Bent's New Fort was a historic fort and trading post along the banks of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

in what is now

Bent County, Colorado Bent County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,650. The county seat and only incorporated municipality is Las Animas. The county is named in honor of frontier trader William Bent. Hi ...

, about nine miles west of Lamar, on the Mountain Route branch of the

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

William Bent William Wells Bent (May 23, 1809 – May 19, 1869) was a frontier trader and rancher in the American West, with forts in Colorado. He also acted as a mediator among the Cheyenne Nation, other Native American tribes and the expanding United St ...

operated a trading post with limited success at the site and in 1860 leased the fort to the United States government, which operated it as a military outpost until 1867. In 1862, it was named

Fort Lyon Fort Lyon was composed of two 19th-century military fort complexes in southeastern Colorado. The initial fort, also called Fort Wise, operated from 1860 to 1867. After a flood in 1866, a new fort was built near Las Animas, Colorado, which oper ...

. The fort was abandoned after a flood of the Arkansas River in 1867. The ruins of the fort and a portion of the

were listed as Santa Fe Trail Mountain Route-Bent's New Fort on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2016.

Description

In 1849,

built a wooden stockade for a fort and trading post. It was a U-shaped structure of three connected log cabins. The open side faced the Arkansas River. He then built a rectangular limestone or sandstone trading post and fort in the summer and early fall of 1853. Built near the Cheyenne and Arapaho camping ground,

Big Timbers Big Timbers is a wooded riparian area in Colorado along both banks of the Arkansas River that is famous as a campsite for native American tribes and travelers on the Mountain Branch of the Santa Fe Trail. Description The Spanish knew this area as ...

, the fort was a little smaller than the adobe Bent's Old Fort, which had been destroyed by fire by Bent in 1849 during a severe

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic that decimated the southern Cheyenne. The new building, with 16-foot walls, had twelve rooms built around a central courtyard. For defense, cannons sat in the corners of the roof and there were

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...

s. The new fort was built on a hill overlooking the Arkansas River with a view for miles of the

. In a defensive position, it was situated between a limestone cliff to the east and a rock bluff to the south. The fort was staffed by about ten Native American, French-Canadian, Mexican, and white American men. Described as a "motley crew", some of the men had been trappers. Most had at least one Native American wife.

History

Sufficient merchandise had arrived so that Bent could resume trading with Native Americans. However, Bent had not been able to sustain trading to the same levels of the 1830s and 1840s at the Old Fort. The steady stream of westward travelers had reduced wildlife, including buffalo. For example, cutting down cottonwood trees adversely affecting habitat for wildlife, reducing game available for hunting. The fur trade had also declined significantly. All of this resulted in hunger among Native Americans and fewer buffalo hides that could be traded for goods. For instance, the

Arapaho The Arapaho (; french: Arapahos, ) are a Native American people historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe and loosely aligned with the Lakota and Dakota. By the 1850s, Arapaho band ...

, led by

Little Raven The little raven (''Corvus mellori'') is a species of the family Corvidae that is native to southeastern Australia. An adult individual is about in length, with completely black plumage, beak, and legs; as with all Australian species of ''Corv ...

, who camped near the fort had difficulty sustaining life by 1857 and children had distended stomachs from starvation. Hunger, plans for a railroad to cut through Cheyenne and Arapaho hunting grounds, and the increased pressure of settlers resulted in apprehension among Native Americans. This new trading post was not profitable and in July 1857, Bent leased it briefly to the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and ran it again as a trading post. By 1860, an area near the fort was a distribution point for annuity goods for the Cheyenne and Arapaho, who were starving and in need of the provisions as they headed east for a buffalo hunt; "their women and children had become very faint and hungry." Bent refused to use the fort as storage facilities because it would become a potential area of conflict and theft. Annuity goods were provided by treaties in exchange for reduced access to ancestral land, such as hunting grounds. In July 1860, the Army rented the facility and used it for storage of annuity goods for the Cheyenne and Arapaho. Barracks were built around the fort and additional defensive features were added, like diamond-shaped gun emplacements on newly-erected earthenworks that surrounded the fort. It was initially named Fort Flaunteroy. It was then named Fort Wise, and finally

. The Army was located at the fort until 1867 when it moved to the new

fort following flooding of the Arkansas River. The site was not used after the Army relocated. When Bent leased the fort to the Army, he moved to south side of the Arkansas River at the mouth of the

Purgatoire River The Purgatoire River ( es, Río Purgatorio) is a river in southeastern Colorado, United States. The river is also known locally as the Purgatory River or the Picketwire River. ''Purgatoire'' means Purgatory in French. French trappers named the ri ...

near

Boggsville Boggsville is a former settlement in Bent County, Colorado, USA near the Purgatoire River about above the Purgatoire's confluence with the Arkansas River. It was established in 1866. The surviving structures are among the earliest examples of Ter ...

and built a stockade called Purgatory Stockade. He lived there until his death in 1869. All that remains are ruins of the foundation of the former fort. The fort is on private land.

Notes

References

National Register of Historic Places in Bent County, Colorado Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Colorado 1853 establishments in the United States Santa Fe Trail Bent County, Colorado Forts in Colorado Archaeological sites in Colorado