Established near here on the Oregon Trail on the south side of the Platte River in October 1863, the fort stood on the eve of intensified Indian raids on the Plains. Built next to Cottonwood Springs and the McDonald ranches, it commanded a strategic north-south Indian trail across the Platte Valley. First known as Cantonment McKean and then Fort Cottonwood, it was named in February 1866 for Major-General James B. McPherson. It protected the important Platte Valley line of travel and communication and served as the base for innumerable scouting parties and for field campaigns in 1865, 1866, and 1869. General Carr’s campaign in 1869 broke the power of the Cheyenne and cleared the surrounding area from more than temporary Indian threats. The Russian Grand Duke Alexis prepared there for his famous buffalo hunt in 1872, and General Custer, Buffalo Bill, the North Brothers, and their Pawnee scouts were often there. The fort was abandoned in 1880, but a portion of the military reservation is now Fort McPherson National Cemetery, where soldiers from McPherson and other frontier forts, as well as those who served in more recent wars, rest.