Volume 12 , Issue 42

Fort Supply History

This is what I found at the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS), concerning the History of Fort Supply.

This historic Fort Supply was established, November 18, 1868, as "Camp of Supply" for the winter campaign against the Southern Plains Indians in what is now western Oklahoma.

Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer led the 7th US Cavalry south to the Washita River and destroyed the village of Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle. This article stated, "Camp Supply was the temporary seat of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indian Agency in 1869 and early 1870. Soldiers patrolled the region in an effort to contain the tribesmen and keep out trespassers. Buffalo hunters, timber and horse thieves, whiskey traders, and "Boomers" were a continual threat to stability in Indian Territory during the period."

It goes on to state, "The post served as a supply point for the Red River War of 1874-1875, the final struggle in the control by conquest of the tribes of the Southern Plains. In 1878, an unsuccessful attempt to stop the flight of Northern Cheyenne from the reservation precipitated the last battle between Indians and the U.S. soldiers in Indian Territory."

Cavalry escorted may cattle drives along the Western or Texas Trail on their journey from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas. There were many grazing leases held by cattlemen on Indian lands and the Cherokee Outlet.

Fort Supply was the transportation and communication hub that included southwest Kansas, Texas Panhandle and western Indian Territory. Roads and telegraph lines were built by tropes and linked the forts, reservations and region's settlements. Stage coaches, freight haulers and travelers were protected as they moved along the trails.

In 1893, the lands of the Cherokee Outlet were opened to non-Indian settlement. Troops at Fort Supply were used to police the operation as their last major task for the soldiers. The Fort Supply post was abandoned and turned over to the Department of the Interior.

In 1908, the old post became the State of Oklahoma's first state-operated mental institution with the arrival of the first patients. It was in 1969, the Oklahoma Historical Society assumed responsibility for the five remaining army period buildings for restoration. Since 1998, the William S. Key Correctional Center, a minimum security prison facility, occupies most of the old post and hospital grounds.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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