Julesburg and Fort Sedgwick

In late June 1867 General William T. Sherman was at Fort Sedgwick with orders for Custer, whose 7th Cavalry was somewhere on the Republican River to the southeast. Second Lieutenant Lyman Kidder of the 2nd Cavalry, twenty-four years old, rode out with ten troopers and a Lakota scout, Red Bead. Finding Custer's camp empty, he followed the wrong trail south into Kansas, where Lakota and Cheyenne fighters overran the party near Beaver Creek in early July. Custer's men found the twelve bodies on July 12. Kidder's father, a judge, identified his son by a shirt his mother had made.

What the plaque says

Julesburg and Fort Sedgwick Julesburg, Colorado, visible to the southwest, was established as a road ranche, trading post, and stage station in 1859. Located near the junction of several overland routes, Old Julesburg became an important transportation and military center during the 1860s. On January 7, 1865, more than 500 Sioux and Cheyenne attacked Julesburg in revenge for the Sand Creek Massacre of November 29, 1864. The small military force at nearby Camp Rankin, established in 1864, was unable to prevent the Indians from burning the settlement and killing 18 defenders. Julesburg was rebuilt on a new site. The military post was enlarged and later renamed Fort Sedgwick. Until it was abandoned in 1871, Fort Sedgwick was a focal point for military activities in the region. During construction of the Union Pacific across western Nebraska in 1867, troops protected the construction workers from the threat of Indian attack. Julesburg was rebuilt near the railroad. The town lasted less than a year and was noted for vice and violence. The fourth and present Julesburg was platted as Denver Junction in 1884. It was renamed Julesburg when it was incorporated two years later. Department of Roads Nebraska State Historical Society, 2017

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Julesburg — 4.3 mi
  The town that moved four times: a trading post, a stage stop burned in 1865, the wickedest end-of-track town on the Union Pacific, and finally Denver Junction renamed.
• Ash Hollow State Historical Park — 19 mi
  The emigrants' spring below Windlass Hill, six miles from the Blue Water Creek camp where Harney's soldiers killed eighty-six Lakota in 1855, and where their belongings came home in 2025.

More markers nearby

• The Great Platte River Road — steps away
• Big Springs — steps away
• Colorado — 4.1 mi
• Sam Bass and the Big Springs Robbery — 7.3 mi