Established on the Oregon Trail on the south side of the Platte River in October 1863, this fort stood beside Cottonwood Springs and the McDonald ranch and commanded a strategic north-south Indian trail across the Platte valley. First called Cantonment McKean and then Fort Cottonwood, it was renamed 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 Cheyennes and cleared the surrounding area of more than temporary Indian threats. Russian prince Alexis prepared there for his famous buffalo hunt in 1871, and General Custer, Buffalo Bill, the North Brothers, and their Pawnee scouts were often at the fort. Abandoned in 1880, part of the military reservation is now Fort McPherson National Cemetery, where soldiers from McPherson and other frontier forts rest.