Following the Civil War, the U.S. Army moved its regular soldiers back
into the posts along the trails of the American west. In what is now eastern
Wyoming, the U.S. Army gave its troops only one objective: protect the
main transcontinental lines of transportation and communication.
This Union Pacific Railroad began construction along what is now the
southern length of Wyoming in 1865 and the U.S. Army sought to keep Sioux
and Cheyenne Indians away from the rail lines by constructing a series
of forts in what is now eastern Wyoming and southern Montana in 1866.
These forts included Fort Reno (originally Fort Connor), Fort Phil Kearny,
Fort Fetterman and Fort C.F. Smith. These forts also protected the Bozeman
Trail, the shortest emigrant route to the mining fields of Montana from
Fort Laramie on the North Platte River in what is now southeastern Wyoming.
The Bozeman trail cut through the heart of the Powder River region considered
by the Sioux to be their traditional hunting grounds.
Robert Dunlap Clarke served as a paymaster in the U.S. Army following the
Civil War. In 1868 he traveled along the Bozeman trail forts to conduct
payment for the Army's troops.
Clarke kept a diary from May to July 1868 at Forts Phil Kearny, Fetterman,
Reno and C. F. Smith in present-day Wyoming. Clarke also drew sketches
of the forts and surrounding areas in his diary.
Find out more about Clark's papers held at the American Heritage Center
through the online
catalog. You may also contact or visit the Reference
Services at the American Heritage Center.
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