First called Camp Pond Creek, Fort Wallace was established in 1865 and served as the headquarters for troops assigned to protect travelers headed west along the Smoky Hill Trail to the Denver gold fields. As the westernmost military outpost in Kansas, it was one of the most active military posts in the Central Plains from 1865 to 1878. Troops often spent time in the field, and the fort was attacked several times by Plains Indians defending their lands and way of life. Located about two miles southeast of the site, the fort was abandoned in 1882, and nothing now remains visible of the stone and wood buildings where more than 300 men were once stationed. North of the former fort site, the old post cemetery still survives within the Wallace Township Cemetery, enclosed by stone walls. In 1867 U.S. soldiers erected a monument there to honor comrades killed in action and buried at the cemetery, and although their remains were later moved to Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery, the monument still stands in their honor.