Fort Rice, North Dakota.
General Alfred H. Sully established Fort Rice, North Dakota, in July 1864 as a field base for his summer expeditions. At this time, travel in the area was unsafe due to aggressive Indian attacks on transportation routes. To make both land and river routes safe for travelers, the U.S. Government sent General Sully and the 30th Wisconsin Infantry to build the post.
The fort buildings were built from cottonwood logs cut from the banks of the nearby river and prairie sod for their roofs. The Wisconsin infantry was later replaced by the 1st U.S. Volunteer Infantry, a group of soldiers comprised primarily of Confederate prisoners of war, familiarly known as “Galvanized Yankees,” who had agreed to assist the U.S. Army in the western Frontier instead of languishing in a Union prison.
Life was rough at the fledgling fort, with soldiers suffering from severe cold and disease during the first year. Some 81 men died in the post’s first year; however, only seven were due to hostile activity. The post served as General Sully’s base of operations from 1864-65. Later, it hosted several significant Indian negotiations, culminating in the Fort Laramie Treaty. Fort Rice was abandoned in November 1878 when Fort Yates was built on the Standing Rock Agency.
Located in present-day Morton County, 8/10 of a mile Southeast of the town of Fort Rice, the Fort Rice State Historic Site has no buildings. However, in the 1940s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) marked many of Fort Rice’s original foundations, and today maps and additional markers mark the site.
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated November 2026.
Also See:
North Dakota – Rough Rider Country
See Sources.