Fort Morgan, Colorado: Troops at the Fort

Friday, April 6, 2012

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.

Post returns were submitted tri-monthly (every 10 days) and monthly by each military post and are available through the National Archives. These returns are detailed reports and provide a concise description of the companies stationed at post, number of men (present, absent, equipped, etc.), officers (present and absent), communications received, and at times information about civilian employees, notes about deserters, arrests, deaths, and troops casually at post, and even the number of drills completed during the month.

The first post return for Fort Morgan was submitted on May 10, 1865 listing as present 25 men of Co. A, 1st Colorado Cavalry, 33 men of Co. G, 3rd U.S. Vol Infantry, and 28 men of Co. H, 3rd U.S. Vol Infantry. The post at that time was commanded by Capt. Thomas Kenny of the 3rd U.S. Volunteer Infantry.

Troops at Fort Morgan were sometimes reported to a regimental headquarters (e.g., Fort Laramie or Camp Collins), but for some troops, Fort Morgan was headquarters. Fort Morgan became the regimental headquarters for the 13th Missouri Cavalry in October, 1865 with the arrival of Companies B, C, E, & H and the regimental commander Col. Austin A. King. Valley Station (near Sterling) was first listed as an out-post of Fort Morgan on the December 10, 1865 return. This post consisted of 28 men under the command of Lt. James M. Thornton. Valley Station continued to be listed on post returns through March, 1866.

Drawing by Frederic Remington "Protecting a Wagon Train" published in The Milwaukee Journal, March 21, 1864 with the caption "Galvanized Yankees guard a wagon train crossing the plains"

When the last of the Civil War troops were mustered out, Fort Morgan remained a minor outpost for the military especially the 7th U.S. Cavalry (at a time when Custer was in the area fighting bands of Cheyenne) and the 18th U.S. Cavalry whose job it was to protect the building of the railroads. But, with the Indian War moving from the area, troops were moved elsewhere. For the last year, only one company of the 4th U.S. Infantry, consisting of under 100 men, were stationed at the fort.

Source: National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Returns from U.S. Military Posts 1800-1916. Microfilm Serial: M617; Microfilm Roll: 808

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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.