Fort Reno

Fort Reno. Founding and Development. In 1868, after several years of chasing the Plains Indians in the summertime, with no success, General Sherman developed the idea of a winter campaign. Severe winter weather made all Tribes less mobile. Sherman selected General Sheridan and Col. Custer of the 7th Cavalry to head the effort to force the hostile Plains tribes onto reservations. Such an ambitious campaign required a supply depot, and Camp Supply (later Fort Supply) was built. , Custer and the troops left Camp Supply on November 23, 1868, in a blinding snowfall, leaving Sheridan at the Camp. The first winter camp they found turned out to be that of Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle. After the engagement, Custer took many captives and returned them to Camp Supply. No provisions had been made for captives and no Cheyenne/Arapaho Reservation existed. Rather hurriedly the Darlington Agency was established and the captives were transferred. They were joined by other Indians who were forced into reservation life. At this time, all major reservations required a supporting military fort - thus Fort Reno was born., Immediately following the Black Kettle/Battle of the Washita engagement, a larger force returned to the Washita site. They then engaged Comanche, Kiowa and other hostile tribes near present day Lawton. In similar fashion, Sheridan established Fort Sill and a new reservation nearby. Fort Sill ultimately replaced Ft. Cobb., (sidebar:), Later Events -, . On September 9, 1878 more than 350 Indians fled Darlington Agency lead by Chiefs Dull Knife and Little Wolf. They passed through Kansas and Nebraska trying to return to their northern home. The Indians were pursued by every cavalry post in between., . The old Post Cemetery dates back to the Fort's origins. Among others, Chief of Scouts Ben Clark and his Cheyenne wife are buried there., . Fort Reno became a Remount Station operated by the Quartermaster Corps on May 25, 1908. The next 33 years of peace time operations at the Fort were relatively stable. With the beginning of world war two, the Army re-activated three Remount Stations, including Fort Reno. Horse cavalry continued to play a role in the early years of the war because it took two to three years to develop, equip and train the first American Tank Corps. During this time, thousands of horses and mules were bought, trained and shipped, mainly to the Italian Mountain Campaign and to Burma., . Also during World War II a German and Italian Prisoner of War Camp was built at Fort Reno. Military police ran the Camp. Deceased prisoners were buried in the old Post Cemetery area., . In July 1948, the Fort became a grasslands and livestock experiment station, operated by the US Department of Agriculture and Oklahoma State University., (photo caption:), In the early years of the fort system on the Plains, both Calvary and Infantry troops lived in tents until permanent structures were built. Tents housed men and provided working quarters, including kitchens, hospitals, etc. Fort Reno would have looked similar to Camp Supply, as it is pictured by Harper's Weekly, February 27, 1869.