A remnant of the west wall of the Mormon fort at Fort Bridger, a neat row of mortared cobblestones, dates to the fort’s completion in late summer of 1857 and is the largest and most impressive feature uncovered in recent excavations there. A lighter colored stone foundation tied into the cobblestones indicates construction during the same period. In the fall of 1857, as the U.S. Army approached, Mormon forces deliberately burned Fort Bridger and retreated, leaving a thick layer of ash that was found during the first year of excavation. A darker stone foundation was built by the military sometime between 1858 and 1867. On November 21, 1857, Captain Jesse A. Grover of the Tenth Infantry reported that the Mormons had built a wall around Bridger’s fort in May, one hundred feet square inside, five feet at the base, and rising to fifteen feet, made of small round stones laid in mortar, and that all the buildings were burned.