Qualla: Fort Caspar https://qualla.com/fort-caspar en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:04 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_res/siteimages/rsslogo.png Qualla: Fort Caspar https://qualla.com/fort-caspar Fort Caspar: Introduction https://qualla.com/fort-caspar/ The spelling tells you something went wrong. Casper, Wyoming takes its name from Fort Caspar, which was named for Lieutenant Caspar Collins. But when the city was incorporated, a clerical error swapped the 'a' for an 'e,' and neither the town nor the fort ever matched again. That linguistic slip captures something true about this place: history here is full of such near-misses, of messages not delivered, of bridges burned at the wrong moment, of a 20-year-old cavalry officer ordered to ride into an ambush everyone could see coming.

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]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/s/7/fort-caspar-wp/9xs7-fort-caspar-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Fort Caspar: Where the Trails Crossed https://qualla.com/fort-caspar/ Long before the Army arrived, this bend in the North Platte River served as a natural gateway. Brigham Young commissioned a ferry here in 1847, manned by nine Mormons using cottonwood dugout canoes lashed together with planking. The crossing was so vital that Mormon operators ret...

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]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/s/7/fort-caspar-wp/9xs7-fort-caspar-where-the-trails-crossed.mp3 0:06 2 full Fort Caspar: The Bridge That Became a Target https://qualla.com/fort-caspar/ By 1865, Guinard's bridge had made him prosperous and made the Army nervous. The telegraph line now ran alongside the Oregon Trail, and protecting both the emigrants and the wire required soldiers stationed at the crossing. But the soldiers at Platte Bridge Station that July were...

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]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/s/7/fort-caspar-wp/9xs7-fort-caspar-the-bridge-that-became-a-target.mp3 0:06 3 full Fort Caspar: Collins Rides Out https://qualla.com/fort-caspar/ Lieutenant Caspar Collins was 20 years old, the son of the colonel commanding Fort Collins in Colorado. On the morning of July 26, Major Martin Anderson ordered Collins and 25 men to ride across the bridge and rescue an approaching wagon train. Everyone at the station could see w...

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]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/s/7/fort-caspar-wp/9xs7-fort-caspar-collins-rides-out.mp3 0:06 4 full Fort Caspar: A Name and Its Echo https://qualla.com/fort-caspar/ The Army renamed the post Fort Caspar in August 1865, using Lieutenant Collins' first name to distinguish it from his father's fort in Colorado. Two years later, the garrison transferred to the newly built Fort Fetterman, and the Lakota burned Guinard's bridge behind them. Louis ...

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]]> Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/9/x/s/7/fort-caspar-wp/9xs7-fort-caspar-a-name-and-its-echo.mp3 0:06 5 full