Fort Morgan, Colorado: April 2011

Friday, April 1, 2011

The Fort

The building of Fort Morgan began in March, 1865 on the orders of Colonel Thomas Moonlight. He wrote to Colonel Samuel Browne, then commanding the 1st Colorado Mounted Militia:

Herewith inclosed [sic] please find plans* for the erections of fortifications quarters &c. at Junction, American Ranch & Spring Hill. I understand that Maj. Talbot, has the one for Valley Station. You will cause these works to be erected at once, for this purpose you will cause, every man not on other active duty to be employed in this manner. If you deem it necessary to detail an Officer who has experience in Engineering, do so, and keep him going from point to point, reporting to you the progress. A spirit of emulation should be encouraged among the Companies in this important work, the points indicated by Maj. Bennett will be strictly observed. This may require the changing of Station of Companies. Report weekly by letter the progress of work.

Historic Overview

From my youth I brought with me only a vague impression of the history of the small town in which I was raised. Fort Morgan, Colorado, built on the site of a short-lived military fort in the heart of the great American desert; a fort that had never been attacked, never seen a battle. On little more than a whim I went in search of the fort’s operational dates (1864-1868), expecting this information would come readily to hand and that would end my curiosity - the fort once again fading into the midst of vague memory. To my surprise, I instead found a door opening to the history of the west.

The history of Fort Morgan will never rival that of Denver or glisten with the same gold dust of the mountain mining towns, but this little town on the plains of Colorado was central to the story of the Romantic west; it's story connecting with the major events of the age. Everyone has a history and every place is central to a story. What follows is the story from the land - of the land - on which Fort Morgan would rise.