Fort Rice

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Coordinates: 46 ° 51 ′ 30 ″  N , 100 ° 58 ′ 20 ″  W.

Relief Map: North Dakota
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Fort Rice​
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North Dakota

Fort Rice ( Lakota : 'PSIN Otȟúŋwahe) is a former Fort of the Army of the United States in Morton County of North Dakota . Today the Fort Rice State Historic Site is located on the site , which is operated by the State Historical Society of North Dakota . The site is located approximately 10 kilometers north of the confluence of the Cannonball River in the Missouri and approximately 50 kilometers south of Bismarck , the capital of North Dakota. Fort Rice is named after Brigade General James Clay Rice , who was killed on May 10, 1864 in the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House , Virginia . The fort was built in 1864 and abandoned in 1879, later being replaced by Fort Yates .

history

After the Sioux Indians were beaten by General Alfred Sully in the battle of Whitestone Hill on September 3, 1863 , they sought revenge and attacked wagon convoys and riverboats on the Missouri the following year. To protect the white settlers and to force the Sioux Indians into reservations , General Sully started another campaign in the Dakota Territory with 3,500 men in the summer of 1864 . As a first step, he looked for a location for a fortified camp. Fort Rice was established on July 7, 1864 as a field camp by the 30th Wisconsin Infantry under the command of Colonel Daniel J. Dil. The fort served as the base of the campaign and to secure the landing stage for the steamships that supplied the campaign troops with personnel and material. Originally the fort consisted of log huts dug into the earth and a heaped earth wall. The footprint was 500 by 510 feet . In the fall of 1864, Wisconsin troops were replaced by US Army volunteers , six companies from the 1st US Volunteer Infantry . These volunteers consisted primarily of prisoners of war from the southern states who had volunteered in the prison camps of the northern states to protect the border with the Indian tribes at that time. In 1965 two more companies of the 4th US Volunteer Infantry reinforced the fort's crew. After the end of the Civil War , the volunteers were replaced by regular troops from the US Army. Life in the isolated fort was tough in the first few years. 85 soldiers did not survive the first winter. In 1868 the fort was expanded. The earth caves were replaced by regular buildings, the area surrounded by a 3 meter high palisade, and the floor area expanded to 864 feet by 544 feet. During its time as an active fort, Fort Rice played an important role in the Indian Wars. At times troops of the 7th US Cavalry Regiment were stationed in the fort. Two companies from the fort fought in the Battle of Little Bighorn . Several campaigns against the rebellious Sioux had their starting point in the fort. The fort itself was attacked several times by Indian tribes. Important negotiations also took place in the fort, which then led to the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868 . The fort was abandoned on November 25, 1878, and replaced by Fort Yates. In 1913 the state of North Dakota bought the property. In 1940 the historic site was built. Not a single one of the original buildings has survived. Only foundations testify to its past.

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