Written by: Anna E. Arnold
Parent Category: Kansas State History Articles
Category: Kansas Military History
Fort Harker Guardhouse Museum By Ammodramus (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Many forts were established in early Kansas; a few by the fur companies, some by the War Department, some by state troops, a number by settlers as a place of refuge from the Indians, and a few by free-state and proslavery forces during the Territorial struggle. Some of them consisted merely of a wall of earth thrown up, others of a strongly built log cabin within a line of earthworks or line of palisades. Many of them were more pretentious, and were built of logs, adobe, or stone. Some of the forts established by the National Government cost many thousands of dollars and most of them had large land reserves. As the settlements moved westward the necessity for the forts no longer existed, and with the exception of Fort Leavenworth and Fort Riley, which are still maintained by the National Government as army posts, they fell into disuse.

 

The principal early forts were:

Source: A History of Kansas / Anna E. Arnold. pp.227-229 

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