(Press release) — A tour held in remembrance of the 148th Anniversary of the Fetterman Fight will be held at Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site beginning at 9:30 a.m., Dec. 21.
The tour will be guided, in costume, by Bob Wilson of Kearny’s Frontier Regulars and will include an introduction at the Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site Interpretive Center.
The tour will continue with a trek down the ridge at the Fetterman Battlefield Site, and returning to Fort Phil Kearny for a frontier-era weapons demonstration by living historians, as well as refreshments and a question and answer period. The program will conclude by 2 p.m.
The fight occurred on December 21, 1866, between the United States 18th Infantry 2nd Cavalry Regiments and members of the Lakota (Sioux), Northern Cheyenne, and Northern Arapahoe Native American Nations. At that time, the battle marked the largest defeat of U.S. Forces in the Northern-Plains Territories.
New this year, Kearny’s Frontier Regulars will give a public presentation, with an introduction by Fort Phil Kearny Superintendent, Misty Stoll in the Inner Circle at the Sheridan County Fulmer Public Library on Dec. 20, from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.
The presentation will cover the skirmish between Native Americans and soldiers from Fort Phil Kearny on Dec. 6, 1866, that preceded the Fetterman Massacre on Dec. 21. All ages are welcome to the event and there will be costumed representations of frontier soldiers.
In conjunction with this presentation, Sheridan Fulmer Library will host the Wyoming State Museum’s traveling exhibit ‘Frontier Army Posts’ in the Inner Circle during the month of December.
The exhibit discusses the history of U.S. Army forts built in Wyoming during the 19th century. Thirty 16-inch by 20-inch panels of maps, text and historic photographs examine the sixty-plus years that the Army built posts in the West.
Visitors are reminded to dress appropriately for the weather and expect wind at the battlefield. Site fees have been waived for all visitors for the anniversary tour. Fort Phil Kearny State History Site is located at 528 Wagon Box Rd in Banner, Wyoming. For more information call (307) 684-7629 or email the Superintendent at misty.stoll@wyo.gov.