This Day…

1865- Fort Dodge, Kansas- the fort was established to protect the Santa Fe Trail from Indians. The post was designed to protect the U.S. mail and emigrant wagon trains on the Santa Fe Trail, and to serve as a base of operations against hostile Indians. It was located on the left bank of the Arkansas River on the “Long Route” of the Santa Fe Trail a few miles southeast of the present Dodge City. The site lay near the intersection of the “wet” and “dry” routes on the Santa Fe Trail. In 1867 Fort Dodge was relocated and rebuilt in stone buildings. In 1868 Comanches and Kiowas attacked Fort Dodge killing four soldiers and wounding seventeen. Fort Dodge was abandoned October 2, 1882.