Why a Fort in North Montana

 
 
Chief Joseph tells his people, "From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

            The date was July 4, 1876, exactly 100 years since the founding of the United States.  On the Northern Plains of Montana Territory near a river call the Little Big Horn, a hero of the American Civil War, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, attacked an encampment of more than 6,000 Northern Cheyenne and Sioux Indians.  More than 2,000 of the Indians were warriors and in the ensuing battle, Custer and more than 200 of his men were killed.  The battle sent shock waves throughout the United States.  Its impact could reasonably be compared to the shock Americans received when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
            News of Custer’s defeat traveled quickly and whatever sympathy might have previously existed for the plight of Indian People quickly evaporated.  The country wanted blood, Indian blood, and no price was too great to pay to force the Indians onto reservations and confiscate their land.

            To Chief Sitting Bull, Custer’s primary opponent at the Little Big Horn, the victory was also a defeat.  Realizing the consequences of his victory on public opinion and the possible repercussions that would follow, Sitting Bull and many of his followers fled to Canada.
            In September 1877, military engagements between the Nez Perce and U.S. Troops in Idaho and Montana further exacerbated the tensions between the white man and the Indian.  From their home in Washington State, five bands of Nez Perce tried to escape being placed on a reservation by fleeing east.  Their hope was to seek aid from their Crow allies in Eastern Montana.  Their plans were
thwarted however when the Crow refused to assist their former allies forcing the Nez Perce to turn north in an attempt to reach sanctuary in Canada.  The end of their 1,300 mile trek to freedom came after troops dispatched from the containment near Miles City, Montana, under the command of Col. Nelson Miles, caught up with them just north of the Bear Paw Mountains about 40 miles from the border.  The 5-day stalemate ended on Oct. 4, when Gen. Oliver D. Howard arrived on the scene with reinforcements.  Chief Joseph, one of the only remaining Nez Perce chiefs, surrendered on Oct. 5, 1877.
            Sitting Bull and the large number of Indians now hiding in the Cypress Hills just over the Canadian border caused concern among military and political leaders in the United States.  Ranchers and settlers in the area of northern Montana were also nervous suspecting that it would be all too easy for Indian raiding parties to strike south.  It was obvious a fort located near the border was essential.