Fort Lincoln was established about August 24, 1861, by

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James Lane. Earlier in August, Lane had reestablished Fort Scott as a military post. Soon

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troops under

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Sterling Price Major-General Sterling "Old Pap" Price (September 14, 1809 – September 29, 1867) was a senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western and Trans-Mississippi theaters of the American Civil War. Prior to ...

threatened to overrun the newly reopened post. Lane moved 1200 troops, most of the citizens of the town of Fort Scott, and some refugees from

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to a point 15 miles northwest of Fort Scott. On some low ground on the north side of the

Little Osage River The Little Osage River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 31, 2011 tributary of the Osage River in eastern Kansas and western Missouri in the United States. Via ...

, Fort Lincoln was established. The post was named for

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Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

. Lane was criticized for choosing such a low spot, because it was difficult to see enemy troops coming and the area was prone to flooding during periods of heavy rains. The post consisted of a number of buildings surrounded by a earthwork embankment. One large blockhouse was relocated to the town of Fort Scott about 1864 to help protect it and the post of Fort Scott. The town of Fort Lincoln was also established by Lane outside the post in 1861. Once the threat to Fort Scott disappeared in September 1861, Lane took most of his troops from Fort Lincoln, leaving about 300 infantry and cavalry troops. In 1862, Lane's force was disbanded and the post was occupied by black Union soldiers, who guarded the post as a prisoner of war camp. Many Confederates were incarcerated there. In April 1863 the black troops were replaced by white troops. Between May and August 1863 the military abandoned the use of Fort Lincoln. After its abandonment, George Walrod moved his family inside the fort. Walrod garrisoned the post as a one-man operation. Walrod died in October 1863 and in the winter a militia was formed in the area. The militia probably made use of Fort Lincoln until its destruction by retreating Confederates under Price on October 25, 1864. It was never rebuilt and the town of Fort Lincoln eventually disappeared.Chase, pp. 134-5; George N. Rowley, ''Cemetery Records'' (N.p: ca. 1938), p. 426; Col. Thomas Moonlight, report, ''The War of the Rebellion'' (1893), Series I, Vol. XLI, Part I, p. 594; "Outrages at Fort Lincoln," ''Daily Monitor'' (Fort Scott), November 1, 1864, p. 2; "Editorial Correspondence," ''Daily Monitor'', January 6, 1865, p. 2.

References

{{Kansas in the Civil War

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

Buildings and structures in Bourbon County, Kansas

1861 establishments in Kansas

See also

References