Old Fort Sully

The bronze's great Treaty Council was a run of separate treaties signed here in October 1865, opening with the Minneconjou on the 10th and running through the Two Kettles on the 19th, the Sans Arcs on the 20th and the Oglala on the 28th. Governor Newton Edmunds led the commission, with Generals Curtis and Sibley beside him. Each band agreed to put its quarrels over war and peace to the President's arbitration. The Senate ratified the treaties in March 1866, and they did not end the fighting on the plains.

What the plaque says

The First (Old) Fort Sully 1863 - 1866 In the field 400 yards south is a monument to and vestiges of the site of Fort Sully. After General Alfred Sully's troops had fought the Battle of Whitestone Hill near Ellendale, North Dakota, against the Indians in the fall of 1863, they marched back here to winter. Cos. E & L 6th Iowa Cavalry did most of the building. It was 270 ft. square with its East and West walls, barracks; the South wall where the gate was located was the hospital, guardhouse and quarters. The North wall was a palisade and inside were officer's quarters and a warehouse. There were bastions in NW & SE corners. Along the South wall, but outside, were cabins owned by Divet, an Indian dance hall, the post sutler and post interpreter and to the SW Narcelle's trade store and to the SE Brughiers. Col. E. M. Bartlett, 30th Wisconsin Infantry was first commander and the post was first named for him in 1863-64 but that spring re-named Fort Sully. The winter of 1864-65, after another campaign, it was garrisoned by Cos. B, H, & K 6th Iowa under Major House and that fall it was the scene of great Treaty Council with Teton & Yank- tonaise Sioux. Lt. Col. John Patee, 7th Iowa Cavalry commanded winter 1865-66 and Lt. Col. Andrews, the last commander, quit the post July 26, 1866 to march to New Fort Sully 36 miles upriver. The American Fur Company had a trade post on river bank opposite Farm Island while the fort was occupied by troops. Erected 1956 by Michael M. Morrissey, M. D., Pierre and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• South Dakota State Capitol — 3.8 mi
  A copper-domed capitol built to end three elections' worth of fighting over where the capital belonged, beside a lake fed by an artesian well with a gas flame burning in it.
• Verendrye Monument — 5.4 mi
  The hilltop above Fort Pierre where three children found a lead plate in 1913 that two French brothers had buried in 1743 to claim the West for their king.
• Oahe Dam — 9.4 mi
  One of the largest rolled-earth dams in the world, dedicated by President Kennedy in 1962, holding back a reservoir that reaches more than 230 miles to Bismarck.

More markers nearby

• Civilian Conservation Corps Camp - Farm Island — steps away
• Site of Old Fort Sully — 0.2 mi
• Ancient Indian Fortress — 3.3 mi
• Coe Crawford, 6th Governor of South Dakota — 3.5 mi