Fort Sanders

The stone's founding date is really a renaming. The post went up on July 10, 1866 as Fort John Buford and took William P. Sanders's name that September, Sanders having died of wounds at Knoxville in 1863, because another post already carried Buford's. Two summers later Grant, Sherman and Sheridan came here in July 1868 to settle the Union Pacific's quarrel between Thomas Durant and Grenville Dodge, and Grant kept Dodge as chief engineer. The sandstone ruin behind the marker is the guardhouse, the only building of the post still standing.

What the plaque says

This monument marks the site of Fort Sanders Established September 5, 1866 Abandoned May 18, 1882 Named in honor of Brigadier General William P Sanders Erected by the State of Wyoming and Jacques Laramie Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution June 1914 From July 10, to September 5, 1866 known as Fort John Buford

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Vedauwoo — 14 mi
  Knobs of 1.4-billion-year-old granite between Laramie and Cheyenne, rough as sandpaper and famous among climbers for its wide cracks.

More markers nearby

• Laramie — 1.9 mi
• First Woman Jury — 2.6 mi
• Old Overland Trail — 6.2 mi
• Henry B. Joy Monument — 8.7 mi