Unearth the riveting tales and secrets of Fort Dodge as we traverse through its rich historical journey together with Doug Austin, our esteemed guest. This episode promises to broaden your historical perspective as we illuminate the strategic role of Fort Dodge during the Indian campaigns of 1867 to 1869 and 1874 to 1875, its location on the Santa Fe trail, and the harrowing narrative of its construction. Marvel at the resilient labor and resources embedded in the fort's infrastructure, and how, despite regular disruptions from Native American tribes, the fort stood its ground.
Get ready to be awed as we, with Doug Austin, unpack the state of the fort's enduring structures, including the junior officers' quarters and the Custer House. Hear the compelling story of Fort Dodge's long journey to being listed on the National Historic Register and the ironies that hovered around its preservation. Doug shares his relentless efforts to protect this historical treasure and the challenges that came with it. We don't stop there; we also shed light on the health adversities and harsh living conditions that the early dwellers of the fort braved. Let's unravel the legacy of Fort Dodge and its compelling past together.
Return of the Great Hunters
Cattle Drives Website
Legends of Dodge City Website
Order Books
Unearth the riveting tales and secrets of Fort Dodge as we traverse through its rich historical journey together with Doug Austin, our esteemed guest. This episode promises to broaden your historical perspective as we illuminate the strategic role of Fort Dodge during the Indian campaigns of 1867 to 1869 and 1874 to 1875, its location on the Santa Fe trail, and the harrowing narrative of its construction. Marvel at the resilient labor and resources embedded in the fort's infrastructure, and how, despite regular disruptions from Native American tribes, the fort stood its ground.
Get ready to be awed as we, with Doug Austin, unpack the state of the fort's enduring structures, including the junior officers' quarters and the Custer House. Hear the compelling story of Fort Dodge's long journey to being listed on the National Historic Register and the ironies that hovered around its preservation. Doug shares his relentless efforts to protect this historical treasure and the challenges that came with it. We don't stop there; we also shed light on the health adversities and harsh living conditions that the early dwellers of the fort braved. Let's unravel the legacy of Fort Dodge and its compelling past together.
Return of the Great Hunters
Cattle Drives Website
Legends of Dodge City Website
Order Books
Welcome to Wild West Podcast, a time in early Kansas history when forts were the sentinels along the Santa Fe Trail to protect onward travelers of a westward expansion. In this new series entitled Fort Dodge, the Sentinel to the Cimarron, we will explore the historical timeline of the forts along the Arkanthus River Valley. In today's podcast we will bring you Building a Permanent Post the story of the early construction of Fort Dodge in 1867. The show will first present a historical narrative. Shortly after that we will invite a special guest, doug Austin, to join us in an in-depth discussion of some stories related to the permanent buildings currently existing at Fort Dodge.
Speaker 3:Fort Dodge was a pivotal fort during the Indian campaigns of 1867 to 1869 and 1874 and 75. The wet and dry routes of the Santa Fe Trail met here. The Fort Hayes Fort Dodge Trail ended here and the Fort Dodge Fort Supply Trail began here. Billions of pounds of armaments and supplies were shipped south in trains of as many as 270 wagons. Fort Dodge was considered the most important of all the forts along the Santa Fe Trail. It was in the heart of Indian Country. William Darnell Freighter, 1866. In the state of Kansas, gained title to Fort Dodge. There were six large buildings known as Officer's Quarters, three large buildings known as Soldiers Quarters or Barracks and a large cut stone building built for a hospital, two large cut stone buildings used formally as quartermaster and commissary buildings and some 15 or 20 smaller wooden buildings. In the first biennial report of the state soldiers home 1889-1890, the Board of Managers reported that when turned over to the state, the buildings were all in a more or less dilapidated condition, consequent from neglect and non-occupancy, but many of them well built, of good material and capable of being repaired at slight expense and lasting many years.
Speaker 3:Throughout the years of 1866 and 1867, the garrison labored to raise permanent facilities at Fort Dodge while keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding tribes of Plains Indians. Four companies of troops, two each of cavalry and infantry, divided their attention between frequent scouts and marches along the Santa Fe route. Work details were also organized from available troops to supplement the limited numbers of civilian workers who had been hired for construction purposes. Because of the inadequacy of the old dugouts, two companies of soldiers were required to live in tents until permanent housing could be completed. A stone quarry was discovered about five miles from the post in June 1866. General Pope gave permission to hire laborers and stone masons for the construction of new buildings. The following month, four laborers were engaged and, with the assistance of the soldiers, a foundation was laid for a company barracks. Sometime in 1866, the sod buildings erected for a kitchen and mess were refitted to serve as the commanding officer's quarters.
Speaker 3:Primary attention was given to constructing two barracks, a hospital, two quartermaster buildings, a subsistence supply building and a headquarters building to house the commanding officer. All of these structures were built of limestone that both civilians and soldiers laboriously queried. Sixty teamsters and more than 200 mules were kept busy hauling the heavy stones from the quarry to the construction sites. Lieutenant George A Heselberger guided the construction and demonstrated a taste for both durability and subtle beauty. The stones used in building were of varying lengths, however. They were cut to 18 inches heights and two foot thicknesses. The heavy rocks were then dressed before their placement by civilian masons.
Speaker 3:During much of 1866 and 1867, lieutenant Heselberger complained to the Department of the Missouri that construction progress was impeded by a shortage of both men and material. Skilled craftsmen such as carpenters, masons and blacksmiths, who were willing to accept the problematic working conditions were paid from $85 to $100 per month. In comparison, common laborers were offered $35 a month. The lumber and hardware needed to supplement the stone used in construction were brought in over the Santa Fe Trail by wagons from either eastern Kansas or Santa Fe, new Mexico. The latter was usually the favored supply source, even though the materials had to be freighted a great deal further because of a much lower price was asked. In 1867, a thousand board feet of lumber could be delivered at Fort Dodge from Santa Fe for only $30. Major Henry Douglas in command and Lieutenant George, a Heselberger quartermaster, were severely reprimanded by General RB Macy for reckless extravagance in constructing buildings grand enough for the national capital. Heselberger states that during the months of July, august, september and November 1867, and under the circumstances described, he made certain overpayments amounting to $270, and that this occurred by computing the pay accounts for a longer period than the men actually worked. He also states that during the same months, his clerk Juan John Mulgrove and one EP Wheeler, a subcontractor for furnishing hay to the post, conspired together and issued a number of quartermaster's checks, to which Mulgrove forged his Heselberger's signature, on the assistant treasurer at St Louis and the First National Bank of Leavenworth, on which the payments were made to the amount of about $2,800.
Speaker 3:Except for the rapacious lords of the plains, the garrison could have anticipated the prospect of a reasonably comfort winter quarters. However, this luxury was not to be theirs. Ahead lay long rides, cold food, frostbite and occasional death, as the contests for the plains continued without respite. A good portion of the problems hampering construction at Fort Dodge was local in origin. During the fall of 1867, while strenuous efforts were being made to complete the buildings then under construction before cold weather suspended further work until the following spring, sporadic assaults were made by surrounding Indians on both the personnel and supplies of the post. Supply wagons headed for Fort Dodge were consistently attacked when such raid netted the attackers a shipment of firearms and ammunition badly needed at the post, as well as five wagons loaded with subsistence supplies. Similar raids were visited on work details sent out under military guard De Query Stone, cut firewood, procure lime for the post masons or stack hay to be used by the Fort's livestock during the winter months. Size of these raiding parties varied from only a few to as many as several hundred participants. The impact of these attacks on post morale was critical. Few laborers caused a sweat on the plains of Kansas for only $35 a month, especially with the possibility of being murdered and scalped was included in the bargain.
Speaker 3:Each barracks building was designed to hold a company of approximately 60 men. The barracks were equipped with a kitchen, mess room and dormitory for the men. The latrines were erected just behind the barracks. The hospital included a wardroom adequate to house the anticipated sick of four companies, with the attached administration section for hospital personnel and a separate kitchen. When construction was completed, including several buildings erected after 1868, there were three barracks for enlisted men, two of stone and one of adobe, each 130 by 30 feet. The dormitory in each barracks contained 22 double two-tier bunks, providing a sleeping space for 88 men. Each bunk held four soldiers, two up and two down, who slept in opposite directions head to toe. Opposing doors and windows provided ventilation and the quarters were heated in the winter by wood-burning stoves. There was a water well behind each barracks. A wooden shed was attached to the kitchens and contained a trough where the men could wash. The restrooms were about 30 yards behind the quarters.
Speaker 3:The commanding officer's quarters were the only two-story structure built. The bottom floor included living quarters and administrative rooms where the commanding officer could host his fellow officers for staff meetings or court-martial proceedings, while the second floor was reserved entirely for the commander's family. Because of the second floor elevation and field of fire. Rifle ports were built at floor level to sustain a siege by hostile Indians. There were four sets of captain's quarters and two duplexes, one of adobe covered with weatherboarding and the other of a frame with weatherboarding, each 44 by 40 feet and one and one-half stories high. Each set included a dining room, parlor bedroom, kitchen and three attic rooms. There were six sets of lieutenants quarters in three frame duplexes, each 35 by 32 feet, one and one-half stories high. Each set contained a dining room, bedroom, parlor, kitchen and two attic rooms.
Speaker 3:In addition to the permanent stone buildings, several frame structures were added to fill the garrison's immediate needs until more durable facilities could replace them. A blacksmith and carpenter's shop was erected to house the craftsmen involved in the construction of new facilities. When the blacksmiths were not engaged in their regular duties of providing hardware for building purposes, they were required to shoe several hundred heads of horses and mules and to keep approximately six wagons in good repair. A temporary grain shed was created by extending a roof between the newly erected stone quartermaster and supply buildings. The sod corral, erected during 1866, was assigned to the quartermaster, and a second, larger corral, roughly 200 by 150 feet, was constructed in 1867 for the cavalry. The exterior sides of both corrals were fashioned from sod. Their walls were approximately four feet thick and eight feet tall.
Speaker 3:Negro troops were segregated from the white troops and quartered in a frame building. The frame building had neither plaster nor a ceiling below the roof. Although Negro troops' strength often grew to as much as two companies, only one part of the 40 by 22 foot structure was reserved for their use. The remainder of the building was utilized for storage. Segregation was also practiced by the hospital, where a small five-bed frame structure was added to the main building to house Negro troops. A parade ground, approximately 100 yards square, was reserved at the center of the post by placing the permanent stone buildings around the perimeter and facing them inward.
Speaker 3:During the last ten days of July 1867, a cholera epidemic spread through the garrison and 21 soldiers and civilians eventually died of the disease. The illness was brought to Fort Dodge and several other posts along the Santa Fe Trail by a detachment of colored troops en route to Fort Union, new Mexico, who had camped beside the fort for several days' rest. Major Henry Douglas, the commander of Fort Dodge, his wife and his infant child contracted cholera. Douglas survived, except for his wife. The Laundresses and Married Soldiers were housed in the old dugouts and sod buildings along the river until new Laundresses quarters were constructed in 1875. The recent quarters comprised eight sets in four duplexes, each 32 by 16 feet, covered with boards, set upright and battened. Each contained two rooms for a married soldier and his family. During the latter years one of these quarters was used as a post-school and reading room.
Speaker 3:There were two stone storehouses, each 130 by 30 feet, located west of the parade. One served the quartermaster and the other the commissary, which had a cellar beneath to store perishable items. Each building had two rooms partitioned off the north end for officers. During the two storehouses was a frame structure, 110 by 27 feet, used as a forage shed. Other buildings included a granary, 28 by 12 feet, a coal shed, 76 by 41 feet, a butcher's shop, 28 by 17 feet and the commanding officer's office and adjutant's office, 30 by 25 feet. Twin storehouses, each 130 feet by 30 feet, and a bakery were the first stone buildings to be completed in 1867. The second storehouse stood a few yards to the east. The north ends of each building were partitioned to provide offices for post headquarters and for the quartermaster. A bakery located several yards behind had two ovens and was capable of baking 500 rations of bread each day. The frame structure, two doors to the right, was the original dead house and was moved from the north of the hospital to its present location.
Speaker 3:The civilian who kept a store and connection with a fort was known as the Suttler. He paid a fee for a monopoly to conduct all buying and selling on the military reservation. He was recommended by a post council and appointed by department headquarters. The Suttler was granted the rank of a warrant officer to give him standing with the men. The store sold foodstuffs including canned vegetables, fresh milk, butter, eggs, firearms and ammunition, wagon repairs, dry goods and many tools and utensils. The sale of liquor was regulated at the discretion of the commanding officer, who also oversaw the prices of the goods sold. The store served the soldiers, civilian employees, trail travelers and Indians who visited regularly. William Ladd, the first Suttler, provided the buildings for his business, which included the store, stables, saloon, billiard hall, eating place and a residence. Later Suttlers included Jesse Crane, jc Tappen, t Wischelbaum, robert M Wright and James Langton.
Speaker 2:Today we have with us Brad Smalley and a special guest, Doug Austin.
Speaker 3:Doug, tell us a little bit about yourself as we begin our discussion on some of the buildings currently existing at Fort Dodge.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm a Dodge City native and I'm currently working with the Fort County Historical Society on a special committee that is working to get the Fort Dodge area listed on the National Register of Historic Places. So we've been having lots of discussions about the buildings and different things that exist out there that are all part of the history.
Speaker 2:Well, we're sure glad you are here with us that we would like to join you in promoting the preservation of Fort Dodge. Tell us a little bit about the buildings that you currently have out there.
Speaker 1:Probably the most important one right now is the junior officers quarters. We managed to save it from demolition two or three years ago when they were on a cleaning binge of getting rid of old buildings out there. It is currently still standing, but it is the only frame building out there that's existing from that 1866-67 building boom that went on out there. There's also another house next to it, which is called Custer House, which was built around the same time, the Commandant's House. It's actually a stone building. And then there's also a couple of other stone buildings from that era the Pershing Barracks, which was originally a hospital and we believe right now is being used as the administration building, and then the quartermaster building, which now houses the museum and library.
Speaker 3:Tell us a little bit more about that museum and library you mentioned. I don't think a lot of people know that's out there and available.
Speaker 1:Well, the building itself is a stone building. That's got stucco on the outside of it now and they have a pretty extensive collection of artifacts out there. They are only open at certain times. I believe they work with volunteers out there, but it is pretty interesting.
Speaker 2:If you're interested in looking at artifacts in history about the fort itself, let's talk a little bit about the renovation of the buildings out there and the shape of those buildings. Do you have any buildings out there that are in real bad shape? That needs attention.
Speaker 1:Well, probably the junior officers quarter is the one that's the most endangered at this point, because it is a frame building. They haven't done a good job of maintaining it and it's basically vacant right now. At one point there was even a tree growing out of the back part of it, but I believe they've gotten that cut down. But that's the one that we're kind of focusing on. Once this designation gets done, that'll be the first one we focus on on getting some money to get some restoration and preserve what's there.
Speaker 2:Now you talk a little bit about preservation and also what it takes to get old buildings like that on a national register.
Speaker 1:Well, we're trying to get the entire area listed, the entire Fort Dodge basic area, and first of all you have to submit a questionnaire to the State Historical Society and if you pass that hoop then they send you the actual application and then it goes for a committee review. That happens quarterly. We've got the questionnaire part done and just waiting to get the application to move forward with the next part of it.
Speaker 2:And right now it's currently occupied by the Veterans Administration Kansas.
Speaker 1:I forget what their title is Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs, I believe. Is there? Okay, so they're actually using the Fort. They apparently lease it from the state of Kansas State owns the property and the Veterans Affairs Commission is the ones who lease it from them.
Speaker 3:Well, if I may, it almost seems like a foregone conclusion that Fort Dodge, given its historical significance, should have been on the National Historic Register for years, if not decades, already. Why has that not been in discussion until so recently?
Speaker 1:Well, that's a very good question and I there isn't a clear cut explanation on why that happened. I know the story goes that when the army decided to quit using the Fort, that the city of Dodge City and citizens here made a push to have it taken over by the state to become the soldiers home. And I don't know if in people's minds at that time they thought that was taking care of all of that. But nothing happened at that point and so just over the years I think they thought, since the state had control of it, that that was already a foregone conclusion. And it really isn't. It hasn't never been done.
Speaker 3:So the fact that it is, as you mentioned, that it is currently occupied by the Department of Veteran Affairs and the soldiers home and hospital, that in itself is pretty historical.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, because the, the Veterans Commission, and I don't know when they were actually formed, but the state took it over around 1890 at that time and these buildings were all existing at that time and some of them weren't in the best of condition then. But they've, they've worked on some of them and then they've added their own building since then.
Speaker 3:So the Fort as, if I'm understanding correctly, the Fort itself has really never not been occupied since 1865.
Speaker 1:No, there's always been something going on out there and people living there.
Speaker 3:That's pretty unique as far as frontier forts.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I mean considering the other ones along the Santa Fe Trail, the. You know a lot of them. You know Fort Launded is a museum now but it was a ranch in between times and, and then there's a Veterans Affair of Things, I think, at Fort Leavenworth, but the readily the rest of them are pretty much gone.
Speaker 2:What? What do you think that Fort Dodge, its significance in history was, and and why is it so important that those buildings and that Fort be preserved for for historical perspective?
Speaker 1:Well, the fact that it was one of the main forts on the Santa Fe Trail protecting all of that, those goods and services that went both directions on the Santa Fe Trail, it always always it was the end of the line for the, the trail going up to up to Hayes and also the trail going down to Fort Supply. So it's just significant geographically the way the Santa Fe Trail split into two different routes at this point. There's a lot of significance in that history that goes with it.
Speaker 2:When the fort was first established. Talk to us a little bit about the harshness, the beginning of the fort and how it was constructed.
Speaker 1:Well, the story goes that before there were any permanent buildings, they were living in dugouts along the river with canvas tops, and the river would tend to flood from time to time, so I imagine it probably was a mess a lot of the time living in mud like that. Then that led to the cholera outbreak that occurred at the fort too. So it was important that they get those more permanent buildings to make things more safe and better to live.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, out in this area, there's no timber, there's hardly any. There's a lot more now today than there was back in those days. This is just a plane. I mean, we're talking about a prairie grass. So how did they get the building material to build the rock buildings that are out there currently?
Speaker 1:Well, I'm not sure where the quarries were, but they were up towards Hodgman County, I believe. They brought masons and workers out who quarried the rock and then they waggoned it down to the fort as well as the lumber that had to come in. That would have come in on this Anifay trail, or perhaps from Hayes or Fort Supply too.
Speaker 2:And so they shipped some of it by railroad to Fort Hayes and then brought it down the military trail.
Speaker 1:Probably so. Yeah, yeah, because they started building things out here before there was any railroad out here.
Speaker 2:That's right. They didn't come through Dodge until 1872, September of 1872.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:So in 1866, there wasn't really a whole lot out here?
Speaker 1:No, there wasn't. They were just relying on the wagons to get things here.
Speaker 3:The trail between Fort Hayes and Fort Dodge. Does that still exist?
Speaker 1:That is a good question. I don't know. There may be remnants of it, but I've never had anybody actually say where I know it went north out of the fort.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it seems like there's a couple of markers going north, at least out of the fort, and then, if I remember I don't know I've traveled through that part of the country several times I think there is one further north marker, but I don't know if the trail itself but I have a feeling all of that's probably been plowed under.
Speaker 2:Well, is there anything that you would like to add to the discussion about the existing buildings that are currently out there?
Speaker 1:Well, we do have a Facebook page that you can check things out and we're trying to keep people abreast up on that of what we're doing with the process of getting the National Register designation done, posting pictures on there. These podcasts are being shared on there, so that's a good way to get hooked in to keep track of what's going on.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to keep this process moving forward and, lord willing, we'll actually get it on the register.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I agree, and so important for the preservation of history.
Speaker 1:Well, it's kind of ironic that it's history repeating itself, because it was a group of people from Dodge City who got it converted to the soldiers home, and now another group of Dodge Cityans are coming together to try to get it saved on the National Register.
Speaker 2:Well, we really thank you for your work, your dedication and your passion for saving the existing buildings out there. We wish you the best of luck.
Speaker 1:You bet, thank you.