Qualla: Fort Reno (Wyoming)

Fort Reno (Wyoming): Introduction

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kappler, Charles J., Public domain. On August 15, 1865, Civil War veterans fresh from the Army of the Potomac began building a fort on a bluff above the Powder River. These soldiers of the 6th Michigan Cavalry had fought at Gettysburg just two years earlier. Now they found themselves in Dakota Territory, constructing sod-roofed buildings with dirt floors on the Bozeman Trail. The fort they built would become a critical link in a chain of outposts stretching into hostile territory, and within three years it would be reduced to ashes.

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Image: Kappler, Charles J. | Public domain

Fort Reno (Wyoming): From Connor to Reno

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Phil Konstantin, Public domain. The fort began life as Fort Connor, named for Brigadier General Patrick Edward Connor, commander of the Powder River Expedition. That August, the post served as the jumping-off point for soldiers who fought at the Battle of the Tongue River. By September 1865, the left, right, an...

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Image: Phil Konstantin | Public domain

Fort Reno (Wyoming): The Galvanized Yankees

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. In October 1865, the 6th Michigan handed the garrison to an unusual group of soldiers: the Galvanized Yankees. These were former Confederate prisoners of war who had sworn allegiance to the Union and agreed to serve on the frontier rather than in prisoner-of-war camps. Companies ...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Fort Reno (Wyoming): Fortifying the Powder River

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Naawada2016, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Regular Army soldiers of the 18th Infantry transformed the vulnerable outpost. They constructed a log stockade around the garrison buildings, complete with bastions on the northwest and southeast corners. They built sturdy adobe quarters for the commanding officer. The garris...

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Image: Naawada2016 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Fort Reno (Wyoming): Flames on the Prairie

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Caveman1949, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1868, the Fort Laramie Treaty ended Red Cloud's War and ceded the Powder River Country to the Lakota Sioux. Fort Reno, along with Fort Phil Kearny and Fort C.F. Smith to the north, was abandoned as a condition of peace. Shortly after the soldiers marched away in August, Cheyen...

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Image: Caveman1949 | CC BY-SA 3.0