Qualla: Fort Custer

Fort Custer: Introduction

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Everitt, E. F. -- Photographer, Public domain. The soldiers who built Fort Custer in 1877 worked in the shadow of fresh tragedy. Just miles away, Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and 268 of his men had been killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn the previous summer. Now the army was constructing a permanent presence on an elevated plateau overlooking the confluence of the Bighorn and Little Bighorn rivers, naming it for the fallen officer whose defeat had shocked the nation. The irony was not lost on anyone.

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Image: Everitt, E. F. -- Photographer | Public domain

Fort Custer: Built from the Land Itself

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown Photographer (Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument), Public domain. Lieutenant Colonel George P. Buell arrived by steamer in June 1877 with four companies of the 11th Infantry and a force of mechanics and laborers. His orders were to build the post from materials found in the country. The men cut cottonwood logs, baked bricks on site, and sawed l...

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Image: Unknown Photographer (Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument) | Public domain

Fort Custer: The Plateau in the Fork

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Everitt, E. F. -- Photographer, Public domain. Buell had been instructed to place the fort on the left bank of the Bighorn, near the mouth of the Little Bighorn. Upon arrival, he surveyed the entire area and chose differently. An extensive elevated plateau in the fork of the two streams offered superior advantages for defense...

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Image: Everitt, E. F. -- Photographer | Public domain

Fort Custer: Garrison Life and Service

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown Photographer (Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument), Public domain. The Second Cavalry Regimental Headquarters arrived in November 1877, along with companies of the 11th Infantry. The fort supplied troops for Plains campaigns including the Bannock War of 1878. In January 1881, Lieutenant Charles F. Roe led Troop M from Fort Custer to the Little B...

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Image: Unknown Photographer (Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument) | Public domain

Fort Custer: A Fort Becomes a Town

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided, Public domain. On April 17, 1898, Fort Custer closed after twenty-one years of operation. The buildings were sold, and their materials were hauled away to construct the town of Hardin, Montana. Today, the fort site lies within the Crow Indian Reservation, marked only by scattered cellars and gr...

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Image: Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided | Public domain