Some More On Fort Sedgwick

From Fort Wiki.

FORT SEDGWICK

1864-1871

U.S. Army post established in 1864 as the Post at Julesburg Station by Col. Christopher H. McNally, 3rd Volunteer Infantry in Sedgwick County, Colorado.  Renamed September 27, 1865, for Major General John Sedgwick., who was killed May 9, 1864, at the Battle of Spotsylvania.

Abandoned in 1871.  Also known as Camp Rankin and Fort Rankin.  (I have been unable to find out who Rankin was.)

Established May 17, 1864, as the Post at Julesburg  It was located at a strategic point where there were several river crossings.  It was also  on a branch of the Overland Trail, which was used by settlers heading west as protection from Indian attacks.

The South Platte River was about a quarter mile away.

The post was abandoned May 31, 1871, after the cessation of Indian hostilities in the area.  It was transferred to the Department of the Interior on July 22, 1884.

It is on private property.  There is one marker near Ovid and one roadside marker near the location of the post hospital alongside CR-28 in Sedgwick County, Colorado.

--Old Secesh

Robert Byington Mitchell-- Part 2: Perryville, Chicakamauga and New Mexico

After his recovery, Lincoln appointed him a brigadier general an d he was given command of a mixed brigade at Fort Riley (Kansas).    Later, he commanded a division at the Battle of Perryville and then he was stationed at Nashville for awhile after that.

During the Chickamauga Campaign, he served as George H. Thomas' chief of cavalry for the Army of the Cumberland.  Just before the Third Battle of Chattanooga, he was ordered to Washington, D.C., for court martial duty.  There is some question as to whether this was because of incapacitation due to a wound.

Either way, he did not see active duty again against the Confederates, and commanded the District of Nebraska, District of North Kansas and finally the District of Kansas.

In January 1865, he commanded a unit chasing after a group of Indians who had attacked Julesburg, Colorado but was unable to catch them.

He was honorably discharged  on January 15, 1866, the same day the Senate confirmed his nomination as Governor of the New Mexico Territory.  He resigned from it in 1869 and returned to Kansas before moving to Washington, D.C., where he died January 26, 1882, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

--Old Secesh

Robert Byington Mitchel-- Part 1: Born in Ohio, Fought in Mexican War, Wounded at Wilson's Creek

From Wikipedia.

Two posts ago, I mentioned that this general organized a group to pursue the Indians after the Battle of Julesburg.  I'd never heard of him, so Wiki me.

April 4, 1823- January 26, 1882.  Brigadier general in Union Army.  Born in Mansfield, Ohio.  Practiced law in Mansfield  Was a second lieutenant in the Mexican War with the 2nd Ohio Volunteers.

Moved to Kansas Territory where he was a legislator and treasurer.  Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charleston, S.C., in 1860.

After the Civil War started, he was adjutant general of Kansas from May 2, 1861 to June 20, 1861.   Later commanded the 2nd Kansas Infantry.  He was badly wounded at the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10, 186, when he was shot from his horse while leading his regiment.

--Old Secesh

Fort Sedgwick, Colorado

Fort Sedgwick is also known as the Post at Julesburg, Camp Rankin and Fort Rankin.  The last two were the original names.  The town of Sedgwick (pop. 146) is named after the fort, which was named after Union General John Sedgwick.  Nearby Julesburg's population is 1,225 and was named after  Jules Beni, who had a somewhat checkered life.

John Sedgwick (1813-1864) was wounded three times in the war and killed by a Confederate sharpshooter at the Battle of Spotsylvania on May 9, 1864, shortly after uttering the words, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance."

In 1864, there had been an increasing number of skirmishes between Indians and white settlers.  As a result, military base Camp Rankin was established near Julesburg with a couple sod huts.  It was renamed for General Sedgwick.

It was used after the Civil War as well.

Nothing remains of the fort today.   The original fort flagpole is now in front of the Julesburg Library and  the town also has the Fort Sedgwick Museum.

--Old Secesh

Battle of Julesburg-- Part 3: Aftermath

After the battle, Union Brigadier General Robert Byington Mitchell gathered about 650 soldiers and set off after the Indians.  On January 19, he found their camp at Cherry Creek but they had already left it.  With bitterly cold weather and 50 of his soldiers incapacitated by frostbite, he called after the chase

The Indians, meanwhile, moved north to the Black Hills.  En route, they raided and looted ranches and even attacked Julesburg again.

--Old secesh

Battle of Julesburg (Colorado)-- Part 2: An Indian Ambush and Victory

Strength:  60 U.S. soldiers and 50 civilians versus about 1,000 Indians.

This battle is kind of strange in the fact that most of the information about it comes from the Indian side.  The Indian plan was to use a decoy group of braves to lure the fort's garrison out and into an ambush.  It worked, but some young Indian warriors fired at the soldiers prematurely, alerting them to the fact that they were riding onto an ambush and they turned and rode rapidly back to the fort.

Some of the soldiers were killed before reaching safety, but the rest got back and drove off the Indians.  Losses were some 14 soldiers and 3 civilians.  It is doubtful that any Indians were lost.  All the civilians of Julesburg were in the fort and then the Indians started looting the settlement.

--Old Secesh

Battle of Julesburg (Colorado)-- Part 1: Indian Response to Sand Creek Massacre

In the last post, I wrote about two companies of Nebraska Militia being involved in a battle here and at Camp Rankin in extreme northeastern Colorado.

From Wikipedia.

The Battle of Julesburg took place January 7, 1865, near Julesburg, Co. between 1,000 Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota Indians and about 60 U.S. soldiers and 40-50 civilians.  The Indians defeated the U.S. soldiers and for the next few weeks  plundered ranches and stagecoach stations up and down  the valley of the South Platte River.

This was in response to the Sand Creek Massacre on November 29, 1865.

Julesburg was an important  way station on the Overland Trail, consisting of  a stage coach station, stables, an express and telegraph office, a warehouse and a large store catering to travelers along.  The residents of the place at the time were described as fifty men armed to the teeth.

One mile west of Julesburg was Fort (or Camp) Rankin (later Fort Sedgwick) with one company of cavalry under Captain Nicholas J. Obrien.  The fort was  only about four months old at the time, but quite formidable, measuring 240 by 360-feet and ringed by a sod wall 18 feet tall.

--Old Secesh

First Nebraska Militia

From Wikipedia.

A temporary military force organized by Territorial Governor Alvin Saunders in August 1864 during the Indian Uprising of that year which threatened travelers on the Overland Trail and settlers on the frontier.  The First Nebraska Militia reinforced the 7th Iowa Cavalry, which previously had been deployed and had constructed Fort McPherson near present-day North Platte, Nebraska and the 1st Nebraska Veteran Volunteer Cavalry.

There were two brigades in the group with four companies who served anywhere from two months to six months.  Also a company of artillery with 13 men under a captain.

Companies B and C First Nebraska Mounted were present at the January 1865 attack on Camp Rankin and Julesburg and, under the command of General Robert B. Mitchell, were part of  the force that engaged in the fruitless pursuit of marauding Indians after the battle.

--Old Secesh