PBA Galleries

Partially printed form filled out in ink. 43x56 cm (17x22”), folding to 21.5x9 cm (8½x3½”).

Fascinating monthly report from the commanding officer at Fort Philip Kearny, construction of which was begun on July 13, 1866 by the 18th Infantry, under the direction of the regimental commander and Mountain District commander Colonel Henry B. Carrington. The fort was in present-day northeastern Wyoming along the Bozeman Trail.

The report lists the various officers and their posts, including those absent or on assignment, the total number of enlisted men (some being “in arrest or confinement”), the number who died, etc. Among the officers listed, besides Ten Eyck, are Henry B. Carrington, William H. Bisbee, John J. Adair, William J. Fetterman, Henry W. Wessells (spelled here Wessels), Charles R. Woods, and other luminaries of both the Civil War and the western frontier. Of great interest is the “Record of Events,” perhaps 150 words, relating that “During the month of September the troops of the garrison have been constantly employed in pursuing Indians; the performance of guard duty; and the erection of government buildings to be used for storehouses and quarters… The troops have been in a state of almost constant alarm occasioned by marauding visits from bands of hostile Indians…”