. Vrain (Fort Lookout), Sublette and Vasquez, Fort Jackson, and Fort Lupton. These “forts” were built in the 1830s within 10 miles of the South Platte River” forming a chain connecting the fur traders.

Trappers based at these forts and working for larger companies went out into the wilderness to trap beaver and buffalo or to trade with the various native tribes living in the area including the Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and occasionally the Crows, Pawnees, Shoshones and Blackfeet. Many of the pelts collected by the trappers, either through trapping or trade, would be collected or sent back east for sale.

It is difficult to track the movements of the trappers as there is little written evidence of their travels, but a few were known to have traveled along the South Platte River and likely through the Fort Morgan area.

Gold Seekers through Fort Morgan: Journals from 1859

The earliest travelers set off for the Rocky Mountains even before it was certain there was gold. Confirmation wouldn't come late in the summer of 1858; anyone setting off after that point would face the cold winter of the plains and arrive when little gold could be prospected. So, most, left for the gold fields as soon as possible the following spring. 

Some of the travelers reported meeting Indians, there were Cheyenne, Arapahoe, and Sioux in the area at the time, but in 1859, the whites were more a curiosity than a threat. Edward Dunsha Steele reported passing “a Camp of Shians [Cheyennes] on Bever [Beaver] Creek” on July 23^rd and after remaining in camp on the 24^th “it being Sunday – were visited by Shian [sic] Indians – also by a distinguished Sioux called Red Plume”. 

Ed Chase: Gambling King at Fort Morgan

Edward Chase.

Edward Chase, Denver’s gambling king had a short history with the military and Junction Station as Fort Morgan was at the time and the Sand Creek Massacre. In August 1864, he volunteered with Company F of the 3^rd Colorado Cavalry. The men in the militia were called “100 day’s men” because their enlistment in the militia lasted for 100 days. 

Execution of Foster & Stone - 13th Missouri Cavalry

During the 1860s when Fort Wardwell [Fort Morgan] was the most active at fighting the allied tribes, the fort earned some unwelcome notoriety. On January 8, 1866, two soldiers from the 13^th Missouri Cavalry stationed at Camp Wardwell were arrested for the murders of Isaac H. Augustus and F. H. Sluman, freighters working for Carney & Stevens out of Leavenworth, Kansas.

Privates Frank Foster and Henry Stone of Company E, 13^th Missouri Cavalry were arrested for the murders and brought to Denver for trial. The soldiers were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The details of the murders were reported as part of Franklin Foster’s confession reported in the newspaper on May 17^th:

Fort Morgan Burns: Hostilities Continue

On May 18, 1868, the flag was lowered for the last time at Fort Morgan and the cannon fired a last salute. Captain Powell and the 4th U. S. Infantry marched to Fort Laramie which would become the unit's home base. The fort lay amongst buffalo and buffalo grass and waited; the sod fort melting back into the plains.

Just months after Fort Morgan was abandoned, Indians attacked Brush’s ranch, killing William Brush, his cousin Jared Conroy and a hired man Halstead Olson Dunning and stampeding stock. With the fort deserted, the ranchers were on their own just as they had been in the early 1860s at the start of the Indian hostilities in the area. 

Did the military leave too soon? 

Artist Thomas Worthington Whittredge at Fort Morgan

In 1866, General John Pope, commander of the Military Division of the Missouri which then included the Colorado Territory, set off on a tour of the Plains, the Rocky Mountains and New Mexico. During his trip he would stay at Fort Wardwell on June 22nd through the 24th. The expedition was recorded by Colonel James Meline in his book Two Thousand Miles on Horseback. Meline wrote eloquently about the fort (see post "In View of the Mountains").

Also accompanying General Pope on this expedition was the landscape painter Thomas Worthington Whittredge. He was as enthralled as Meline with the plains and a number of his landscapes are set along the Platte River. 

Fort Morgan and Little Bighorn

Fort Morgan featured little in the Indian Wars of the 1860s and 1870s. The purpose of the garrison was to provide protection for emigrants to and from the gold fields of Colorado. The fort was never attacked, as such though there were a number of skirmishes on the prairies. The fort was abandoned in 1868, with the base of operations moving to Fort Laramie, Wyoming so little seems to link the fort with one of the major battles of the age – Little Bighorn. The link is limited, but it is there.

Desertions from Fort Morgan

At times, desertion was a major problem in the military. By no means a daily occurrence, monthly reports note how many soldiers – generally enlisted men – deserted during the month.

Notes were also made of soldiers captured and placed under arrest, sometimes court martialed, sometimes placed back into service. As can be seen on the following chart, desertions were relatively rare with occasional spikes (one of which, that of January, 1867, was detailed in the book In View of the Mountains).

Troops at the Fort

Federal troops arrived in Fort Morgan (or Post of Junction as it was first called) in May, 1865 following a winter of attacks by the allied tribes (Arapahoe, Cheyenne, and Sioux). The Civil War was winding down and soldiers became available to man the post.

The 1st Colorado Cavalry was joined at the post by companies of the 3rd, 5th and 6th U.S. Volunteer Infantry, consisting of captured Confederate soldiers who volunteered for duty in the west in preference to imprisonment, and a company of the 1st Michigan Cavalry. More troops would arrive by the end of the year including the 13th Missouri Cavalry and the 21st New York Cavalry and for a time, nearly 400 men (along with more than 200 horses and 38 civilian employees) were stationed at the small fort.

Early Views of the Mountains

Early travelers through the Fort Morgan area write of long miles of prairie, huge horse-flies, and buffalo – thousands and thousands of buffalo. Sometimes these travelers encountered Indians and sometimes they did not, but nearly all rejoiced at their first view of the mountains which occurred around the Fort Morgan area.