Fort Union Trading Post Historic Structures Report (Part II) Historical Data Section

As Fort Union approached its 25th birthday, there were signs of coming change on the upper Missouri. There were still immense herds of buffalo, but white men's civilization was beginning to encroach on the homelands of the plains Indians. In 1853 Fort Union played host to a group of explorers surveying for a railroad route.

The arrival of Isaac I. Stevens' party almost rivaled in show the parades of the Assiniboins in former days:

During the march in, the governor took his horse, the first time in several days, and rode at the head of the Column. An American flag, made on the way, to the manufacture of which I contributed a red flannel, was carried in the foreward rank, and flags, with appropriate devices, representing the parties carrying them, were respectively carried by the various corps. The Engineer party, a long locomotive running down a buffalo, with the motto 'Westward Ho!' Our meteorological party--the Rocky Mountain, with a barometer mounted. . . with inscription 'Excelsior.' The astronomical party had a device representing the azure field dotted with stars, the half-moon and a telescope. . . . Teamsters, packmen, hunters, and etc., also carried their insignia. . . .

Stevens' description of the fort was a hurried one and does not deserve very much emphasis. For example, he described the bastions as being at the northwest and southeast corners of the fort, the north side as being the front, and the size as being "probably 250 feet square." Of more interest is Stevens' impression of Alexander Culbertson, "a man of great energy, intelligence, and fidelity, and possesses the entire confidence of the Indians." Mrs. Culbertson, "a full-blood Indian of the Blood band of the Blackfoot tribe, is also held in high estimation. Though she appears to have made little or no progress in our language, she has acquired the manners. . . of the white race with singular facility." [1]

With Stevens was John Mix Stanley, the principal artist of the trip. Not only did Stanley sketch the fort and the Assiniboins receiving their annuities, he made the first daguerreotypes of the fort and area. Stevens noted that "the Indians were greatly pleased with their daguerreotypes." Unfortunately, these pictures are not known to exist today. They possibly were destroyed in the 1865 Smithsonian fire that consumed over 200 of Stanley's western paintings. [2]

Another group of Army explorers arrived at Fort Union in 1856 aboard the St. Mary. Along with Lt. G. K. Warren and his 17 enlisted men of the 2d Infantry was F. V. Hayden, who later would become famous for his western explorations. Warren did not have very much to do while at Union; he did set up a 16-inch transit and took observations "during a whole lunation; but owing to the cloudy condition of the nights during the time, and the shortness of the nights themselves, only two sets of observations were obtained on the moon and stars." He did record the longitude of the fort as being 104° 02', with a limit of error of about 10'. This measurement is of interest for, nearly 100 years later, there was still confusion as to whether the fort site was in North Dakota or Montana. [3] Hayden made estimates as to the size of the various bands of Assiniboins. The results of the smallpox were still evident; his estimation of the entire population came to a little over 2,000. [4]

Hayden did not mention if he met Indian Agent Edwin A. C. Hatch who was waiting at Fort Union for the St. Mary to take him up river. Hatch, who appears to have been utterly bored with his job, did mention one or two incidents of that summer. About a month before the boat arrived, two men went out to hunt for stolen horses, "Mr. Chambers returned clothed in a silk handkerchief--Shucette in pants and shirt--they were surprised by a war party and Shucette lost my horse and Chambers the one he rode."

Later, Hatch met Jim Bridger, "the old guide and mountain trapper " himself. Bridger was on the upper river that year with Lord George Gore, who was a few days behind at this time. Hatch had an opportunity to visit with Bridger (who apparently stopped at Fort William rather than at Union) and "was much amused with some of his tales of mountain life." [5]

This was the same summer that Edwin Denig decided to retire. He was still a relatively young man, but he had been on the upper Missouri almost a quarter of a century. He, Culbertson, Larpenteur, and a few others were among the last of those who had memories of the early Upper Missouri Outfit. Besides running the fort, discussing art and religion with men like Kurz, and writing detailed descriptions of the fort for Audubon, Denig had spent considerable time compiling all he knew about the Indian tribes of the upper Missouri. Theme documents later came to have a very great importance to ethnologists, among whom Denig may be ranked with the beat.

Another contribution of Denig's was his painstaking efforts to assist scientists to collect and prepare specimens for study. The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C., received during these years a considerable number of skins and skulls of the mammals and birds found on the upper Missouri that Denig had prepared.

Now it was time to say goodbye to old friends like Culbertson. John Ewers suspects it was Culbertson who, on a visit to his Pennsylvania home in 1832, persuaded his neighbor, Denig, to join the American Fur Company. Denig himself had almost no family to return to; he and his Indian wife would move to Canada. [6]

Denig picked a good year to leave. A few months later, in January 1857, his replacement, James Kipp, again, wrote to St. Louis to describe the renewed horror of a smallpox epidemic. The opposition's steamboat had brought the pox up to Fort William, "instead of putting their sick ashore" farther down. The disease had begun to spread among the Assiniboins in November; "the loss up to time of writing is estimated at 300 souls." Also, the Crows, who had escaped the 1837 epidemic, were suffering greatly. The Indians scattered far and wide in an effort to escape. The result would be, thought Kipp, a reduction in trade by about one half.

In addition to the smallpox, another trouble had arrived in the form of 400 Sioux. On December 1, 1856, they "stole all our horses, wounded one of our people. . . killed an Assiniboine back of the fort;--they also killed a free white man, trapping on the Yellow Stone, about 8 miles from this place." [7]

As troublesome as the Sioux were becoming, there was from time to time more violence among the employees themselves. Larpenteur described the three-day Christmas party of 1858 when he, as usual, was the sober bartender:

At the height of the spree the tailor and one of the carpenters had a fight in the shop, while others took theirs outside, and toward evening I was informed that Marseillais, our hunter, had been killed and thrown into the fireplace. We immediately ran in, and, sure enough, there he was, badly burned and senseless, but not dead yet.

The bourgeois had the tailor and a carpenter arrested and placed in irons. Later, they received a "trial by jury," were found guilty, and administered 39 lashes each. [8]

Carl Wimar, a German immigrant living in St. Louis, came up the river in 1858, but too early for the Christmas party. He published an account of his journey in a German newspaper; however, it did not describe the fort in any detail. More importantly, Wimar was a very good artist and he sketched six of the company's Missouri river forts. The original sketches have not been found; fortunately they were printed in Chittenden's work on Peter De Smet. [9]

Still another artist followed Wimar to Fort Union, in 1860. This was William Jacob Hays of New York who traveled on the Spread Eagle that summer. Like Wimar, he left no written descriptions of importance, but he did execute at least one sketch and one very fine oil of the fort, both included in this report. [10]

The Army made a brief appearance at Fort Union in the summer of 1860 when Capt. William F. Raynolds and 1st Lt. Henry E. Maynadier of the Yellowstone Expedition camped for two weeks near the junction of the two rivers. The troops called their site Camp Humphreys, "in honor of the distinguished officer in charge of the Bureau of Explorations and Surveys."

The officers visited Bourgeois Robert Meldrum at the fort and purchased such supplies as flour, sugar, and coffee. Since they were to go down the river on boats, Raynolds sold his forty horses to Fort Union at $5 each. Lieutenant Maynadier was surprised at the good order of life at the fort, especially on the evening of August 4 when he attended a ball; "Although the ladies were the daughters of the forest, they were attired in the fashionable style of the States, with hoops and crinoline." The troops left on August 15, "As soon as the bow of the boat swung round the flag was unfurled, which was the signal for a salute. The flag on the fort was run up and guns fired as long as we were in sight." [11]

The number of boats on the upper Missouri increased considerably as the United States became more deeply involved with the Civil War. A number of citizens of Missouri with Confederate sympathies, or, perhaps more correctly, who did not have strong Union sympathies, undertook to migrate to the Pacific Slope. The discovery of gold in Idaho and western Montana gave further stimulus to travel. Besides the Oregon Trail, travelers could reach the Pacific Northwest with increasing ease by taking a steamboat all the way to Fort Benton then continuing on Mullan's Road to their destination. For these travelers, Fort Union became but a way stop. Still, it was an impressive place; and a number of descriptions appeared in the journals and letters of the time.

One such visitor in 1861 was John Mason Brown who traveled up river on the Spread Eagle. As they slipped by Fort William, the passengers noted that it had finally been abandoned; the last of the opposition had given up. Then came Fort Union; "Salutes passed between boat and Fort. No Indians in the neighborhood who should be here to receive annuities, viz Crows & Assiniboins. Sioux lurking about."

Brown met the bourgeois, Robert Meldrum, whom he thought to be a pleasant man. Meldrum showed Brown his "snow machine," but Brown did not explain what it was. He did not think much of the fort's defenses, "The two bastions utterly unfit for the 4 pounders which they contain." He misjudged the size of the fort considerably (100 x 200 yards) but allowed it was well arranged. He was very much "Amused at a tame Grizzly Bear kept at the Fort who diverted himself by boxing the pigs and frightening the horses of a few Assinaboins who came in last evening."

The fur trade interested him somewhat, and Brown found that "the trade of this post has been steadily declining for some years, the Indians finding it more convenient to traffic higher up the river." The Chippewa, a shallow-draft steamboat, arrived to take passengers and supplies up the river; the Spread Eagle took on 24,000 robes "principally from Fort Benton brought down in Mackinac boats" [12] and left for St. Louis.

Another visitor who saw the "pet" grizzly in 1861, before she got away, was W. H. Schieffelin. He and two companions, W. M. Cary and an E. N. Lawrence, all from New York City, were on a travel adventure that eventually took them to the Pacific coast then home by way of Panama. Cary sketched the sights they saw, while Schieffelin wrote of their experiences. They had meant to remain at Fort Union only long enough for the Chippewa to load. They left on schedule, but the Chippewa exploded and sank destroying 80 of Cary's sketches. The adventurers returned to Fort Union for another six weeks waiting for other means to continue their trip.

They spent the six weeks hunting, riding, and becoming acquainted with Indians. At one time a large band of Assiniboins came in and camped. The whites witnessed the Indian dances and horse races. The troublesome Sioux were still in the area. On one occasion, a party of haymakers came across three wounded white trappers, only a few miles from the fort. At another time, unidentified Indians successfully stole six horses from the fort's herd.

Before leaving, the young men invested $10 in a party for the entire fort staff, "The orchestra consisted of one old fiddle and a fife, played by several volunteers. . . . The old trappers and their squaws seemed to enjoy the dancing more than [the visitors]. . . there was no round dancing, or German." Schieffelin described the scene, "The dancers all wore solemn faces, and worked as if earning wages. They jumped, stamped, slapped their thighs and clapped their hands. . . . In fact, the dance was a sort of mixture of negro breakdown and Irish jig." The sponsors were told that the party was a complete success, "inasmuch as it ended in a fight and a stabbing affray." [13]

Later that year, the Sioux approached Fort Union with aggression in mind. This time about 250 of them "killed 25 head of cattle, burnt all the out houses & 280 Tons of Hay and two Mac Kinaw Boats." According to the report, they attempted to set fire to the fort itself, but left when one of them was killed and two others wounded. The damage would have been more extensive had not 65 cattle and 27 horses been dispatched to Fort Benton just two days earlier. [14]

James Harkness, a member of the firm of La Barge, Harkness & Co., stopped at Fort Union in June 1862. He reported that the past winter had been extremely cold and that the Indians had suffered a loss of 500 horses because of the storms. It was his opinion that the "fort is on a good site, but fast going to decay." He too noted the increasing menace of the Sioux, saying that the fort personnel no longer went outside the walls without being fully armed. [15]

Henry A. Boller, who had been at Fort Union in 1858, returned for a visit in 1863. In contrast to John Mason Brown, Boller thought the fort was very strong, "The bastions were of stone, and the massive and substantial pickets were braced and secured in the strongest manner." He referred to the bourgeois' house as an "ornamental" building, and recalled with pleasure that "around its hospitable board and on its balcony, during the pleasant summer evenings, was gathered a social circle." His own quarters were in one of the bastions, "which commanded a most extensive and delightful view." This was the first notice of a guest being put up in the bastion. Sometime between 1853 and 1858, the roof of the southwest bastion had been raised and a wooden-walled room, in effect a third story, added. Perhaps this was the room given Boller.

He commented on the state of trade, confirming the opinions of other recent travelers: "Fort Union, in 1863, was (and had been for several years past) simply a Post for the Assiniboine Indians, and as they are notoriously poor robe-makers, its trade had fallen away very considerably." Then, too, there were the Sioux, who staged a raid while Boller was present.

One September morning he was in the bastion cleaning his weapons and resting. Suddenly, he realized that some half-breed children, who had been playing outside, were all crying. "In a half-hesitating manner I stepped out upon the gallery. What a sight met my gaze! The whole sandbar seemed literally alive with naked savages, who. . . were making directly for the Fort!"

The cook and his Indian wife had gone down to the river to get kettles of water. The Sioux chased the poor couple, but they apparently escaped when Boller fired into the leading warriors wounding two. Also endangered were the wood-choppers and a few men who had gone upstream to hunt and fish. All managed to get back to the fort safely. It was not really an attack, but a very good scare.

Raids of this type had become so frequent, Boller noted, that Fort Union no longer bothered to keep milk cows and had abandoned the garden completely. The time was close when a few soldiers would be most welcome. [16]

Gen. John Pope, in 1863, directed campaigns against the Sioux farther downstream, in retaliation for their violent attacks on Minnesota settlements in 1862. Although meeting with some success, Pope decided that he would have to mount new campaigns in 1864. Part of his plan was to establish additional army forts along the Missouri. Indian Agent Samuel Lotta thought this an excellent idea. He recommended Fort Union as an ideal place for a military post. From there, the troops could keep a watch on British traders and on any Southern sympathizers that might be at Union, as well as protect the area from the Sioux. [17]

Gen. Alfred Sully led between two and three thousand men across the Little Missouri Badlands toward the Yellowstone river in the summer of 1864. His intentions were to defeat any Sioux encountered, then to build a permanent post on the Yellowstone. Meanwhile, supplies came up the Missouri by boat and were stored at Fort Union.

The overland march was exhausting; dysentery appeared in the command. By the time the troops reached the Yellowstone on August 12, they were worn, hungry, and dispirited. Two steamers were waiting for them, which raised morale greatly. Sully decided not to build a fort that season but to move down the Yellowstone to its mouth, and then continue home. [18]

Company I, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, had arrived at Fort Union in June to guard the military supplies until Sully arrived. When Sully did appear, he was not at all impressed with Fort Union as a potential site for a permanent army post. To him, it was too far run down and not at the best location. At the junction of the rivers, on the sites of old Forts William and Mortimer, he picked out an area that he thought would be more suitable on which to build. It was here that the Army built Fort Buford two years later. [19]

At least two men in Sully's command recorded their impressions of Fort Union. Amos R. Cherry, Company B, 14th Iowa Infantry, wrote on August 18, "Crossed [Missouri) River. Arms and Equipment carried over in 'Yawl.' Horses swim across river. All pass safely. Fort Union is very pretty place indeed nice painted in fine style." Two days later Volunteer Overholt took a look around Fort Union, "it is an old French fort and was built for an Indian mission in eighteen thirty." However Overholt did not give an opinion as to whether he thought it dilapidated as did his general, or pretty as did Cherry. [20]

Sully's command moved on down the Missouri, while Company I remained behind to guard the supplies that had been meant for the fort that was not built. Thirty years earlier, Charles Larpenteur had kept a detailed diary during a very active period at Fort Union; now he was back and again he would log the daily events for the next year--a year in which fur trader and soldier tried to live side by side. Larpenteur was a clerk on that earlier occasion, now he was bourgeois; however, Fort Union was not quite the establishment it had been in McKenzie's day. When Larpenteur arrived at Union early in the morning of May 31, 1864, he found "not a Single horse nor ox team to haul up the freight and but very few men about the Fort," and most of them drunk. He was driven to getting the squaws to help him.

June started off in a grand order. The Assiniboins arrived on June 4 for trade and, like in the old days, "very fine dances given in the fort to the whites." Meanwhile, the Indians camped below the garden ravine, where Larpenteur was able to gather some asparagus. Indian Agent Mahlon Wilkinson issued the annual annuities at a council on June 11.

Then, on June 13, the Yellowstone arrived and Larpenteur described the sudden blossoming of "two fine rows of tents. . . in the Center of the Fort." Company I, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, had arrived. The government's and the company's supplies were stored in the supply rooms, and Larpenteur sat back to watch the troops, more of whom arrived on the Well Come on July 17. Two days later, the traders witnessed "a dress parade and inspection." Larpenteur thought "the drill was very well performed and the Indians were quite pleased."

Twenty-nine years earlier, Larpenteur had witnessed the construction of the storerooms. Now, in the afternoon of June 30, "a great crash was heard in the Stores." When he investigated, he discovered "that the principal Beam which supported the Joists had given away which occasioned all the Joists to break off in the middle." However, except for boxes of soap and candles, the damage was not as bad as it had first seemed. Within a few days the broken joists were removed and props were placed under the main beam.

Over the years, July 4 had often passed unobserved at Fort Union. In the heyday of the fur trade, the fort's personnel were usually too busy to take more than note of the holiday. The Army's policy was somewhat different. On the morning of July 4, Larpenteur was awakened "very early by the firing of Six Cannons which broke several pains of glass in the Fort." That was but the beginning. After dark that evening, the "Captain had two Shells fired;" these were followed by "fire balls." As late as July 7, the sober bourgeois noted that there was still considerable drinking going on.

Despite the presence of the soldiers, Larpenteur tried to arrange his business as it had always been done at the post. He directed his men (sometimes helped by soldiers) to clean out the interior of the post, had some haul wood, others to prepare and fire charcoal pits, and he took an inventory of the supplies. During the inventory, he discovered "that Something like fifty vials of Strychnac had been stolen out of the Medisene cupboard."

On July 14, he noted that the second (of about four) editions of the Frontier Scout was published by Robert Winegar and Ira F. Goodwin of Company I. Larpenteur regretted there was not more news at Fort Union to encourage them to publish more often. [21]

A band of 25 Sioux upset the equilibrium of the post at dawn, July 23. They rushed the horse guard and captured all 17 horses, "passing them within one hundred yards of the Fort." Two detachments of soldiers gave chase later but they accomplished nothing. At least it would make some news for the paper.

Larpenteur had noted that the river was changing its course--closer toward the fort he hoped. But on July 25, when there were no fewer than five steamboats at Union--Bell Peoria, Chippewa Falls, Alone, General Grant, and the Benton--the men were "obliged to make half loads [of the cargoes] in order to cross over the bar in front of the Fort."

Three weeks later, he noted the arrival of Sully's army, surely the largest number of men to pass by Fort Union in many a year. It was Larpenteur's opinion that Sully had "done but little or nothing with the Sioux." On the other hand, he learned that nine men drowned trying to cross the Yellowstone, and one more lost his life crossing the Missouri to Fort Union. Soon, the troops were gone and "none but Company I and the Fort Union men on hand."

Larpenteur made note of the several construction projects undertaken by the troops. They erected their own store rooms "next to the pickets," set up a sawmill, built "another root house or an underground Store room," and made hay. At the same time, Larpenteur's own men made hay, built a roof for the hay mow, and put a new covering of earth on the stables. On September 7, he "employed the Carpenter at making a flight of Stairs to go up to the uper Story [of the bourgeois house] without going in to the main entrense." These steps appeared in the only known photograph of the house, taken two years later.

Around the middle of September, the Crows came in and a second annuity council was held. Larpenteur then commenced trading. He procured enough robes that the Army cleared its supplies out of the company's warehouse so that the robes could be stored. About this time, the blacksmith left the post, "not being willing to do as he was required to do."

As the cooler days of autumn approached, the soldiers turned to building themselves winter quarters. They rafted logs down the river, worked very hard at putting up the buildings, and had their houses finished by October 1, except for the bunks. They then turned to the construction of wooden quarters for the officers, a blacksmith shop, an ice house, and the weatherboarding of their "flour and stuff stored under the Fort gallery."

Larpenteur's own men undertook a multitude of tasks at this time: hauling firewood, drawing coals, building a trough to "turn the rain from the Store roof off of the hay," weatherboarding the stores, moving the cooking utensils from the kitchen building to the dinning room for the winter, rendering grease, repairing the window blinds on the bourgeois' house, daubing the old kitchen, repairing its roof, and whitewashing it. The carpenter went over the main house making repairs, and the tops of the paling fence in front were painted.

Still other jobs involved whitewashing the outside of the men's quarters, hauling seven logs for repairing the ice house, enlarging "the space of the counter" (in the retail store?), constructing a pig pen, daubing the blacksmith shop and the ice house, whitewashing the latter, and butchering a hog. The soldiers kept pace by rebuilding the gallery around the fort so that they could walk from one bastion to the other on their guard mounts. They also prepared a room to be used as a hospital.

On November 22, a group of miners arrived from Montana on their way back to the States Larpenteur wrote that they were "a poor looking sett of broken down gold seakers we cannot give them much room." These miners called themselves the Idaho Company and were a great trial to Larpenteur over the winter. In March, he got construction started on a boat for them and, on April 17, was able to say, "Great and Glorious, the Idaho Company have started at last under a salute of two of shots of the largest guns of Fort Union. . . their boat went full sail." Immediately he had his men clean out the rooms the miners had rented.

Before leaving the winter of 1864-65, notice must be made of the troops. On February 4, Larpenteur noted that scurvy had appeared among the soldiers. During a warm spell, he observed that those sick from scurvy were brought out to sun. Then, on March 17, "One of the soldiers died at half past 10 oclock last night it is said of the scurvy." He made a similar entry on April 4, April 6, April 24, and May 7.

By April 1865, however, spring was on its way. All the stoves came down on the 19th. The kitchen was whitewashed and the cook moved back to it. However, he took sick about this time and, nine days later, died.

On April 27, three soldiers went down to the point below the fort to hunt. About 25 Sioux attacked them. One soldier "was shot through and killed on the spot but all with arrows he had eleven wounds all with arrows and was scalped and entirely strip of his clothing." One of his companions was severely wounded, but the surgeon thought he might recover. The third man was not hit and he managed to kill one Sioux. After they had buried their dead companion the next day, the soldiers went out and hanged the body of the dead Sioux.

Whether or not it was the fever of spring, Larpenteur spent May 1865 having the fort spruced up. The "big house" got all its doors and chair boards painted. The carpenter constructed a "plank way" from the kitchen to the main house, to overcome the eternal mud. For several days the men whitewashed and painted here and there.

Then, on May 19, the season's first steamboat, the Yellow Stone arrived. It brought replacements for Company I--Company B, 1st U. S. Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Company D was composed largely of captured Confederate soldiers who had agreed to serve on the frontier, rather than rot in prisoner-of-war camps. Their regiment was under the command of Col. Charles A. R. Dimon, all of 23 years old and wholly inexperienced. According to Chittenden, Fort Union was already acquainted with this regiment, 17 of its members having deserted from Dimon's cruelty and walked all the way from Fort Pierre to Fort Union. [22]

On June 17, another steamboat arrived with the news that Pierre Chouteau, Jr., and Company had finally sold Fort Union. This news did not for the moment make any difference to Larpenteur. The fort's routine kept going. The 261 packs of robes and the elk skins had been shipped down the river. He watched the replacements practice skirmishing. In contrast to the last July 4, there were no celebrations this year "except two drahms given to the soldiers." He ordered new shelves for the retail store, where he used to clerk so long ago. Whitewashing took a lot of time. And soon it was time to build this year's hay rack.

On August 13, an overland express arrived ordering Company B to go down the river. They left immediately, leaving a lieutenant, a doctor, and 18 soldiers to look after the government stores. To Larpenteur, "the Fort looks quite large and apparently desolate." The next day, things still looked strange to him without the soldiers around. A week later, a steamboat took even the detail away leaving only the lieutenant and one or two aides, and "leaving Larpenteur in charge of Fort Union, with Mr. Herrick Clerk, six working men, and Mr. Chas Conkle making in all ten men." [23]

Larpenteur set about putting the fort in order for the new owners. The Blackfoot annuities were stored "in the far end of the store," the pork and beef went into the root house, as did the salt. No less than 420 sacks of flour were stored in "the big ware house." He fenced in the area between the men's houses and the pickets and hung a door between the gable end of the men's houses and the Indian house, thus effectively boarding up the extreme western part of the fort where "the baggage [Army's?] is entirely locked up." He put the molasses "in one stall and boarded it up nailed the door, moved all the carpenter tools into the old carpenter shop, and swept up the fort good."

On September 17, the Hattie May brought "all the honorable members of the N. W. Fur Co." Suddenly unemployed, Larpenteur boarded the steamboat and sailed away. The boat stopped at the site of Fort William, and Larpenteur took advantage of the delay to walk back to Fort Union to take care of some papers he had forgotten. When he got to the fort, where he had been the bourgeois, he found the gates locked. He went to a small cabin, where a man named Campbell lived, 100 yards distant, and took care of his business there. Larpenteur never explained his sudden departure from Fort Union, but his diary holds at least a trace of bitterness. But he would be back one day. [24]

Charles Chouteau, Pierre Jr.'s son, had taken over the day-to day operations of the company these past few years. By the end of 1864, he had pretty well decided to sell the Upper Missouri Outfit. Trade was off; the Sioux were still at war with the whites; and the Lincoln administration in Washington was suspicious of the company's activities and of the Chouteau family's loyalties. [25]

When in Washington in the spring of 1865, Charles met James Boyd Hubbell, in the freighting business in Minnesota. Chouteau suggested to Hubbell that the latter purchase the forts and their contents on the Missouri River. Hubbell promptly accepted the offer; "I made the purchase from Mr. Chouteau individually, but gave Alpheus F Hawley, my partner 1/2 interest, he knew nothing about it." Later, J. A. Smith, Chicago, C. Francis Bates, New York, and J. A. Smith, Chicago, joined with Hubbell and Hawley to form the North Western Fur Company. [26]

In his reminiscences, Hubbell described the takeover of the forts on the upper Missouri. He said he was delayed in getting to Fort Union in 1865, because of the hostility of Col. Charles Dimon. One of the 17 men of Dimon's regiment who had deserted and fled to Fort Union was an artist. It was this deserter, said Hubbell, who did the sketch of Fort Union that is customarily labeled "unknown soldier."

Despite the decline in trade, the North Western Fur Co. apparently had a profitable first year at Fort Union. There being no other bidders, the company was able to acquire all the army stores in the fort for $2,000. Hubbell then had these supplies transported to Fort Benton and sold them to miners for about ten times their cost to him. It seems, too, that the winter of 1865-66 saw a fairly good trade in robes. [27]

In the spring of 1866, a competitor to Hubbell, apparently called "Gregory, Bruguier, and Gregory," appeared at Fort Union. From one Philip Alourey they purchased a building "near the fort to be used for a store," for $100. Later, they purchased a second log house for $10. Little is known about these gentlemen except that they kept a fair stock of goods and sold to everyone who came their way. About the height of the Sioux troubles at Fort Union, in December 1866, Indian Agent Mahlon Wilkinson, staying at the fort, gave permission to the North Western Fur Company's bourgeois, Mr. Pease, to tear these structures down to prevent the Sioux from firing them. Their lumber was used for firewood inside the fort. Wilkinson promised to pay the competition for its loss. [28]

With the Civil War over, the U. S. Army turned its attention once again to the settlement of differences with the western tribes, particularly the Sioux. An inspecting officer arrived at Fort Union in 1866; his mission was to make a determination for a site for a permanent fort in the vicinity of the river junction. He agreed with General Sully and did not pick Fort Union, but chose the site at the junction. Shortly thereafter, on June 12, a company of the 13th U. S. Infantry under Capt. W. G. Rankin arrived and commenced building Fort Buford. [29]

Granville Stuart, handy with a pen and sketch pad, stopped at Fort Union in May 1866: "We stopped awhile at this fort and got some ice at five cents per pound, and I took a slight sketch of it." It seemed to him that there were very few employees about, and the fort itself "had a sort of 'played out' look, and is evidently on the decline." [30]

Boller passed Fort Union for the third time that summer. To him, everything at Fort Union seemed the same, "and some few of the old retainers were still about." Farther down, he saw the soldiers building their new post. [31] By June 11, Larpenteur was back at Fort Union also.

Fort Union was no longer Larpenteur's responsibility, and his diary for the next few months sheds less light on the fort than usual. He did describe an amusing but potentially dangerous incident on July 4, a "rather dry day for Fort Union two shots were fired both pieces were turned up side down and one corner of the Fort damaged." It reached 102° that day and, before it was over, "we had one of the heavest thunder Storm[s] I ever heard at this place which took place at early bed time the flag staff was struck." Later in July, during the distribution of annuities, the fort was set on fire in the night. The Sioux were suspected since, "it had been started on the out Side." However, the fire was extinguished immediately. [32]

During the fall and winter of 1866-67, the Sioux harrassed Fort Union and Fort Buford time after time. One of the more observant witnesses was a sutler at Fort Buford, Charles W. Hoffman, later a prominent banker in Bozeman, Montana. Hoffman spent much of his time up at Fort Union and witnessed many of its experiences. The first Sioux incident after his arrival occurred December 20, when a few attacked a man riding in a sleigh between the two forts. On New Year's Day Hoffman visited Fort Union under an escort of soldiers. On the way home, two men were following behind the escort when they were cut off by the Sioux less than one mile from Fort Buford. At least one soldier was killed in the rescue.

Two weeks later, Hoffman witnessed the Sioux chase two Assiniboin women at Fort Union out wooding. They killed one before being driven off by "a shot from one of the six pounders on the corner of the fort facing the river." On one occasion during the winter, Sitting Bull came to Fort Union from his camp some ten miles distant. He met with Bourgeois Pease outside the fort, and demanded and received a red shirt. Hoffman said the soldiers then were given the order to shoot red-shirted Indians.

Pease welcomed all the men he could get at Fort Union. Hoffman recalled that there were "about thirty white men and a lot of friendly Assiniboine Indians to help guard." To prevent a night attack, they built two large lanterns out of glazed window sash, moulding the candles in a piece of 2-1/2-inch pipe. "We put them outside at the opposite corners from the bastions and kept them burning dark nights." Unfortunately, these do not appear in the one photograph of the exterior taken in 1866.

As a sort of climax to this time of troubles, Hoffman described the arrival of Thundering Bull and "a large party of Santee and Cuthead Sioux." For some reason, Pease or Wilkinson decided to entertain Thundering Bull in the Indian house where he and his more important men spent their first night. The next day Pease, apparently feeling secure, sent a detachment of the fort's personnel out wooding.

Hoffman was in the (retail?) store talking to a friend when he noticed the Sioux, "in full paint and feathers," on their way to Pease's office. He said that Wilkinson at that moment was "up in the look-out over the mess houses." This possibly was a new structure located toward the north end of the fort so that it looked over the north gate.

Hoffman, armed, entered Pease's room where he found the bourgeois "seated near a window and a round table near him. . . . The Indians were seated on the floor," except Thundering Bull, who had taken a chair. Hoffman suggests that a rather tense meeting took place but in the end, danger was averted when Pease told the Indians that powder had been distributed throughout the fort so that it could all be blown up, presumably including Thundering Bull. Despite the drama sensed by Hoffman, there remains the possibility that Thundering Bull's only intention was to carry out a trade. [33]

The North Western Fur Company kept Fort Union in operation throughout 1866 and into the summer of 1867. By 1867, however, Hubbell decided to give up the post as an unprofitable operation. He hired the Luella sometime in this period to transport his goods up to Fort Benton. [34] He also opened a store at Fort Buford, which had increased in size to 500 soldiers. Charles Larpenteur, who, in the spring of 1867, had begun building an adobe trading store just outside Fort Union, decided that he too would open a store at Buford. He commenced a log building, 120 feet in length. For the moment the soldiers could choose from three traders: the military sutler, the North Western Fur Co. and Larpenteur. [35]

In June of 1867, General Sully, accompanied by Father De Smet, arrived at Fort Buford in an effort to arrange a peace with the Sioux. On July 4, both men came up to Fort Union for a visit, otherwise the holiday passed quietly.

Larpenteur was still at his adobe store just outside Union when, on August 4, he witnessed the beginning of the end for the 38-year-old fort: "The Miner [a steamboat) arrived at Union, and left at about one oclock after having demolished the old Fort Union Kitchen for the Steamboat wood." On that same day, he wrote, "Fort Union is sold to the government to build up Fort Buford." On August 8, he wrote "The Soldiers Commenced tearing down the Fort Union yesterday." Apparently, Larpenteur himself had been living in Fort Union while his own establishment was being finished for he recorded on August 10 that he moved out of Fort Union. During these past few days, Larpenteur had had his own men hard at work building a bastion for his own establishment, apparently a little concerned that Fort Union would no longer offer any protection. However, on August 12, he made the decision to open a store at Fort Buford, and it was not long before this new project was taking most of his time.

On August 25, Larpenteur noted that "the pony express arrived from above." However, it appears the express station was at Fort Buford rather than at his store. Referring to the disappearance of Fort Union, he noted on August 26 that "the Carpenter tore down the Black Smith Shop and put his tools in order, to rebuild the Shop at Buford."

Through September, Larpenteur kept both stores in operation. However, he received a setback when the commanding officer at Buford forbade temporarily the soldiers from trading with him. This did not discourage him, and he continued to enlarge and improve upon his new establishment outside Buford. On October 14, he acquired "fourty logs from the old root house built by the government whilst quartered in Fort Union" in 1864. In November, Larpenteur had his men haul 21 loads of logs, three loads of slabs, and one of lumber from Fort Union. While he did not see fit to explain the circumstances, it seems likely that the Army and Hubbell had both taken what they needed out of the old fort and had left the rest for whomever had use for it.

Larpenteur and his men were now quartered in their new establishment and, on November 23, he wrote in his journal that his Union store had been abandoned. [36]

Five years after Larpenteur wrote that the U. S. Government bought Fort Union, the post surgeon, Washington Matthews, wrote that Union "was never owned by the Government nor, as far as I can learn, was any rent ever paid for it." Matthews was right that the Army did not pay rent for its use of the fort in 1864-65. Hubbell put in a claim for rent for that period (even though the post was owned by Pierre Chouteau Jr. and Company for part of that time) but failed to obtain compensation.

However, Hubbell did sell the materials of the post to the Army in 1867 according to Larpenteur. Actually, Matthews agreed with Larpenteur by noting that these materials went into the construction of Fort Buford. It was not a proud ending for the grand old establishment that had for so long been the capital fort of the upper Missouri.

Dr. Matthews, in visiting the site around 1872, mentioned a cemetery "about one hundred paces east of the ruins of Union and separated from them by a little ravine." The little ravine is still there today, but all traces of a cemetery have long since disappeared. While Larpenteur never made clear just where he built his adobe store in 1867, Matthews described also "the ruined adobe walls to the west of the old fort." It all lay in ruins now; there was no proud fort.