In 1874, during a period of Indian raids in western and southern Kansas, Governor Thomas A. Osborne organized the Kansas State Guards, and Sun City and Medicine Lodge furnished the companies for this section of the state. The stockade was built by the militia and citizens of Medicine Lodge, with guards posted inside its walls. Its walls were made of cedar posts about 9 feet high, placed side by side and set on end in the ground. The drill ground was outside and to the southeast of the stockade. Many times 200 or more people gathered in the stockade with wagon teams, cattle, and dogs, and its southeast corner was located near this point.