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Fort Larned National Historic Site preserves Fort Larned which operated from 1859 to 1878. It is located approximately west of Larned, Kansas, United States. ==History== The Camp on Pawnee Fork was established on October 22, 1859 to protect traffic along the Santa Fe Trail from hostile American Indians,.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=History and Culture )〕 It was renamed Camp Alert in 1860, as the small garrison of about 50 men had to remain constantly alert for Indians. In May 1860 it was moved upstream, 30 miles to the west up the Pawnee Fork, and by the end of the month was renamed Fort Larned. It served the same purpose as Camp Alert and as an agency for the administration of the Central Plains Indians by the Bureau of Indian Affairs under the terms of the Fort Wise Treaty of 1861. The fort's service ended as a combination of the tribes' relocation to reservations and the completion of railroads across Kansas that ended the need for the Santa Fe Trail. The city of Larned, Kansas and the fort that was constructed there are named in honor of Colonel Benjamin F. Larned, the paymaster general of the United States Army at the time the post was established. Larned experienced a lengthy military career, first serving as an ensign in the 21st Infantry during the War of 1812. He was promoted to the rank of captain after the defense of Fort Erie, and by 1854 Larned was a colonel and had been appointed the position of paymaster general. Despite the town and fort bearing his name, Colonel Larned ironically never came to Kansas. As the American government claimed vast amounts of land west of the Mississippi River, trade and commerce with the territories grew exponentially. According to one source in 1859, trade had risen $10,000,000 annually. In the Missouri Republican, it was reported that 2,300 men, 1970 wagons, 840 horses, 4,000 mules, 15,000 oxen, 73 carriages, and over 1,900 tons of freight left Missouri for New Mexico. It became apparent that an additional fortification was required to protect the trade routes. The location of Fort Larned was chosen by William Bent, an agent for the Upper Arkansas Indians. Bent stated, “I consider it essential to have two permanent stations for troops, one at the mouth of Pawnee Fork, and one at Big Timbers, both upon the Arkansas River....To control them (the Indians), it is essential to have among them the perpetual presence of a controlling military force.” The original structures of the fort were poorly constructed and inadequate. Built out of adobe bricks, Fort Larned consisted of an officer's quarters, two combination storehouses and barracks, a guardhouse, two laundresses' quarters, and a hospital, with a bakery and meat house being later additions. After its establishment, nearby Plains Indians began to respect the trail commerce. In August, 1861, Colonel Leavenworth, reporting from Fort Larned, stated that the Indians had left the Santa Fe trail area and that there was no apprehension of any hostilities in the near future. When the Civil War erupted in 1861, Fort Larned witnessed its first action and hostility from the Indians. Soldiers in the regular army were removed from the post to join the growing conflict in the East, leaving the fort to be operated by volunteer troops from Kansas, Colorado, and Wisconsin. Raids and harassment of travelers by Plains Indians increased during the Civil War years. On July 17, 1864, Kiowa Indians raided Fort Larned and were able to steal 172 horses and mules from the corral. The raiders were pursued but never caught. In 1865 a system of escorting wagon trains was established, and all merchants were forbidden travel westward beyond Fort Larned without an armed escort. Though the fort was never directly involved in any Civil War engagements, there was one incident that nearly brought the fighting to Larned. In May 1862, Confederate General Albert Pike arranged an alliance with some Kiowa and Seminole Indians with intentions of capturing Forts Larned and Wise. The plan was never carried out though, as the Indians left for their annual hunt when the weather improved. Fort Larned was the site of a meeting between General Winfield Scott Hancock and several Cheyenne chiefs on April 12, 1867, in which Hancock intended to impress the Dog Soldier chiefs with his military power. Following that meeting, Hancock, along with George Armstrong Custer and the 7th U.S. Cavalry traveled west of Fort Larned to a combined Cheyenne and Lakota camp, inciting the villagers to flee. Hancock ordered the village burned, beginning a summer of warfare known as Hancock's War. Fort Larned assisted in bringing Hancock's War to an end by supplying the Medicine Lodge Treaty.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Hancock's War )〕 During the winter of 1868-1869, U.S. Major General Philip H. Sheridan launched a campaign against the Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Comanche Indians in the Great Plains region. Sheridan's men attacked any who resisted, taking their supplies and livestock and pushing the remaining Indians back into their reservations. By the end of the Winter Campaign, Sheridan had successfully forced a majority of the Indians in the Fort Larned area onto reservations. Renovations to Fort Larned took place between 1866 and 1868. The original sod and adobe structures were removed and replaced with the sandstone buildings that make up the fort today. By 1871, no escorts were required for the wagon trains traveling on the Santa Fe Trail, eliminating the need for military presence in the region. The post was abandoned on July 13, 1878 and on March 26, 1883 the Fort Larned Military Reservation was transferred from the War Department to the General Land Office of the Department of the Interior. From 1885 to 1966, the buildings were used to house the headquarters of a ranch, with the owners living in the house of the commanding officer and the employees residing in what had been the officers' quarters.〔 In 1957 the Fort Larned Historical Society was founded to develop and open the site as a tourist attraction. The fort was designated as a National Landmark in 1961 and in 1964 it was incorporated as a unit of the National Park System. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fort Larned National Historic Site」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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