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.

The 1st Colorado Mounted Militia was mustered out of service shortly after building commenced, but the Galvanized Yankees who were stationed at the fort continued the building. R. O. Woodward, a sergeant major in the 13th Missouri Cavalry described his first impressions of Camp Wardwell, already developing into a fort upon his arrival in April 1865 “…When we got there [Camp Wardwell] we found a lot of adobe buildings nicely plastered inside with mud mixed near the river (Platte). They just used alkali water in preparing the mortar and when dry the plastering was nice and white. The quarters were certainly good.”

Not everyone agreed. James F. Rusling, a military inspector described the fort in less than glowing terms:

…The public buildings consist of several good frame storehouses, sufficient for a year’s supply of all stores needed at the post, and a variety of sod buildings, all practically worthless. A report is herewith showing buildings more particularly. The barracks are intended for three companies; only two are occupied, the third being now used as a cow stable and guard-house. There are no floors in any of these. The roofs are dirt and sods, and all leak badly. The hospital is about the same as the barracks; it has a capacity of a dozen patients, but there are no sick at the post. There are no quarters for officers of any kind. The commanding officer lives in a hospital tent, and the other officers quarter in the storehouse and hospital. Two sod buildings are now going up – one for post commandant, and the other for officers’ quarters; but both are badly planned, and will probably tumble down before completion; the walls are too high, and are already cracking and bulging out, though the roofs are not yet on. No attempt has been made at abodes proper. Some lumber sent here from Denver, for floors, &c., for these buildings… The storehouses, shops, corral, stable, and sutler store, all face on the parade ground as the post now stands; and, as I have before said, one of the barracks is used as a post cow-stable. It is but just to say that the plan of the post, when completed, excludes part of these…. There are no quarters for employees except tents, and no chapel or reading-room. All of these will have to be provided should the post be maintained….

The fort fell into ruins after the soldiers left the fort in 1868, but some of the fort structures remained. In 1884, Lute Johnson, co-editor of the Fort Morgan Times provided a description of the fort:

…the buildings on the east and south sides were continuous structures divided into rooms… The walls of these were standing an average of five feet in height when the first settlers reached Fort Morgan. These were similarly built of adobe, sundried brick and plastered inside and out. The east section was about 180 feet in length and 20 feet wide, the south section about the same width and, if my memory serves, about 280 feet in length. They had evidently been living quarters and the impression was that the one on the eastern bounds of the compound was used for officers’ quarters and the administration while the one on the south line was probably the eating and sleeping quarters of the soldiers. The north and west walls were of lighter construction and evidently had been stables for the horses, blacksmith shop, and general service purposes. The poles of the roofs and the adobe buildings had evidently been cut on the island in the Platte bottom and dirt covered. The whole was an enclosure nearly 200 by 300 feet in size and sufficiently large…. It was calculated to hold two hundred wagons, or serve for drill grounds. The gate to the enclosure had been of poles. It was surely in the southeastern corner, between the south end of the officers’ row on the east and the east end of the mens’ quarters on the south. It was wide enough to permit a team to drive through….

    

On May 18, 1868, the flag at Fort Morgan was lowered for the last time and the cannon fired a last salute. With the soldiers gone, the sod fort melting back into the plains.

* Plans for Camp Wardwell and Fort Morgan can be seen at the Fort Morgan Museum.
_____________
References
http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.missouri.counties.harrison/45.55/mb.ashx Letter dated Jan. 11, 1866
Spencer, Sue F. “The Old Fort” In 111 Trees. P 263
James F. Rusling to M. C. Meigs, September 4, 1866, in Executive Documents Printed by Order of the House of Representatives, during the Second Session of the Thirty-Ninth Congress, 1866-’67 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1867), pp. 36-40.

* Plans for Camp Wardwell and Fort Morgan can be seen at the Fort Morgan Museum.