Fort McPherson and North Platte

The post's first winter has its own chronicler, Eugene Ware of the 7th Iowa Cavalry, in The Indian War of 1864. Companies F and G garrisoned what was then Cantonment McKean, with Major George M. O'Brien as post commander and Ware as adjutant. When a windstorm struck on October 17, the men sheltered in the pilgrim quarters of the MacDonald ranch. A cabinetmaker turned whip-sawed red cedar into chairs, tables and a company desk, and by early 1864 the post had 413 hewed cedar logs stacked for building and about 20,000 pounds of flour.

What the plaque says

Fort McPherson and North Platte A few miles west of here on the south side of the Platte River is the site of Fort McPherson, 1863-1880. During the Indian troubles of the middle 1860s, troops of the post were occupied in keeping the telegraph lines in operation and the mail and stage lines running. When the Union Pacific Railroad reached this area in late 1866, the military played an important role in guarding construction crews. Early in 1867 the town of North Platte was established fifteen miles west of the fort. The town was located on the watershed just above the confluence of the North and South Platte rivers, and was designated a division point for the railroad. Two brick roundhouses were among the first buildings in the village. Many frontier and military figures are important in the history of both the fort and the town. Although the fort was totally razed after its abandonment, the Fort McPherson National Cemetery is located on a part of the old military reservation. It is the resting place of hundreds of soldiers from various western military posts, as well as servicemen from later wars. North Platte, now grown into one of Nebraska's major trading centers, still retains a lively interest in the exciting history of the region. Department of Roads Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park — 19 mi
  Scout's Rest, the North Platte ranch house and barn of William F. Cody, in the town where his Old Glory Blowout of July 4, 1882 became the first act of the Wild West.
• Golden Spike Tower and Bailey Yard — 20 mi
  A tower with seventh- and eighth-floor decks over Union Pacific's Bailey Yard in North Platte, the world's largest railroad classification yard, in a town the railroad laid out and fed troops from.

More markers nearby

• Road Ranches Along the Platte — 0.7 mi
• Fort McPherson — 4.9 mi
• Swedish Crosses Cemetery — 14 mi
• Etna — 16 mi