Fort Rice was an army post situated in modern day North Dakota, on the shore of Missouri River. While I have been doing my pro grady research about the plains during US civil war, I have found out some interesting things about Fort Rice. The most famoust army posts in the plains to have been virtually under siege were of course Fort Phil Kearny, Fort Buford and Fort Wallace. How ever it seems that Fort Rice was perhaps even more tighter spot during that long year from autumn 1864 to autumn 1865. In this essey my sources are "Returns From US MIlitary Posts", which can be found in US National Archives, and published source " War of The Rebellion: A compilation of The Official Records of The Union and Confederate Armies". Because I have used only these sources my knowledge can be a bit onesided or inadequate in some point, but I am writing this essey just for my own fun so I hope I am forgiven for being a bit lazy.
During summer 1864 General Alfred Sully had commanded an expedition against hostile lakota (teton), nakota (yankton) and dakota (santee) sioux in Missouri River valley. This expedition carried on the work done a year before by Sully and colonel Sibley. Dakotas had rebelled in Minnesota in august 1862, and after defeat they had retreated west seeking shelter from their relatives, lakota`s and nakota`s. In winter 1862-63 a strong combination of hostile indians had virtually taken over Missouri Valley, and in summer 1863 Sibley and Sully lead their forces from Minnesota and Iowa against these hostiles. Sibley achieved three sound victories from the hostiles, but did not manage to crush them. Instead indiand retreated west, across Missouri River. How ever in late summer Sibley marched back to Minnesota, and dakota and nakota sioux returned to the eastern side of the river. Here general Sully, coming from south in late summer, managed to surprise a yanktonais village in a place called Whitestone Hill. Apparently the village was peacefull and didn`t suspect they were in danger of being attacked. Village was destroyed. The exact amount of casualties for indians is not known. Sully himself had counted 100 bodie and estimated the number of dead indians to be around 150. He also took 156 prisoners. Soldiers how ever took heavy losses too, 20 dead and 38 wounded. Among the dead war ltn.T.J.Leavitt, regimental adjutant of 6.Iowa cavalry. In autumn Sully marched south, and indians remained undefeated.
Therefore another expedition was needed. In summer 1864 one regiment of cavalry marched from Minnesota and Sully and his forces advanced from south along Missouri River. He was searching for indians in order to force them to fight so that they could be decisively defeated. In the same time forces of infantry were send to the area with orders to found new military posts so that army could retain control even after their expeditions would return to Iowa and Minnesota. Lakota`s and dakota`s made the mistake of meeting Sully in open battlein Killdeer Mountains, and were severely beaten but not crushed. Indians took heavy casualties and their spirit was supposedly broken. Sully lost only 2+10. In addition his engineer officer was killed before the battle, and two sentries were shot after Killdeer Mountains. When autumn was closing Sully returned to Iowa, but the newly build forts remained. Fort Rice was founded in july 1864. Probably in june 1864 was founded fort Sisseton to the inland east from Missouri river. Sisseton was also called Fort Wadsworth. In that same summer was also founded Fort Sully to Missouri river. Sully was situated between Fort Rice in north and Fort Randall in south. In spring 1865 there was also in North Dakota Fort Berthold. These were the military posts in the area.
Our first return from Fort Rice is from november 1864. So we are missing three months. How were these months in the other forts of the area? First Fort Sully. In june there was only one company of 30.Wisconsin Infantry in the post, 3+65 men. In addition there were 57 sick men who did not belong to the company. Captain David Fulton of the 30.Wisconsin was commanding, and there was also two doctors in the fort. we can suppose that those 57 sick men were from Sully`s military expedition against the indians, and had been left behind. In next month the same company was in fort, and 35 sick men. In august the situation becomes more confusing. Fulton`s company was still there with the strength of 1+49, and 1+6 sick. There were also other men in the post, 1+63, and 20 of them were sick. On of Fulton`s men died to sickness. In next month the situation changes. There was now in Fort Sully companies B and H and K, 6.Iowa Cavalry. In all, 5+151. the sick and Fulton`s company were gone. The iowans had come to stay, for they spend the winter in Fort Sully. In november the same companies were present, 6+193. Only 6 men were sick, but one had died and 5 transported away. All in all these months in Fort Sully were calm. Nothing worth mentioning happened. Apparently the post was far away from the theatre of war and also from hostiles. That also explains why only one company occupied the place for so long. There was sickness, but nothing serious.
Fort Sisseton was apparently much more dangerous place, for it was from the start occupied by five companies of Minnesota volunteers. In june the strength was 15+356. Of these 1+17 were sick. In next month already 1+20 were sick, and in addition 12 sick men had been transported away. In august three companies of 30.Wisconsin inf. were posted to Sisseton. Also 3.Minnesota Battery and two companies of 2.Minnesota Cavalry were there, all in all 16+426. In next month the wisconsinians were gone, and one battery and five cavalry companies of Minnesota volunteers were the garrison. This made 12+367, with 39 sick men and 2 died in it. In october two cavalry companies were gone. 1+9 men were sick and 24 sick men transported away. Five men had died to sickness, so we may suppose there was somekind of an epidemic in the garrison. In november company F, 1.US.Vol.Infantry arried to strengthen the garrison. Already 17 men were sick and one more had been transported away. Second ltn.R.Wood and four men had died. So the situation in sickness was serious. Indians apparently had given no harm what so ever, but the health situation gave lot`s of trouble. This wasn`t only in Sisseton and Sully, for in Fort Randell in november there were 1+36 men sick, and 1+19 had been transported away.
So in the other fortresses the situation was peacefull. They didn`t seem to have any problems besides the sickness that was spreading. War of The Rebellion also gives some knowledge from the months between july and november 1864. In late august some sioux had killed three whites near Fort Abercrombie, Minnesota. They were supposed to have come from a hostile camp in Devil`s Lake, which is quite near to Fort Sisseton. General Sibley was hoping that colonel Thomas and his regiment from Minnesota would destroy this camp while returning from Missouri river. One sioux was captured near Sisseton while trying to steal horses. In first of september major Clowney from Fort Sisseton notified that no hostile indians had been seen around the fort. This supports the view we got from the post returns that everything was peacefull. In 27.august ltn.Phillips and his company had returned from Fort Rice to to Sisseton. The company had escorted captain Fisk`S caravan there. We shall return to captain Fisk and his caravan shortly.
From 27.september there is an alarming letter from Sibley to general Pope. He had heard from both yanktonais and trustworthy white man called Campbell that military force was send to pursue escaping lakota`s. the soldiers had been ambushed and only 28 had escaped alive. We don`t know how many soldiers there were in the beginning and where this happened, but Sibley was quite sure that the news were true and that 28 had survived. If this ever really happened, it must have been near Missouri river, maybe even in Fort Rice of which we have no returns from this month. Clearly there were hostiles nearby, as soon became even more apparent. Captain Fisk had left Fort Rice in late august, trying to find a new inland route to Montana gold fields. He had 100 wagons and one company of soldiers with him. In second of september the caravan was attacked by indians who managed to surprise 2 wagons which were behind others. In this first ambush seven soldiers and two civilians were killed. In next morning 150 indians started attacking the caravan, which stubbornly continued advancing. In fourth of september there were already 250 indians, and Fisk was forced to corral his wagons. One soldier more had been killed and four wounded. Fisk send ltn.Smith to Fort Rice to ask for help. Sully`s military expedition was still in the area, and 1000 men were send to relieve captain Fisk. This was succesfully done. How ever this was a clear indication that indians were not as demoralised as soldiers thought, and they were ready to strike any whites who would invade their territory.
Probably in late september general Sully left the area and Fort Rice was left alone in the middle of hostile indian territory. The garrison how ever was strong. In november companies B, C, D, E, H and K of 1.US.Volunteer Infantry were garrisoning Fort Rice. Colonel A.R.Dinon of the same regiment was commanding the post. First regiment was formed so called galvanized yanks, that is, from enprisoned confederate soldiers who were mustered to fight indians. It would seem that such a regiment was experienced in war but discipline must have been a problem. And the regiment probably lacked any knowledge of indians.
Colonel Dinon had six companies and 16+530 men. His unit was suffering from sickness as badly as other posts. 2+31 were already sick in november. In addition 5+29 were marked as being away, with 29 of them sick and transported away. And to make it even worse, already 7 men had died to sickness and one had escaped. So Dinon`s unit was strong in paper, but already it had lost many men to sickbeds or to grave. Strangely Dinon says that indians around the posts are friendly, and only hostiles are " a few small rowing bands of santees". He apparently means friendly nations, suck as arikaras, mandans etc. when he talks about indians being friendly. Soon there would also be a group of friendly lakotas around the post. But did Dinon not know that lakotas considered this area theirs, and they were extremely hostile to the government? How could he not know, when Fisk had been corralled and fought for his life just two months earlier? It is true that Dinon and his regiment had arrived to the area only in october, but surely he must have known what had happened just a bit earlier. But there he goes saying that all the indians around the post are friendly. What ever he meant, he obviously didn`t have great knowledge about the indians or the situation in the area.
Clearly all indians were not peacefull, but maybe Dinon thought the attacks were made by santee sioux. In 28.november a party of herdsmen were returning from Cannonball river, which is near the fort, when they were attacked by indians. Ltn.Noyes from B company and master-sergeant Thompson were wounded. In next day private Townsend, C company, went missing in Cannonball river and he was supposedly captured by indians. So some group of hostile indians spend a few days around Fort Rice looking for changes to attack soldiers. In next month everything was quiet. Same companies were there, with strength of 16+518. Of these 1+41 were sick. And those 29 transported last month were still away, sick. Eight men had died because of sickness. In next month the situation got even worse. In muster list there is now 15+509 men. Of these 53 were sick and 13 arrested. 1+29 were away, sick. Again eight men had died. The sickness situation was bad, and there was also discipline problems, with many men arrested.
But january 1865 was not the highpoint of Dinon`s problems. His only consolation must have been that indians left him in peace. Perhaps he really thought that the natives were friendly, but it is more likely that they were not fighting because it was winter, and indians traditionally didn`t like to fight during that season. There were some obvious reasons for this, like the fact that it was so hard to move in thick snow and it was so easy to follow tracks during winter. So probably Dinon and his sick soldiers were left alone because of a tradition. This in a time when they were extremely vulnerable! In february Fort Rice was even more in trouble. In muster list there is 15+503 men, 61 of them sick! 1+28 were still away, sick, and 6 had died. In february 22.1865 private F.Conner, D company, was wounded by indians on Cannonball river. He later died of his wounds. Probably some small group of indians visited the area and surprised a herdsman.
If soldiers were having troubles in february, they were almost overcome by problems in march. Six companies could now muster 15+483. Incredibly 177 men were sick and 14 arrested. This left only 15+292 for active duty. Further 6+38 were marked as being away, 1+28 sick and 8 arrested. Fourteen men had died in hospital. The situation steadily worsened in april 1865. Now six companies could muster only 15+464. Even more men than month before were sick, all in all 223. Also 13 men were arrested. This left a relatively small force of 228 for active duty. Things come to their proportions when we remembered that in november there were 500 for active duty, which 68 men already incapable for duty. So the amount of men originally intented to be able to hold their own in Fort Rice and to protect the area was about 570, whereas there was in april 1865 only 228 men and 15 officers to do it. Clearly winter 1864-64 was a missed opportunity for lakotas, with only a skeleton force of soldiers to occupie the area. In april 16 men died to sickness. And now hostiles reappeared around Fort Rice. About april colonel Dinon calmly mentions that "the cheynne and platte river indians have been troublesome during this month in the immediate vicinity of this post". Wether the indians really were platte rier indians ie.oglala and brule lakotas, is doubtfull. This still supports the strange idea that Dinon didn`t really realise who he was fighting against. Platte river indians were during this time in Powder river valley, and much more interested about attacking Overland route in south than Fort Rice in north. Rice must have seemed for them rather unimportant. In the other hand during this time there were no attack in south, so if Platte tribes were in fact attacking Fort Rice this could explain it. But it were hunkpapa lakotas and their allies who were furious about Fort Rice being build in the middle of what they considered their land, and it was them who started attacking the post. How ever, at least according to Dinon it were the northern cheyennes who made the first attack.
So in april lakotas and cheyennes finally started to harash the fort in the middle of their land. The winter was over and it was time to fight. The situation must have seemed worrying for the troops in the post, with only 228 men fit for duty. Clearly the easiest targets were the men who were outside the post, herdsmen, sentries, messengers and so on. Traditionally is was totally against the mentality of the naties to attack the fort itself. In 14.april about 200 cheynnes attacked herdsmen about 1/4 miles from fort, killind private J.Odum, B company, and private W.Hughes, C company. Large number of horses were driven off by the indians. Cheynnes also attacked woodcutters but were driven off without losses. This was often the problem for indians. They were (sensibly) afraid of taking casualties themself so it was possible even for a small force to drive them off.
Another attack was made in 26.april. There were again about 200 indians, but which nation or tribe is not mentioned. They attacked a force of mounted infantry herding their horses about a mile from the post. This time soldiers how ever had picked a good place and were able to spot the indians in advance. Soldiers took a defensive position in a hill and awaited attack. Indians charged many times, but manged only to wound one soldier and capture two horses and two mules. Eight indians were killed or wounded. Woundd soldier was private H.Waters. Clearly these two attacks were only raids aimed to steal animals from soldiers.
In may two companies of 1.US.Vols. left the post. Long winter was over but the serious sickness situation still continued. Four companies mustered 10+301 men. Of these 1+90 were sick and 15 arrested. Nine men had died of sickness. This makes from november 1864 to may 1865 68 men died because of sickness. This is a lot. During may Fort Rice reported the indians still "troublesome". Now the indians were not merely raiding, but had more serious goals. This might support Dinon`s claim that the raiders last month came from south. They were not trying to make life of soldiers hard, but just wanted to steal horses and go back to their homes. But now the attacks became more continuous. IN 5.may the mail carrier send to Fort Berthold wa attacked and escaped back to Fort Rice. A bit later the mail from Rice to Fort Sully was captured by indians. If there were casualties it is not mentioned. This might mean that indians were keeping eye on both northern and southern routes from Fort Rie. ON 19.may, at night, the pickets of the post were attacked and private Cumby, company C, was seriously wounded. In next day hostiles, mostly santee sioux, attacked Two Bears band of friendly lakotas who camped near Fort Rice. Santees were repulsed. In 26.may indians attacked woodloggers. This time the attackers were recognised as minneconjou and hunkpapa lakotas and yanktons. Indians were repulsed, but ltn.B.Wilson, C company, was mortally wounded and died six days later. In this month colonel Dinon also asked for strong cavalry reinforcements to the area.
In june there was heavy fighting in Fort Rice. There were stil four companies of 1.US.Vols. in the post, but they were reinforced woth one company of 6.Iowa Cavalry. Infantry was 5+279 strong, plus additional 1+46 men of the cavalry. This company clearly was not the strong reinforcement colonel Dinon had wanted in order to take offensive, but it was better than nothing. And soon it was needed. In first of june "several warparties" appeared around the fort. Mounted infantry and about 60 indian allies and two companies of infantry were advanced to the heights around the post. While the soldiers advanced the indians fell back. They made just one stand but after some cannon shells they retreated. There were no casualties. At this time the company of 6.Iowa was not in Fort Rice yet. They arrived in 8.june. In 20.june hostiles had a skirmish with friendly indians and one hostile was wounded.
In next month Fort Rice was reinforced with three companies of 4.US.Vols. Eight companies mustered 15+565 men. Of them 45 were sick, so the health problem was not over. Also 9+118 were marked as away, 59 of them sick. Most of july was peacefull. Sully was again operating in Missouri valley, and had probably driven the indians towards south. In 27.july the hostiles returned, trying to steal horses. They were driven away. Most likely the main force of hunkpapas was already in the ara and war-chiefs could not stop some of their warriors from sneaking away to steal horses. In next day several cheynne and sioux war-parties appeared simultaniously from north, south and west. There were about 600 hundred of them. Some indians attacked the horse-herd but herders held their own untill reinforcements arrived. Indians were driven back for several miles untill about 200 warriors made a stand and engaged the troops. Several charges and even hand to hand combat followed. After one and half hours hard fighting the indians were repulsed. Private Hoffman, company C, 4.US.Vols. was killed. Private J.Hofstudler, C company, 4.US.Vols. and private J.Blair, company G, 6.Iowa Cavalry were wounded. This was the last fight in that hard year. During summer the troops had been virtually surrounded by hostile indians, and during winter they had been surrounded by hard weather. How ever in autumn 1865 Missouri river valley was still firmly in the hands of US army.