Fort Smith National Historic Site ⓘ

Stephen Harriman Long oil on canvas 27x22 inches circa 1819 signed indistinctly lower right [on the branch]

New Hampshire Antiquarian Society Update, Fall, 1993,pp.1,4 reproduced p.91 Dunbar,J., The History of Omaha

Whitney Gallery of Western Art, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, Cody Wyoming, 1994 Nebraska State Historic Society, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1994 St. Joseph Museum, St. Joseph, Missouri, 1995, Secretary of the Army's office on loan through the U.S. Army Center of Military History, Army Art Collection, Washington, D.C. , July 16, 2008 - June 26, 2009

On March 18th, 1819, Secretary of War John G. Calhoun gave the following orders to Major Stephen H. Long, Topographical Engineer:

"You will assume the command of the expedition to explore the country between the Mississippi and the Rocky Mountains. You will first explore the Missouri and its principle branches and then in succession Red River, Arkansas and Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri...The object of the expedition is to acquire as thorough and accurate knowledge as may be practicable of a portion of our country which is daily becoming more interesting but which is yet but imperfectly known. With this in view you will permit nothing worthy of notice to escape your attention..."

This excursion, initially termed the Yellowstone Expedition, was an intrepid campaign across the Great Plains to the Rocky Mountains. Stephen H. Long was the first military officer to bring with him leading scientific experts of the day from the fields of botany, geology, zoology, and cartography. Long eventually commanded five separate expeditions covering 25,000 miles with the resulting knowledge helped in the expansion of the upper American West.

Long was born in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, at the end of 1784, who's father served under General Washington at Valley Forge. Long graduated from Dartmouth College of Hanover, New Hampshire. During the War of 1812, Long worked as a civil engineer on the harbor defenses for New York City. He was commissioned a second lieutenant and assigned to duty as assistant professor of mathematics at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1814. Long requested and was granted an appointment to the reformed Corp. of Topographical Engineers, as a breveted (temporary promotion) Major. He was assigned to St. Louis in 1816.

In the summer of 1816, Long leads a survey of the Illinois River and its main tributaries up to the site of Fort Dearborn, the future site of the city of Chicago, on Lake Michigan. The official report that he submitted suggested the building of canals to join the Lake with the Mississippi River, and also the expansion of the national road system this frontier territory.

The following year Long was to lead another expedition, this time up the Mississippi to the falls of St. Anthony, the present site of Minneapolis-St. Paul. During his trip he assembled a Winnebago language dictionary thus making it easier to communicate with the local Indian tribe of the area. Later in the fall of 1817, General Andrew Jackson has Long travel to Arkansas where he maps out and builds Fort Smith, to help in quashing the hostilities between the Osage and Cherokee tribes. Part of Long's report of that period was the recommendation of building new forts along the frontier and at the same time strengthening those forts already in existence.

In the fall of 1818, Secretary of War Calhoun ordered Long to begin construction of a new type of steamboat that would accompany a military expedition up the Missouri to the Yellowstone River. The Western Engineer was put into service in 1819 and used to navigate the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers. Long establishes his winter quarters at Engineer Cantonment , about 25 miles north of present day Omaha. The military part of the expedition is put on hold. Orders are changed and Long now leads his expedition across the plains to the Rocky Mountains. Long and his 12 civilian volunteers plus a small military contingent started out toward the Front Range of the Rockies. The first sight of the mountains was a peak known as Les duex Oreilles {Two Ears}, that would later be renamed Longs Peak. The expedition returns via Arkansas and Canadian Rivers to Fort Smith. Long and his staff return to Philadelphia where their findings are published as Account of an Expedition from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains ... Under the Command of Maj. S.H. Long ... The maps issued by Long and his crew are so detailed and accurate that some were still used throughout the Civil War. The maps and charts were also responsible for naming the area comprising the current state of Wisconsin.

In 1823 Long is once more chosen to lead a survey of the Upper Mississippi Valley and Northern Minnesota. It was during this trip he established the 49th parallel confirming the border between America and Canada. After his return in 1824, he publishes Narrative of an Expedition to the Source of St. Peter's River, Lake Winnepeek, Lake of the Woods, & ... Long's duties are then assigned to begin improving the water, rail, and road systems throughout the United States. he begins to survey sections of the National Road.

1827 to 1830 Long's services as an engineer are used by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, it was at this time that a number of variety of bridges that he had patented were built. These designs would be used not only in the construction of railroad bridges but also for regular roads. In 1829 Long published his Railroad Manuel ... which discussed a system for constructing a railroad using geometric precepts and opposition to locomotion.

The state of Georgia hired Long as its chief engineer and it was at that time he surveyed the routes for the Western and Atlantic Railroads. Long's procedure of locating curves and a new fashion of truss bridge would advance the science of laying rail which was embraced most readily by others in the field.

For most of the period from 1840 through 1846 Long's career centered around clearing and dredging the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Arkansas Rivers. At the out break of the Mexican-American War, Long returned to steamboat design and manufacturing. In the fall of 1847, he had launched six steamers for the Quartermasters Corps and offered to build another eight. From the end of 1847 through the beginning of 1847 he was a member of the military panel for the Court Martial of John Charles Fremont.

In the early 1850's Long was made superintendent of the Western Waters until the post was abolished in 1856. He was then transferred to the lower Mississippi until two years before his retirement, in 1863 at the age of 78, and was promoted to colonel. Long retired to Alton, Illinois after 49 years of service to his country. He died September 4th, 1864.

When the first Fort Smith was established in 1817, its location was chosen for its strategic importance. At the confluence of two rivers, on a high bluff, soldiers could have a commanding view of river traffic and the surrounding countryside. But this was still a wilderness and during the long, hot, humid Arkansas summers and what could be frigid winters, the small military force was subject to sickness and disease. Dysentery, pneumonia, and fevers were common, and sometimes men paid the ultimate price for their service in the U.S. Army. One of the soldiers stationed at the first Fort Smith was a man named Balthazar Kramer. The son of German immigrants, Kramer was born in Maryland about 1779. By 1797, his family had moved to New Geneva, Pennsylvania to establish a glass factory. Kramer married Elizabeth Ingles on March 2, 1800, and the couple went on to have at least 8 children together. Kramer joined the U.S. Rifle Regiment when it was organized in 1815. He served under the command of Major William Bradford, eventually rose to the rank of Sergeant and was part of the company that established the first Fort Smith in December of 1817. Unfortunately, while ascending the Arkansas River that autumn, Kramer contracted some kind of illness. The records from the first Fort Smith indicate that he was hospitalized almost immediately, and although the term for which Kramer had enlisted expired in 1819, he could not return home. The army discharged him on April 12 of that year, but because he was ill and completely disabled, he was allowed to remain at the post. Major Bradford wrote a letter to his superiors in the War Department explaining the situation. He said that he refused to let Kramer leave the post to suffer and starve. He also stated that the infirmity did not derive from "old age or from interperance, but [that Kramer] was unable to earn [a] living from unavoidable exposure and fatigue while in the line of … duty as [a soldier] in the army of the United States." Bradford's opinion was that Kramer was "as much entitled to the bounty of the government as if [he] had lost leg or an arm in battle." Bradford's support did little to improve Kramer's situation. On October 12, 1822, he wrote to his wife that he was not getting any better. His one wish was to see her and the children again, but misfortune had made that impossible. The bank was broke and he had no hopes of getting any money. He explained that he had sent money enough to hire a man to take him to the mouth of the Arkansas but the water was too low for boats to travel on the river. Sergeant Kramer died at the post on December 5, 1823 without ever being able to return home. The recorded cause of his death was arthritis. As late as 1854 his widow Elizabeth was still trying to obtain a pension from the U.S. government.

References: Balthazar Kramer file, Fort Smith National Historic Site. (contains copies of letters given to the park by the family of Kramer)

When the first Fort Smith was founded at Belle Point on Christmas Day 1817, its purpose was to keep the peace between the native Osage Indians and the Cherokees moving into the area. A cycle of raids and skirmishes, fueled primarily by disputes over hunting rights, had resulted in the deaths of numerous Osages and Cherokees over the years. The function of the officers at Fort Smith was to mediate the differences between the two tribes, not engage in a military campaign to subdue the fighting. So the army post was not the object of attacks unless it happened to obstruct either a Cherokee or Osage campaign. This is what caused the threat on April 9, 1821.

The incident had its roots in the Claremore Mound Massacre of 1817 when Cherokee warriors killed 38 Osages and took 100 captives. In February of 1820, three Cherokees on a bear hunt in the mountains southwest of Fort Smith were killed by Osage. Efforts to calm both sides by Fort Smith's founder, Major William Bradford, and other government officials failed to bear fruit during the summer and fall of 1820. By March of 1821, the Osage learned that the Cherokees had declared war on them.

Within a month, Osage leader Bad Tempered Buffalo led more than 200 warriors to the banks of the Arkansas River across from Fort Smith. Soldiers ferried Bad tempered Buffalo and seven war chiefs across the river to meet with Lt. Martin Scott, who was in command in the absence of Major Bradford. The Osage demanded gunpowder and permission to camp and hunt below the fort. When Scott refused, threats were made and the lieutenant had the fort's two six-pound cannons wheeled out and prepared for action. The Osage were then ferried back across the river and shortly thereafter were observed building rafts. When Bad Tempered Buffalo and the warriors noticed that the fort's cannons were loaded and aimed at them, they took to the woods.

Meanwhile, several Osage warriors invaded a soldier's cabin, forcing the mother and children into a corner and threatening them with cocked firearms, tomahawks and knives. Other Osage captured a hunting party consisting of four Quapaws, a Cherokee and a French trader named Ettienne (A-te-an) Vaugine (Vine) camped on the Poteau River across from the fort. Frustrated in their efforts to gain gunpowder for the Cherokee offensive, the Osage fell on the captured hunting party. Shots rang out and three of the prisoners, the Cherokee, one Quapaw and Vaugine escaped by swimming the river to Fort Smith. Short on powder, the Osage resorted to raiding hunting camps and robbing settlers of guns, provisions and horses along the Poteau and Lee Creek. Three Delaware Indians were mistaken for Cherokees and killed. Frightened settlers fled to the fort and stayed there for several weeks until the crisis abated.

References: Fort Smith: Little Gibraltar on the Arkansas by Edwin C. Bearss and Arrell Gibson; The Osage by Willard H. Rollins.

Lucy Ames Butler penned these words in a letter to Drusilla Burnap of Lowell, MA. She wrote her letter on January 2, 1839 and posted it a week later from Cleveland, TN. Lucy was a Presbyterian missionary and the second wife of Dr. Elizur Butler, whom the State of Georgia incarcerated along with Samuel Worcester for entering Indian Territory without proper authorization. After Chief Justice John Marshall ordered their release, Lucy’s husband accompanied the Cherokee on the tragic forced migration which is known today as The Trail of Tears. At the time of the writing of this letter, Dr. Butler nearly had completed the trek. He went on to become the first religion instructor at The Cherokee Female Seminary in Oklahoma. Lucy Butler’s letter is currently part of The Fadjo Cravens II Collection (Fort Smith, AR).

My husband has been engaged in camp, preaching and attending on the sick Cherokees, since they were first taken. He was appointed to serve as Physician in one of the first companies. He also preaches in camp on the Sabbath as they have made arrangements not to travel on that day. We have heard from several companies, and understand they have considerable sickness. Twenty-five in a company of seven hundred had died, when they had proceeded three hundred miles. In another, which numbered about the same, in two hundred miles, eighteen had been laid in their graves. I have not heard particularly from others. When these companies arrive in their new country, the greatest part will be without shelters as they were in this [place], after they were prisoners; and it is to be feared many will be cut down by death, as has been the case with new emigrants in the country. It is estimated about two thousand died while in camp in this country. Will not the people in whose power it is to redress Indian wrongs awake to their duty? Will they not think of the multitudes among the various tribes that have within a few years been swept into Eternity by the cupidity of the “white man” who is in the enjoyment of wealth and freedom on the original soil of these oppressed Indians? I know many friends of the Indians have set down in despair, thinking oppression has been carried so far, nothing now can be done. I will mention one person who thinks otherwise; and it may surprise you when I tell it is John Ross, the principal Chief of these oppressed Cherokees. In speaking of the distresses of his people, I have heard him with subdued agitation of feeling, with calmness and confidence say, “Though for years, the Press has been closed against us, and the few friends we have left, have at times, been ready to think we must sink to ruin unheard; yet I cannot think the United States’ Government is so lost to all justice, that our wrongs will not be redressed, if the truth is fairly set before those, who have the power to do it.” With these feelings, this man has presented himself at our seat of Government year after year; and though false reports, in almost every form, have been circulated against him, and indignities heaped on him and his associates, and withal being told by the highest Authorities of our Government, that he must accept [the] terms already offered, that nothing more favourable would ever be granted, yet the returning Congress has again found him at Washington pleading for his people. It may now be thought as his people have actually been driven from their native country, and one eighth of them already cut off by death, that he will think nothing can be gained by further intercession; but probably, if his life is spared, he will again be seen pleading with Government, for those that remain.

During the roundup, intimidation and acts of cruelty at the hands of the troops, along with the theft and destruction of property by local residents, further alienated the Cherokees. Finally, Chief Ross appealed to President Van Buren to permit the Cherokees to oversee their own removal. Van Buren consented, and Ross and his brother Lewis administered the effort. The Cherokees were divided into 16 detachments of about 1,000 each.

Three detachments of Cherokees, totaling about 2,800 persons, traveled by river to Indian Territory. The first of these groups left on June 6 by steamboat and barge from Ross's Landing on the Tennessee River (present-day Chattanooga). They followed the Tennessee as it wound across northern Alabama, including a short railroad detour around the shoals between Decatur and Tuscumbia Landing. The route then headed north through central Tennessee and Kentucky to the Ohio River. The Ohio took them to the Mississippi River, which they followed to the mouth of the Arkansas River. The Arkansas led northwest to Indian Territory, and they arrived aboard a steamboat at the mouth of Sallisaw Creek near Fort Coffee on June 19, 1838. The other two groups suffered more because of a severe drought and disease (especially among the children), and they did not arrive in Indian Territory until the end of the summer.

The rest of the Principal People traveled to Indian Territory overland on existing roads. They were organized into detachments ranging in size from 700 to 1,600, with each detachment headed by a conductor and an assistant conductor appointed by John Ross. The Cherokees who had signed the treaty of New Echota were moved in a separate detachment conducted by John Bell and administered by U.S. Army Lt. Edward Deas. A physician, and perhaps a clergyman, usually accompanied each detachment. Supplies of flour and corn, and occasionally salt pork, coffee, and sugar, were obtained in advance, but were generally of poor quality. Drought and the number of people being moved reduced forage for draft animals, which often were used to haul possessions, while the people routinely walked.

The most commonly used overland route followed a northern alignment, while other detachments (notably those led by John Benge and John Bell) followed more southern routes, and some followed slight variations. The northern route started at Calhoun, Tennessee, and crossed central Tennessee, southwestern Kentucky, and southern Illinois. After crossing the Mississippi River north of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, these detachments trekked across southern Missouri and the northwest corner of Arkansas.

Road conditions, illness, and the distress of winter, particularly in southern Illinois while detachments waited to cross the ice-choked Mississippi, made death a daily occurrence. Mortality rates for the entire removal and its aftermath were substantial, totaling approximately 8,000.

Most of the land route detachments entered present-day Oklahoma near Westville and were often met by a detachment of U.S. troops from Fort Gibson on the Arkansas River. The army officially received the Cherokees, who generally went to live with those who had already arrived, or awaited land assignments while camped along the Illinois River and its tributaries east of present-day Tahlequah.

NOTE: Recent scholarship has brought into question the validity of the above statement. For further readings on the complexity of Cherokee Removal and John G. Burnett see: Lathel F. Duffield, "Cherokee Emigration: Reconstructing Reality, " Chronicles of Oklahoma , Vol. LXXX, No. 3, Fall, 2002, pp. 314-347.

Despite the fact that the majority of the Cherokees, including Principal Chief John Ross, opposed Removal, a minority group negotiated and signed the Treaty of New Echota with the United States government in 1835. President Martin Van Buren ordered the implementation of the treaty in 1838, and U.S. Army troops under the command of General Winfield Scott began rounding up the Cherokees and moving them into stockades in North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee. Altogether 31 forts were constructed for this purpose - 13 in Georgia, five in North Carolina, eight in Tennessee, and five in Alabama. All of the posts were near Cherokee towns, and they served only as temporary housing for the Cherokees. As soon as practical, the Indians were transferred from the removal forts to 11 internment camps that were more centrally located - 10 in Tennessee and one in Alabama. In North Carolina, for example, Cherokees at the removal forts were sent to Fort Butler, and by the second week in July on to the principal agency at Fort Cass. According to a military report for July 1838, the seven camps in and around Charleston, Tennessee, contained more than 4,800 Cherokees: 700 at the agency post, 600 at Rattlesnake Spring, 870 at the first encampment on Mouse Creek, 1,600 at the second encampment on Mouse Creek, 900 at Bedwell Springs, 1,300 on Chestooee, 700 on the ridge east of the agency, and 600 on the Upper Chatate. Some 2,000 Cherokees were camped at Gunstocker Spring 13 miles from Calhoun, Tennessee.

One group of Cherokees did not leave the mountains of North Carolina. This group traced their origin to an 1819 treaty that gave them an allotment of land and American citizenship on lands not belonging to the Cherokee Nation. When the forced removal came in 1838, this group - now called the Oconaluftee Cherokees - claimed the 1835 treaty did not apply to them as long as they no longer lived on Cherokee lands. Tsali and his sons were involved in raids on the U.S. soldiers who were sent to drive the Cherokees to the stockades. The Indians responsible for the raids were punished by the army, but the rest of the group gained permission to stay, and North Carolina ultimately recognized their rights. Fugitive Cherokees from the nation also joined the Oconaluftee Cherokees, and in time this group became the Eastern Band of Cherokees, who still reside in North Carolina.

Learn about the history of the Cherokee Nation on their website. Cherokee Nation History United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians History In 1838, the Treaty of New Echota resulted in thousands of Cherokee people to be forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands in Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia. This became known as the Trail of Tears . Before forced removal, numerous treaties and agreements were made between the United States and the Cherokee Nation which steadily reduced the extent of their lands.

Beginning in 1791, a series of treaties between the United States and the Cherokee living in Georgia led to recognition of the Cherokee Nation as a sovereign nation. Nevertheless, treaties and agreements steadily whittled away at their land base. In the late 1700s, some Cherokee settlers sought refuge from white interference by moving to land between the White and Arkansas Rivers in what is now northwest Arkansas. As more land cessions were forced on the Cherokee during the first two decades of the 1800s, the number moving to Arkansas increased. In 1819, the Cherokee National Council notified the federal government that it would no longer cede land, thus hardening their resolve to remain on their traditional homelands.

The issue of states' rights and a prolonged dispute between Georgia and the federal government further complicated the situation for the Cherokee. In 1802, Georgia was the last of the original colonies to cede its western lands to the federal government. In doing so, Georgia expected all titles to land held by Indians to be extinguished. However, that did not happen, and the Cherokees continued to occupy their ancestral homelands, which had been guaranteed to them by treaty.

Georgia residents resented Cherokee success in holding onto their ancestral homelands and governing themselves. Settlers continued to encroach on Cherokee lands, as well as those belonging to the neighboring Muscogee (Creek). In 1828, Georgia passed a law pronouncing all laws of the Cherokee Nation to be null and void after June 1, 1830, forcing the issue of states' rights with the federal government. Because the state no longer recognized the rights of the Cherokee, tribal meetings had to be held just across the state line at Red Clay, Tennessee.

When gold was discovered on Cherokee land in northern Georgia in 1829, efforts to dislodge the Cherokee from their lands intensified. At the same time, President Andrew Jackson began to aggressively implement a broad policy of extinguishing Indian land titles in affected states and relocating the Indian population.

In 1830, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which directed the executive branch to negotiate for tribal lands. This act, in combination with the discovery of gold and an increasingly untenable position within the state of Georgia, prompted the Cherokee Nation to bring suit in the U.S. Supreme Court. In United States v. Georgia (1831) Chief Justice John Marshall, writing for the majority, held that the Cherokee Nation was a "domestic dependent nation," and therefore Georgia state law applied to them.

That decision, however, was reversed the following year in Worcester v. Georgia (1832). Under an 1830 law, Georgia required all white residents in the Cherokee Nation to secure a license from the governor and to take an oath of allegiance to the state. Missionaries Samuel A. Worcester and Elizur Butler refused and were imprisoned. Worcester appealed the case to the Supreme Court. This time, the court sided with the Cherokee and ruled that tribal nations are capable of making treaties, that under the Constitution treaties are the supreme law of the land, that the federal government had exclusive jurisdiction within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation, and that state law had no force within the Cherokee boundaries. Georgia simply ignored the ruling and the judicial and executive branches of the federal government did nothing to enforce it. The Supreme Court opted not to require federal marshals to carry out its decision while President Jackson, who sided with Georgia, refused to act as well.

The State of Georgia continued to press for tribal lands, and a dissident group of Cherokee known as the Ridge Party began negotiating a treaty with the federal government. The group, led by Major Ridge and including his son John, Elias Boudinot, and his brother Stand Watie, signed a treaty at New Echota in 1835. Despite the majority opposition to this treaty led by Principal Chief John Ross, the eastern lands were to be sold for $4.5 million, and the Cherokee Nation would be forcibly removed beyond the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. The Senate ratified the treaty despite knowledge that no official representative of the Cherokee Nation had signed it. Ross gathered a petition of over 15,000 signatures asking Congress to void the treaty. The petition was ignored and within two years the Cherokee were forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands.

An Act to amend the National Trails System Act to designate the Trail of Tears as a National Historic Trail.

Be it enacted by the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States of American Congress assembled , That section 5(a) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1244(a)) is amended by adding the following new paragraph at the end thereof: "(16)(A) The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail, a trail consisting of water routes and overland routes traveled by the Cherokee Nation during its removal from ancestral lands in the East to Oklahoma during 1838 and 1839, generally located within the corridor described through portions of Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma in the final report of the Secretary of the Interior prepared pursuant to subsection (b) of this section entitled "Trail of Tears" and dated June 1986. Maps depicting the corridor shall be on file and available for public inspection in the Office of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior. The trail shall be administered by the Secretary of the Interior. No lands or interests therein outside the exterior boundaries of any federally administered area may be acquired by the Federal Government for the Trail of Tears except with the consent of the owner thereof. "(B) In carrying out his responsibilities pursuant to subsections 5(f) and 7(c) of this Act, the Secretary of the Interior shall give careful consideration to the establishment of appropriate interpretive sites for the Trail of Tears in the vicinity of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Trail of Tears State Park, Missouri, and Tahlequah, Oklahoma.".

SEC. 2. Section 10(c)(2) of the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1249(c)(2)) is amended by striking "through (13) and (15)" and inserting ", (10), (11), (12), (13), (15), and (16)". Approved December 16, 1987.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY-S. 578: HOUSE REPORTS- No 100-461 Comm. on Interior and Insular Affairs SENATE REPORTS No 100-175 Comm. on Energy and Natural Resources CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. Vol. 133 (1987) Oct. 1, considered and passed Senate. Dec. 1 considered and passed House, amended. Dec. 3 Senate concurred in House amendments. 101 STAT. 1309

"Every consideration of justice, humanity and sound policy confirms the wisdom of calling upon black men just now to take up arms in behalf of their country." Freed slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass spoke those words in May of 1861. He was of course referring to the need for African-Americans to be a part of the formal military establishment of the United States. Although blacks had fought in every prior American conflict, it was only during the Civil War that they permanently won their right to fight.

The decision to use black troops in the Union war effort was not endorsed by President Abraham Lincoln until 1863. Before this, individual military commanders in the field took the initiative to employ blacks in non-laborer positions, but an official policy was lacking. On August 25, 1862, the War Department authorized the mustering into service of black men. The directive allowed commanders "to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into the service of the United States such number of volunteers of African descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding 5,000."

The 11th Regiment, United States Colored Troops was recruited out of Fort Smith in the fall of 1863, shortly after the Union had recaptured the post from Confederate forces. Companies A, B, C and D were mustered into the service of the Union Army on December 19, 1863 at Fort Smith, with Company E to follow on March 3, 1864. They spent most of their time drilling and performing routine duties such as working on the earthwork fortifications that surrounded the town of Fort Smith, serving as guards, and participating in any formal dress parades.

It was in the summer of 1864 that the unit saw its first real military action. In mid-July of that year, the five companies of the 11th USCT, numbering 265 effective men, moved into Indian Territory. Their assignment was to guard government stock and a haying party operating at Gunther's Prairie, 12 miles northwest of Fort Smith. At daybreak on August 24, an estimated 300 to 400 Confederate Cavalry, both white and Indian, attacked this force. The fighting lasted until 7:30 that morning and some firing continued as late as 10:00 a.m. According to military records, for one hour the contest was close and the fire almost incessant. The Cavalry made three separate charges and were repulsed each time and finally were compelled to retreat. The loss to the force is unknown but the 11th USCT had 3 men killed and 14 missing or wounded.

Instead of returning directly to Fort Smith from Gunther's Prairie, the unit marched to Fort Gibson (Blunt) to work on fortifications. It was not until mid-October that they returned to Fort Smith. A month later they left western Arkansas for Lewisburg, a town near Little Rock. Five months later, the 11th USCT, never a full regiment, consolidated with 112th and 113th USCTs to form the new 113th regiment.

Reverend Francis Springer, Chaplain, U.S. Army of the Frontier, served as the Post Chaplain at Fort Smith during the Union occupation and early Reconstruction period. (September 1, 1863 through 1867) A native of Springfield, Illinois, he enlisted in the Army at the age of 51. During his posting at Fort Smith he served in a variety of roles within the military and the local community. He served not only as Post Chaplain but also as Provost Marshal and Commissary Officer. Springer's involvement in the local community included being a member of the Freedmen's Bureau, teaching classes on the U.S. Constitution, preaching in local churches, and keeping detailed records of weather and crop reports. He was the co-editor of a local newspaper, Fort Smith New Era . He often wrote editorials under the pen name of Thrifton. Springer's real passion was to aid the widows, orphans and freed slaves displaced by the Civil War. He secured homes for over 200 Northwest Arkansas orphans to his home state of Illinois. A portion of Springer's journal has been edited by William Furry in his book, The Preacher's Tale, University of Arkansas Press, 2001.

Belle Point was the busiest place on the America's southwestern frontier during the late 1830s. A new military post was under construction and a bustling town named Fort Smith was emerging on its eastern edge. Without the hard work of 55 men from Bangor Maine, the second Fort Smith might never have existed.

In 1838 Congress authorized the reoccupation and enlargement of the military post at Fort Smith. John Rogers sold the United States 306 acres adjoining the site of the first Fort Smith for $15,000. Captain Charles W. Thomas was named supervisor of Fort Smith's construction. The plans called for building a stone wall 12 feet high and from two to three feet thick enclosing an area of six hundred by four hundred feet, with a blockhouse bastion, two stores high, at each angle.

Thomas' first objective was to recruit a construction crew. His attempts to find workers in New York and Boston failed, as the men there wanted what Thomas considered extravagant wages. It wasn't until he travel to Bangor, Maine that he was able to sign 39 tradesmen and 16 laborers to one year contracts. The tradesmen received $1.50 a day and the laborers $15.00 a month. The crew immediately started west, only stopping to purchase a steam engine to power a sawmill, tools, food and other supplies. They traveled by steamer for most of the trip, but low water on the Arkansas halted the boat and the men had to travel the last 100 miles to Fort Smith on foot. They arrived in July of 1838.

Once quarters for the workers were ready, thirteen men were sent up the Poteau to fell trees and float them to Fort Smith on timber rafts containing 80 saw logs. Once brought ashore, the logs were cut into timbers and planks at the new saw mill. The master brick mason found suitable clay nearby, constructed a kiln, built a shed capable of holding 200,000 bricks, and dug two wells to provide water for mixing. Another crew opened a stone quarry at Belle Point.

Thomas knew the contracts of the Maine men expired in July. He could not get local men to work except for high wages and then on only short-term basis. Attempts to recruit soldiers from nearby forts to assist with construction failed. Thomas knew he had to get the most from his Bangor men, but on July 1, 1839, most of them drew their pay and boarded the first steamer bound downriver. Only the masons and bricklayer signed on for another year.

The work that was completed was impressive, however. The foundation of the entire outer wall had been completed and raised to a height of 4 feet. Foundations for four of the five bastions had been laid and raised to a level of the walls. It took seven more years before the new fort was finally ready for occupancy in 1846, having cost nearly $300,00.

References: Fort Smith: Little Gibraltar on the Arkansas by Edwin C. Bearss and Arrell Gibson.

Many people today do not realize that the building that became Judge Parker's courthouse has a history that dates to the founding of the second Fort Smith.

In 1838, Captain Charles Thomas arrived in Fort Smith with a work crew from the East and construction plans for the military post. Those original plans called for the building of two large enlisted men's barracks opposite two officers quarters. The crew began quarrying stone from Belle Point and firing bricks for the project, but because of funding problems, the second Fort Smith never met its original plans. Only one soldiers' barracks was completed and that not until May 15, 1846. This barracks was a handsome two-story building with porches on both sides at the first and second floor levels.

Unfortunately, three years later, the cry of fire was heard from the second floor of that barracks. On the afternoon of April 9, 1849, a group of officers spotted smoke rising from the roof. They rushed up the stairway and finding the door to the attic locked, they broke it down and attempted to contain the fire. Falling timbers soon made this hazardous and the soldiers resorted to forming a bucket brigade with the townspeople of Fort Smith. It did little good, though. When the fire finally died down, what remained of the barracks consisted of blackened, cracked brick walls and a few of the veranda pillars from the porches. An investigation uncovered that the fire originated in the southwest chimney and was caused by a defective flue.

Discussions on rebuilding the structure began immediately. It was decided that the foundations of the burned building and its end and partition walls were sufficiently strong to rebuild the soldiers' quarters one story high. That would not only save time, but also money. The army readily agreed to this and the building was ready for occupancy in 1851. Some army officers did not approve of this new building, though. Captain Alexander Montgomery, who assumed command of Fort Smith in September 1849, was appalled at the design of the building. The structure, he said, was built "with a view certainly more to economy than to architectural effect. Standing as it does immediately opposite two buildings each two stories high, it presents a … squat and barn-like appearance; in strong contrast with its neighbors over the way; by no means complimentary to the taste of its [companions] and reflecting but little credit upon the Quarter Master Dept. which is supposed to be responsible for the design." Despite Montgomery's complaints, the U.S. Marshal saw fit to utilize the building after the military abandoned the post in 1871. It was to host the most famous court in the West and stands today, over 145 years later, as a reminder of both the military and judicial history of Fort Smith.

References: "Fort Smith, 1838-1871," manuscript by Edwin C. Bearss, War Department Records.

Being a nearly 40 acre urban park, the Fort Smith National Historic Site provides visitors the opportunity to enjoy not only the cultural history of the area, but the natural environment of the Arkansas River Valley as well. Catering to the nature enthusiast as well as the history buff, this green space on the edge of downtown Fort Smith contains a diverse landscape of trees and a variety of wildlife that can be viewed as you stroll the grounds. The paved Rivertrail takes you up to Belle Point, a hilltop overlooking the confluence of the Arkansas and Poteau Rivers, and down along the Arkansas River. It is along this trail where one gains a greater appreciation for the natural resources of the Fort Smith National Historic Site.

Weather is defined as what is happening outside at any given moment. Climate is defined as the average weather over a particular region over a long period of time. Climate Change and Global Warming. These two terms are often mistakenly used interchangeably.

The National Park System are actively working to address the challenge of climate change. For more information about how the National Park Service is addressing please visit Climate Change And Your National Parks

For specific information on weather and climate in the United States (and your local area/zone/region,) please visit the NOAA National Weather Service homepage . "[they] provide weather, hydrologic, and climate forecasts and warnings for the United States, its territories, adjacent waters and ocean areas, for the protection of life and property and the enhancement of the national economy. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community."

Today, ground cover within the park is primarily mown lawn composed of several grass species. These include Bermuda, Johnson, rye, crab, wildoat, wild wheat, nut, and sandbur grasses. Fifty-one tree species are known to exist within the park boundary, a number of which are post-historic introductions.

Originally, much of the Arkansas River Valley was forested. At the time of settlement, the valley was largely characterized by the "Post-Oak-Blackjack Oak-Winged Elm-Black Hickory Forest Association." In more rugged areas or when frequently burned, shortleaf pine dominated. On more favorable sites, black oak and black hickory with a variety of deciduous sub-dominates could be found.

With recurrent burning, oak-hickory forest was replaced by prairie. In Sebastian County, prairies were commonly small and widely dispersed, with the exception of Massard Prairie which occurred a short distance south of Fort Smith and covered approximately three to four square miles. Characterized as a tall-grass prairie, dominant species included big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), Indian grass (Sorghasrum Nutans), switch grass (Pancium Virgantum), and little bluestem (Andropogon Scoparius).

Obviously, extant vegetation at the Fort Smith National Historic Site is quite different than that which may have prevailed before and during the historic occupation. Open areas are, today, planted in a heavy carpet of Bermuda grass and among the trees represented at the site, several are exotic or border modern landscape features. A list of tree species presently found at the site has been prepared. Three species are not native to the local area: paper mulberry, black locust, and Osage orange. The paper mulberry is an ornamental introduced from Japan and China. The Osage orange, although indigenous to the southwest, did not occur at Fort Smith during the early historic period. In 1819, the northernmost range of this species was approximately six miles south of the post. The black locust, although widespread in eastern North America, was originally native to the Appalachians.

It is possible that exotic species were introduced and propagated during the historic period at Fort Smith. The use of exotics was popular during the nineteenth century, especially the black locust which was a favored ornamental during the first half of the century. Among both exotic and indigenous trees represented, however, it is doubtful that any of these have survived post-historic urbanization. In fact, many trees at the second fort site border recent streets and sidewalks and were undoubtedly planted following their construction.

Greater White-fronted Goose - Migrant Snow - Migrant Canada - Present Wood Duck* - Present Gadwall - Winter Mallard* - Present Blue-winged Teal* - Migrant Northern Shoveler - Migrant Northern Pintail - Migrant Green-winged Teal - Migrant Canvasback - Migrant Redhead - Migrant Ring-necked Duck - Winter Greater Scaup - Winter Lesser - Winter Bufflehead - Winter Common Goldeneye - Winter Hooded Merganser* - Summer Ruddy Duck** - Winter

Great Blue Heron* - Present Great Egret* - Present Snowy* - Summer Little Blue Heron* - Summer Cattle Egret* - Summer Green Heron* - Summer Yellow-crowned* - Summer

Black Vulture* - Present Turkey* - Present Osprey* - Migrant Mississippi* - Summer Bald Eagle* - Present Northern Harrier ** - Winter Sharp-shinned Hawk* - Winter Cooper's Hawk * - Winter Read-shouldered Hawk* - Present Broad-winged* - Migrant Red-tailed* - Present American Kestrel* - Present Peregrine Falcon** - Migrant

Killdeer* - Present Spotted Sandpiper ** - Migrant Bonaparte's - Winter Ring-billed - Winter Least* - Summer Caspian - Migrant Forster's - Winter

Rock Pigeon * - Present Eurasian Collared-Dove* - Present Mourning* - Present

Eastern Screech-Owl - Present Great Horned Owl* - Present Barred* - Present

Red-headed* - Present Red-bellied* - Present Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - Winter Woodpecker, Downy* - Present Hairy* - Present Pileated Woodpecker * - Present

Eastern Wood-Pewee - Summer Acadian* - Summer Phoebe, Eastern* - Summer Great Crested* - Summer Western* - Summer Eastern* - Summer Scissor-tailed Flycatcher* - Summer

White-eyed Vireo* - Migrant Bell's* - Summer Yellow-throated* - Migrant Blue-headed - Migrant Warbling* - Summer Philadelphia - Migrant Red-eyed* - Summer

Eastern Bluebird - Present Swainson's - Migrant American Robin* - Present

Gray Catbird - Summer Northern Mockingbird * - Present Brown* - Present

Blue-winged Warbler * - Migrant Golden-winged - Migrant Tennessee - Migrant Orange-crowned - Migrant Nashville - Migrant Northern Parula * - Summer Warbler, Yellow* - Migrant Chestnut-sided* - Migrant Magnolia - Migrant Yellow-rumped - Winter Black-throated Green* - Migrant Blackburnian - Migrant Yellow-throated* - Summer Prairie* - Migrant Palm - Migrant Bay-breasted - Migrant Blackpoll - Migrant Cerulean* - Migrant Black-and-white* - Migrant American Redstar* - Migrant Prothonotary Warbler * - Summer Worm-eating* - Migrant Swainson's* - Summer Ovenbird* - Migrant Lousisiana Waterthrush - Migrant Kentucky Warbler * - Summer Mourning - Migrant Common Yellowthroat -Summer Hooded Warbler * - Migrant Wilson's - Migrant Canada - Migrant Yellow-breasted Chat* - Summer

Eastern* - Summer Chipping* - Summer Clay-colored - Migrant Field* - Present Vesper - Migrant Lark* - Summer Savannah Sparrow - Winter Fox - Winter Song - Winter Lincoln's - Migrant Swamp - Winter White-throated - Winter White-crowned - Winter Dark-eyed Junco - Winter

Summer Tanager * - Summer Scarlet* - Migrant Cardinal, Northern* - Present Blue* - Summer Indigo* - Summer Painted* - Summer Dickcissel* - Summer

Red-winged Blackbird* - Present Eastern Meadowlark* - Present Yellow-headed Blackbird - Migrant Rusty - Winter Brewer's - Migrant Common Grackle * - Present Brown-headed Cowbird * - Present Orchard Oriole* - Summer Baltimore* - Summer

Purple Finch** - Winter House* - Present Common Redpoll - Winter Siskin, Pine** - Winter American Goldfinch* - Present