I suppose the aristocracy reside in them which have the glass. It is a military post. There are soldiers established here. There is but very few log shacks perhaps eight or ten in all and a cat could go in and out of them between the logs. There is a row of caves along the river bank in which the soldiers burrow in winter. You can look away & see nothing but high stony hills and valleys... This country should be left to the Indians and wild beasts and such is pretty much the case."

On at least two occasions, Indians directly attacked Fort Ellsworth, once shortly after the fort after the fort was established, they drove off about 50 horses and five mules. The second attack happened the next summer in June, 1865, but little is known about it.

In 1865, the fort also acquired a stage station for the Butterfield Stage Line which traveled along the Smoky Hill Trail between Atchison, Kansas and Denver, Colorado. But the stage coaches were often in danger from the Indians, who often waylaid them, killing a number of drivers. The soldiers spent much of their time escorting the stage through the perilous area.  

In 1866, the fort was renamed Fort Harker in honor of General Charles Garrison Harker, who died in combat during the Civil War. The following year the fort was relocated one mile to the northeast closer to the Union Pacific Railroad terminus. The buildings of the old fort were torn down. The railroad was completed in July, 1867 and Fort Harker soon became a major supply post for forts farther west as well as a number of military campaigns to subdue the Indians.

The Indians increased their resistance, but this would not be the worst of the depredations at Fort Harker. No sooner was the new fort completed when a Cholera epidemic broke out. From June to December of 1867, more than 800 cases were reported, resulting in the deaths of more than 50 people, both civilians and soldiers alike. 

Regardless of the disease running rampant through the post, Fort Harker became the starting point and major base of Major General Winfield S. Hancock's 1,400-man expedition of 1867 that sought to intimidate the Cheyenne and other Kansas tribes. Burning villages and pursuing the Indians relentlessly, his efforts never resulted in a major engagement, but rather, simply served to inflame the Indians, who often led the soldiers on wild "goose-chases” across the sea of grassland. The Indians retaliated by attacking wagon trains even more.

Over the next several years, General Philip Sheridan, General Nelson Miles and George Armstrong Custer would all utilize the post as a preparation point for their various campaigns against the Plains Indians.

The post is located in the small town of Kanopolis, about five miles southeast of Ellsworth, Kansas.

Fort Harker Guardhouse Museum Complex
308 West Ohio

Kanopolis, Kansas 67454
785-472-3059

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated March, 2011