Fort Dakota, D.T.

Residents fled Sioux Falls City, Dakota Territory, after the 1862 slaying of the Amidons, and the town site remained abandoned until May 5, 1865, when Lt. Col. John Pattee chose the location for Fort Brookings, a new military post. Construction began after a 48-oxen-drawn wagon train of supplies arrived from Sioux City, Iowa, and soldiers built shelters for horses, supplies, and the garrison. The post eventually grew to 18 buildings and was renamed Fort Dakota. An elevated lookout and a military cemetery were added on the west bluff, an abandoned quartzite building became the commissary, a new enlisted men’s barracks was built of timbers, and a stone round tower 15 feet high and 30 feet in diameter was constructed, with two bronze 12-pounder mountain howitzers mounted on its deck. Fort Dakota helped calm tensions in the Big Sioux River Valley, gave new settlers a sense of security, routinely fed hungry Dakota Indians who had been banished from their Minnesota homeland, and closed in 1869.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota · United States