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War
Department.
Post
on the North Fork of the Loup River, Nebraska
Fort
Hartsuff was established on September 5,
1874, as Post on the North Fork of the Loup
River, near Burwell, 76 miles northwest
from Grand Island on the Union Pacific Railroad,
in compliance with Special Order 31, Department
of the Platte, dated March 6, 1874.
Originally
garrisoned by Company C, 9th U.S. Infantry,
the post was named in honor of Maj. Gen.
George L. Hartsuff, pursuant to General
Order 8, Military Division of the Missouri,
dated December 9, 1874.
The
North Loup Valley had provided a route for
Sioux raids on the Pawnee and in 1872 white
settlers moved into the Valley. Sioux depredations
at Sioux Creek in October 1873 and
at Pebble Creek in January 1874 prompted
the settlers to request military protection.
Fort Hartsuff helped to offset the drought
and grasshopper invasions of the early
1870's.
Its
major military engagement came at the Battle
of the Blow Out in April 1876. By
1881 the railroad had been extended into
the Valley and the threat of hostilities
had ended.
Fort
Hartsuff was abandoned on May 1, 1881, per
General Order 9, Department of the Platte,
April 23, 1881.
The
military reservation was subsequently turned
over to the Department of the Interior in
accordance with War Department General Order
80, of July 28, 1884.
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