Fort McKinney

About this property

Fort McKinney (1877–1894) was a military post located in North Eastern Wyoming, near the Powder River. Fort McKinney was named after Second Lieutenant John McKinney, of the 4th United States Cavalry Regiment, who was Killed in action in the Dull Knife Fight on November 25, 1876, at the Red Fork of the Powder River in Wyoming Territory. The Fort was created in 1877 as part of the intensive reaction to the defeat of Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer and the 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in June, 1876, and was soon outmoded as the Plains Indian Wars came to an end. McKinney was located first on the Powder River in Wyoming, then moved to the Clear Fork of the Powder River, near present-day Buffalo, Wyoming. The Companies stationed at Fort McKinney throughout its history were of the 6th United States Cavalry Regiment, and the 9th United States Cavalry Regiment, the 9th Cavalry being one of only four completely African-American United States army regiments during the Indian Wars Period, informally called "Buffalo Soldiers". Various Companies of the 6th Cavalry stationed at the Fort took part in Wyoming's "Johnson County War". Fort McKinney was closed in 1894, and the land and remaining buildings transferred to the State of Wyoming, who made the site the Wyoming Soldiers and Sailors Home starting in 1903. == The first Fort McKinney, on the Powder River (1877-1878) == The name Fort McKinney was first given to a military post previously named Cantonment Reno, located on the Powder River near the old Bozeman Trail crossing. Near this site on the Bozeman Trail Fort Connor (renamed Fort Reno) had been constructed in 1865, but was abandoned after the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie. The tribes promptly burned the fort. Cantonment Reno had been re-established in late 1876, about 3 miles from the site of old Fort Reno. In just 3 months 42 buildings were erected at the Cantonment, including multiple storehouses, living quarters and a hospital. It started as a temporary base of operations for General George Crook's 1876 Big Horn Expedition which had been launched in the fall of 1876 as part of the intensive campaign against the Sioux and Cheyenne following General George A. Custer's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn on June 25, 1876. On November 25, 1876, part of Crook's command, under the leadership of Col. Ranald S. Mackenzie, attacked a village of Cheyenne (sometimes referred to as "Dull Knife's village") on the nearby Red Fork of the Powder River in the Dull Knife Fight. The army surprised and scattered the Cheyennes driving men, women and children out of their village into subzero temperatures and snow on the open prairie. Cantonment Reno provided logistic support for the attack, and rudimentary care for the army wounded after the battle.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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