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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings

	FORE LEAVENWORTH Kansas
Leavenworth County, on the eastern edge of Leavenworth. U.S. Army

Ownership and Administration. U.S. Government; Department of Defense.

Significance. Founded in 1827 to protect caravans on the Santa Fe Trail and to help maintain a "permanent Indian frontier," this fort was the central one in a chain ranging from Fort Snelling, Minn., to Fort Jesup, La., that the Army established in the 1820's and 1830's. From that time to the present it has been a major U.S. Army installation. A significant post in the trans-Mississippi West, it figured prominently in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains, the Mexican War, and the Civil War, and later became a major training center.

As early as 1824 citizens of Missouri petitioned Congress for the activation of a military post at the Arkansas Crossing for the protection of the traders on the Santa Fe Trail. Three years later the Secretary of War ordered the erection of a fort near the western boundary of Missouri to meet the petitioners' needs and quell Indian disturbances. Col. Henry Leavenworth selected a site to the north of Arkansas Crossing, and his troops built a post called Cantonment Leavenworth, later Fort Leavenworth. Strategically located on the Missouri River near the eastern terminus of the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails, for many years it was a key frontier post. From 1827 to 1839 it was headquarters of the Upper Missouri Indian Agency, which had jurisdiction over all the tribes in the Upper Missouri and Northern Plains region, and was the scene of many conferences and treaty councils. Exploring expeditions that used it as a base of operations between 1829 and 1845 included Maj. Bennett Riley's expedition along the Santa Fe Trail, Col. Henry Dodge's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, and Col. Stephen W. Kearny's expedition to Cherokee country and to South Pass and the Rockies.

During the Mexican War the fort was the departure point and supply base for General Kearny's "Army of the West," which occupied New Mexico and California. Following the war the fort was the chief supply depot for Army posts in the West, and in 1854 served as temporary capital of the Territory of Kansas. During the Civil War the Confederates twice threatened the fort, which after the war continued to be a major supply depot. From 1860 to 1874 it was an ordnance arsenal; from 1874 to 1878 the quartermaster depot for the Military Division of the Missouri; and after 1881 a school for infantry and cavalry, reorganized in 1901 as the General Service and Staff School. In the 20th century it has served as an officers' school, induction, and training center. It is a Registered National Historic Landmark relating primarily to Indian-military affairs in the trans-Mississippi West.

Present Appearance. Among the noteworthy historic structures at the fort are the post chapel, erected in 1878; the original home of the General School for Officers; the enlisted men's barracks, constructed between 1881 and 1889; the Syracuse House, built in the late 1860's; and a portion of a wall of the original fort. One of the old cavalry stables at the fort now serves as a transportation museum.

NHL Designation: 12/19/60