Eureka, Kansas, 1887.
Built in present-day Eureka, Kansas, in Greenwood County in 1861, Fort Montgomery was named for Colonel James Montgomery, a Free-State leader during the Kansas-Missouri Border War. Constructed by local citizens, the fortress was a solidly built, large rectangular building with gun-hole windows. Layers of green logs, covered with earth up to the level of the gun holes, surrounded it. Built to protect local citizens from Indian attacks and pro-slavery forces, a small cannon was mounted outside. A local farmer named Leander Bemis commanded it, but local militia and government scouts sometimes occupied it.
When Eureka’s school burned in 1861, classes were taught at the fort. Late in the Civil War, the fort expected a guerrilla attack, and the locals prepared to fight. However, the attack didn’t come. In 1868, regular U.S. troops occupied the fort again, but their stay was brief. Afterward, they dismantled the post and used it for firewood. Today, all that remains is a marker on a building at First and Oak Streets in Eureka.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
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