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near
Cottonwood Springs. Cottonwood Springs was merely a seep in a gully which had been an old bed of the river, and which had curved up towards Cottonwood Canyon. The water-bed of the river being largely composed of gravel, the water came down in the underflow, and seeped out at a place down in the bank where there had grown a large cottonwood tree. This spring had been dug out, and was the only spring as far as known along the Platte for two hundred miles. It was at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon that we were to build our military post. The place was a great crossing for the Indians going north and south. The valley here was several miles wide. There was a large island in the river of several thousand acres, upon which grew the finest grass to be found in the country, and there were some scrubby willows and cottonwoods; so that the Indians coming from the north found it a good stopping-place to feed their ponies either in summer or winter, because in the winter the ponies could eat the cottonwood brush. In addition to this, Cottonwood Canyon gave a fine passage to the south. A road went up on the floor of the canyon, between the trees, until it rose onto the tableland twenty miles south. The canyon furnished fuel and protection. It was for the purpose of breaking up this Indian run-way that we were ordered to build a post at the mouth of the canyon.
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We started early on
October 11th, and passed Gilmans' ranch, which was built of cedar, and, going fifteen miles farther, camped at a spring called Cottonwood Springs. A man by the name of Charles MacDonald had built a cedar ranch at the mouth of Cottonwood Canyon, which canyon came down to the river
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Being a
Fragment of the Early History of Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming", Crane & Company (1911). Eugene Ware was the most junior officer in the 7th Iowa Cavalry when on September 19, 1863 it was deployed to Omaha in route to the Indian
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A cemetery was created along with the fort. In 1873, 20 acres (81,000 m) were set aside for Fort McPherson
National Cemetery, and the remains interred in the original post cemetery were moved to it.
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using cedar logs cut in
Cottonwood Canyon. It was completed in October 1863. Originally named Cantonment McKean, on February 26, 1866, it was renamed Fort McPherson in the honor of Major General
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battle. "We advanced from the mouth of the ravine to its head and found fifty-nine dead
Pawnees...", wrote Army doctor
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In 1873, Captain
Charles Meinhold and his small command from the fort were the first to travel up the
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and to keep the peace with the local Native
Americans. The fort was built by troops of the
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Forts of the
Northern Plains: Guide to Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars
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Riley, Paul D.: (Ed.): Dr. David
Franklin Powell and Fort McPherson.
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Numerous expeditions were launched from Fort McPherson during the
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Site of Fort McPherson, along the Oregon and California Trails
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Fort McPherson National Cemetery - Historical Information
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19th-century U.S. Army outpost in Nebraska, United States
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7th Regiment, Iowa Cavalry (Sioux City Cavalry) details
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Buildings and structures in Lincoln County, Nebraska
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95:The decision to build the fort was following the
249:http://www.cem.va.gov/CEMs/nchp/ftmcpherson.asp
222:Riley, Paul D.: The Battle of Massacre Canyon.
239:, Vol. 51, No. 2 (1970), pp. 153-170, p. 163.
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360:1880 disestablishments in the United States
268:. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2008.
355:1863 establishments in Nebraska Territory
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61:, located near the site of present-day
134:which finished with the defeat of the
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283:Nebraska State Historical Society
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164:The fort was abandoned in 1880.
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140:Battle of Summit Springs
198:The Indian War of 1864:
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212:The Indian War of 1864
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57:installation in the
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121:James B. McPherson
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