Ft. Hays

[smokyhill]

Ft. Hays, as Ms Merkel's thread states, was in use from approximately 1867 through 1886. It served as the western outpost of the US Army (together with Ft. Wallace 140 west of Hays), during the so-called indian wars on the central plains. About 5 buildings from the original fort are still in place. Ft. Hays is a Kansas State Historical site. It features a museum, tours of the old fort grounds, a book shop and quite a number of annual events. Ft. Hays is situated on Big Creek, a northern branch of the Smoky Hill River.

Hays was founded to serve the fort and was a rowdy frontier town for quite a number of years. Buffalo Bill Cody was a cavalry scout and contract hunter. He lived in Hays. Bill Hickok served as law enforcement in Hays for a period (there is controversy over his exact legal status), but was dismissed because he was shooting too many unruly soldiers which the town fathers thought to be bad for business. Hays is just across Big Creek from the Fort. The Ellis County Museum is in Hays and just a mile from the Fort.

The Smoky Hill Trail went through Ellis County and was the route for many gold field seekers and settlers on their was to Colorado. It was the location for the stage line that was the subject of so many attacks by the Cheyenne, Arapahos, Ogalas and Kiowa from 1865 through 1869. The Kansas Pacific track went through Ellis County and was, like the stage stations, the subject of a number of attacks (on the railroad crew and stations).

George Armstong Custer and Libbie lived at the Fort, as did Major Reno, Captain Benteen, the 7th and the 10th cavalry (the Buffalo Soldiers).

[Diane Merkel]

Thanks for all of the posts about Kansas forts, smokyhill. I'll have to do more sightseeing my next trip through there.

[sarge]

I'm a new member and I need to make some corrections to smokyhill's description of Fort Hays. It was established in 1867 (1865 if you include the forerunner of Fort Hays, Fort Fletcher) and was closed in 1889. It was established during the Southern Plains Indian Wars (maybe that's what you meant by "so-called Indian wars"). Four original buildings survive today.

Hays City, as it was known then, was founded in 1867 because of the railroad more so than the fort although it certainly did serve the soldiers along with another town called Rome. Both were quite rowdy, and Wild Bill was the unofficial law in Hays City for a while but he was not run out of town for "shooting too many unruly soldiers." Wild Bill killed four men while in Hays City, only one of them was a soldier. Friends of the soldier took up arms to find Bill but, knowing this, he hopped a freight out of town.

George and Libbie never officially lived on the post but were rather camped in the field a mile or two east of the fort. Reno did command the fort for a brief period and Benteen's company was billeted on post.

I will agree Fort Hays is a nice place to visit.

[bradandlaurie]

Laurie and I visited Fort Hays this last summer, about a week before the conference in North Platte, and found it fascinating. The people staffing the site were both friendly and seemed to know the history of the fort. Now I'm a bit of student of fortification and found the blockhouse of particular interest. The army found that this sort of fortification was not of much use on the frontier; the tribes had no apparent interest in attacking the post much less making themselves easy targets to a fortified defender. It is interesting to see this one though and then compare it to the blockhouse at Fort Larned or even the blockhouse at Fort Snelling.