Fort Laramie, Wyoming - Crossroads to the West

Fort Laramie, Wyoming - Page 2

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This unique historic place preserves and interprets one of America's most important locations in the history of westward expansion and Indian resistance. When Fort Laramie closed in 1890, its legacy was one of peace and war, of cooperation and conflict; a place where the west we know today was forged.

Fort Laramie was proclaimed as a National Monument in 1938 and named a National Historic site in 1960.

Today the site preserves a 19th-century United States military post, including 11 restored buildings, such as "Old Bedlam,” the post headquarters and officers’ quarters built in 1849; the cavalry barracks built in 1874; Sutler’s Store; a stone guardhouse; and a bakery. A museum exhibits artifacts of the Northern Plains.

Fort Laramie post hospital, Kathy Weiser, September, 2009.

This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

The historic site, which encompasses 833 acres is administered by the National Park Service.

Source: Fort Laramie National Park Service

Contact Information:

Fort Laramie National Park Service

965 Gray Rocks Road
Fort Laramie, Wyoming 82212
307-837-2221

Fort Laramie Treaty

In 1851 United States government officials met with Great Plains tribal leaders in Fort Laramie, Wyoming, and negotiated the Fort Laramie Treaty, which was meant to resolve conflict among hostile Native American groups and between Native Americans and whites. This treaty established territorial claims for the Blackfoot in north central Montana, for the Crow in the Yellowstone Valley, and for the Assiniboine in northeastern Montana.

Four years later, Washington territorial governor Isaac Stevens opened negotiations with the Flathead, Kootenai, and Pend d’Oreille (primarily in Idaho), and later with the Blackfoot. Stevens intended to remove Native Americans to reservations.

Cheyenne and Sioux chiefs (left to right: Spotted Tail, Roman Nose,

Old Man Afraid of His Horse, Lone Horn, Whistling Elk, Pipe, and Slow Bull)

met at Fort Laramie with peace commissioners to negotiate, perhaps, the

most important treaty of the 19th century - closing the Bozeman Trail

and creating the great Sioux Reservation.

In exchange for ceded lands, Stevens promised the Native American groups improvements to reservations and annuities. The Flathead, Pend d’Oreille, and Kootenai agreed to share the Jocko Indian Reservation, which covered about 518,000 hectares (about 1,280,000 acres) to the south of Flathead Lake. The Flathead, who were reluctant to leave the Bitterroot Valley, inserted a clause into the treaty that allowed them to stay in their home for a temporary period. The Blackfoot also signed a treaty that bound them to a region in northern Montana. By 1868 nearly one-quarter of Montana had been set aside for reservations. However, whites frequently violated the treaties by using Native American land.

As Montana became more populated during the gold rushes in the 1860s, white settlers and Native Americans clashed. Although the incidents were generally minor -- a stolen horse or missing livestock --occasionally settlers or Native Americans were killed. In response to these incidents, the white immigrants demanded federal protection. In 1866 the army established Fort C.F. Smith, its first post in Montana. Later forts were built along the Mullan Road, near the Bozeman Trail, and to the east of Helena.

In 1869 a series of attacks on white settlers and on Native Americans drove the settlers from around Fort Benton to demand military action. Major Eugene M. Baker, who believed that the Blackfoot were responsible for the violence, led an attack on an innocent Blackfoot camp. This offensive left 173 Blackfoot dead. The Blackfoot, who were divided about how to react to the massacre, did not mount a counterattack.

The gold rush also provoked conflict between the Sioux in Montana and the white settlers. The Sioux were opposed to settlers using the Bozeman Trail, which crossed Sioux territory in the Great Plains region, to reach mining districts. The federal government attempted to negotiate with the Sioux at Fort Laramie in 1866, but the Sioux broke off the talks. Throughout the next few years, the Sioux regularly attacked settlements and travelers along the Bozeman Trail. In 1868 the government and the Sioux met at Fort Laramie again and signed a treaty, which closed the Bozeman Trail and provided a reservation for the Sioux in the Black Hills in Dakota Territory.

Some Sioux were dissatisfied with this agreement, including Sioux leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. This group continued to live near the Bozeman Trail. In 1874 gold was found within the boundaries of the reservation in the Black Hills, which brought in white prospectors. Some Sioux left the reservation to join Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. In 1876 the United States government sent troops, including Lieutenant Colonel George Custer and his regiment, to relocate this group to the reservation. On June 25, 1876, a Sioux force under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Custer’s troops at the Little Bighorn. Although the Sioux were victorious in this famous battle, the United States sent reinforcements, and Crazy Horse gave up his arms in 1877. Sitting Bull conceded victory to the United States in 1881.

Source: "Fort Laramie Treaty" Microsoft® Encarta®

Online Encyclopedia 2003

Compiled and edited by Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated January, 2011.

Also See:

Hauntings at Fort Laramie

Fort Laramie Treaty Document

Book your lodging right HERE online.

The Tribal Grand Council meeting over the Fort Laramie Treaty

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This image available for photographic prints and downloads HERE!

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From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Old West Books - Legends of America and the Rocky Mountain General Store has collected a number of Old West books for our frontier enthusiasts. For many of these, we have only one available. To see this varied collection, click HERE!