Fort Phil Kearny Historic Site
About Us:
Fort Phil Kearny, named for a popular Union General, was established by Colonel Henry B. Carrington of the 18th U.S. Infantry in July, 1866, near present-day Story, in Northeastern Wyoming. The largest of three forts, including Fort Reno near Kaycee, Wyoming, and C. F. Smith near Hardin, Montana, it was one of the three posts established to protect emigrants traveling the Bozeman Trail north to the gold fields of Montana, and also to prevent intertribal warfare between Native American tribes. It later proved useful to draw attention of Indian forces away from the trans-continental railroad construction corridor to the south.
Fort Phil Kearny Stockade and Sign:
Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site is also
designated a National Historic Landmark.
The Landmark designation includes the Fort,
the Fetterman and Wagon Box Battles
and the John "Portugee" Phillips Monument.
Interpretive Center:
The dramatic story of Fort Phil Kearny represented a 'microcosm' of the early events in the West and was a forerunner to the events at the Little Big Horn a decade later. It was the story of the Indians, emigrants, the military, civilian contractors, Indian and white women and children as well as warriors and soldiers...of the famous ride of John "Portuguese" Phillips to Fort Laramie after the Fetterman Fight, and the Wagon Box Fight of 1867.
During its brief two-year existence, Fort Phil Kearny was the focal point of a violent war between the U.S. Army and the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapaho Indians. When the Union Pacific Railroad reached a point where the dangerous route was no longer needed, the Bozeman Trail and the three forts were abandoned in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Shortly after, Fort Phil Kearny was burned, probably by Cheyenne Indians.
