Fort Randall Chapel

The last soldiers to march out of Fort Randall in 1892 were a company made up entirely of American Indian men under two white officers. The post's Indian company was Company I of the 21st Infantry, thirty-seven men the army recorded as Sioux, mustered there in the fall of 1891 under General Order No. 28 of March 9 that year, which let the regular army enlist Indian companies. Captain Jesse M. Lee of the 9th Infantry encouraged the effort. The experiment was short: the last of these companies, L of the 7th Cavalry, mustered out in 1895.

What the plaque says

Fort Randall was established by Brig. Gen. W. S. Harney in 1856 and named by him for Col. Daniel Randall, Deputy Paymaster U.S. Army. Construction was started on June 26, 1856 by 1st Lts. George H. Paige, 2nd Inf. and D.S. Stanley, 1st Cavalry, Col. E. Lee 2nd U.S. Inf. was its first permanent commander. In 1875, soldiers of the Post, members of the I.O.O.F. lodge, wanting a lodge room, combined this idea with a Church and Library, designed by George Bush, the post carpenter, a discharged soldier and they built this structure from hand sawn chaulkstone from nearby quarries, aided in the quarrying and transportation only by the U.S. Government. Otherwise it was entirely a private venture. You are standing in front of the church. From the north the structure looked like the sketch above with the lodge hall in the center. The fort finally was abandoned in 1892 and this ruin is its outstanding vestige. Two devastating wind storms and a bolt of lightning wrecked the roof and rain and frost finished the work. Detailed drawings by co-operation of the Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service were made in 1947 and filed in the Library of Congress. The ruins were stabilized by the Engineers in 1953. The orientation table adjacent shows the layout of the post and a walk over the parade grounds will show its outlines. This marker was erected in 1953 by the South Dakota State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Randall — 3.6 mi
  The ruined stone chapel of an 1856 Missouri River post below Fort Randall Dam, where Sitting Bull and his band were held as prisoners for two years.

More markers nearby

• Fort Randall Map — steps away
• Commanding Officers Quarters — steps away
• Marty Mission — 7.9 mi
• Bethlehem Cemetery — 13 mi