Location
c/o Ft. Phil Kearny SHS
528 Wagon Box Road
Banner, WY 82832
(307) 684-7629 (Office)
Bob Wilson, Superintendent
Site Facilities
Access Interstate 90 (exit 44); U.S. Highway 87. Located 22 miles north of Buffalo 20 miles south of Sheridan. Open year-round, weather permitting. Historic Site operates from sunrise to sunset. No camping or other facilities available.
Brief History
WAGON BOX FIGHT - August 2, 1867
The Wagon Box Fight was one of the key skirmishes in the Indian Wars that raged along the Bozeman Trail. In August 1867, several months after their triumph over troops commanded by Captain William Fetterman, Sioux Indian forces attacked woodcutters and soldiers camped five miles from Fort Phil Kearny. During initial stages of the battle, 26 soldiers and 6 civilians took refuge inside an oval of wagon boxes used as a stockade corral. Armed with brand new breechloading rifles, the troops held off the intense attacks until a relief force arrived, sustaining only three fatalities.
This monument is erected to perpetuate the memory of one of the famous battles of history. It is dedicated to the courage and bravery of 28 soldiers in Company C, 27th United States Infantry, and four civilians, who held their improvised fort made of 14 ordinary wagon-boxes against three thousand Sioux warriors under the leadership of Red Cloud for a period of six or seven hours under continuous fire. The number of indians killed has been variously estimated from three hundred to eleven hundred. The following participated in the engagement:
Capt. Jas. Powell
1Lt John C. Jenness
1st Sgt. John M. Hoover
Corp. Max Littman
1st Sgt. John Mc Query
Corp. Francis Robertson
PRIVATES:
Wm. A. Baker James Condon Mark Hadder
Ashton P. Barton Thomas Doybe Phillip C. Jones
Wm. Black Nodan Deming Freeland Phillips
Chas. Brooks John Grady John D. Somers
Alexander Brown John M. Garrett Chas. D. Stevens
Denis Brown Henry Gross Juluis Strache
John B Buzzard Samuel Gibson
4 Unknown Civilians Killed
Frederick Odaus, Henry Haggarty.
Erected April 1936 by the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps under the direction of the Sheridan Chamber of Commerce.
One of "nine young men from Kentucky" who accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their explorations of Louisiana Territory, John Colter became one of the expedition's most adept hunters. He was about thirty years old when the expedition set off in 1804, stood five feet ten inches tall, and looked out at the world through piercing blue eyes. read more
Many waves of history have washed over Wyoming, leaving layers of the past for modern-day adventurers to discover and appreciate. read more
