Share from Laura George
My great grandfather, Adam Spahn spent his final years here, at the Fort
Dodge Soldier's Home in Fort Dodge, Kansas. I had visited him there
shortly before he died. The memory of the visit, with him in his
wheelchair, lined up alongside many other wheelchair bound soldiers has
never left me.It was difficult to see him in his final stages of
life.The only other time I remember being out at Fort Dodge (besides
Christmas 2008, when I took the above photograph) was as a small child,
during a school field trip. I never really thought much about the fort.
But, now I realize what a huge roll it has played in not only my great
grandfather's life, but that of my great great grandfather, Asbury
Gaskill who also spent the twilight of his life as a resident here.
I was completely unaware of a second relative at the fort until I began
tracing my Gaskill ancestors Asbury served in the Civil War but was
discharged shortly after for "disease of the chest". He spent some time
in 1900 at the Leavenworth Soldiers Home but at some point ended up
here, at Fort Dodge. I have ordered Asbury's complete military file from
the National Archives in Washington, DC and even though it can take up
to 4 months for the packet to arrive I'm hoping it will tell me when he
began living at Fort Dodge. Having ordered that file, I am now
interested in ordering military records for my great grandfather, Adam
Spahn who was in WW1, my grandfather, Eugene Duesing and his brother,
Anthony Duesing who were in WWII. Unfortunately, a fire in 1973
destroyed most of the Army records (both Adam and Eugene were in the
Army) so it may be a more difficult task than it was ordering the Civil
War file of Asbury but I shall try and see what I can get!
For now...here is a little bit of history on Fort Dodge:
Fort
Dodge, was one of the most important forts on the western frontier. It
is located to the southeast of Dodge City. The fort was established on
April 10, 1865 by Captain Henry Pierce, by order of Major General
Grenville M. Dodge. The fort’s primary purpose was to protect the wagon
trains on their way to New Mexico.
The need for a fort at this location was great; an unusually large camp
site for the fort was situated where the dry route and the wet route of
the Santa Fe Trail intersected. The dry route came across the divide
from Larned on the Pawnee River, while the wet route followed the river.
The dry route, often called the Hornado de Muerti, the journey of
death, was often without water the whole distance and trains would lay
up to recruit after making the passage. When the Indians discovered this
popular stopping off point, they began to attack the many unwary
emigrants and freighters traveling through the area.
Buffalo
hunter Ralph Morrison killed and scalped by Cheyennes in December 1868,
near Fort Dodge, Kansas. Photographer: William S. Soule (1836-1908)
Initial fortifications were crude earth dugouts excavated along the
north bank of the Arkansas River. Many men first stationed there were
Confederates who preferred a fight with the Indians to languishing,
perhaps dying, in northern prisons. The soldiers had no lumber or
hardware, so they had to use the available materials, grass and earth,
to create the 70 sod dugouts. These were 10 X 12 feet in circumference
and seven feet deep. A door to the south faced the river and a hole in
the roof admitted air and light. Banks of earth were bunks for the
soddies that slept from two to four men. Sanitation was poor and spring
rains flooded the dugouts. Pneumonia, dysentery, diarrhea and malaria
were common that first year in the isolated fort.
In 1867 Fort Dodge was relocated and rebuilt in stone buildings. In 1868
Comanches and Kiowas attacked Fort Dodge, killing four soldiers and
wounding seventeen. As a result, General Philip H. Sheridan came to Fort
Dodge in the summer of 1868. He pitched his camp on the hill north of
the fort and started outfitting his command against the Indians.
In the fall of 1868, General Alfred Sully took command at the fort in
preparation for winter campaign against the plains Indians. When the
preparations for the expedition were well under way and his army
practically ready to march, General Sully was sent home and General
George A. Custer carried on the campaign.
The abandonment of Fort Dodge in June, 1882, created surprise among the
Dodge City people who were terrified of the Indian raids. After its abandonment, part of the buildings were demolished, some
removed. The military reservation was transferred to the Interior
Department on January 12, 1885 and was converted to the Kansas Soldiers
Home in 1889. When rebuilding and repairing began on the Soldiers Home,
the character of the famous old post was sustained.
The Kansas Soldiers Home now includes a library/museum, a modern
intensive nursing home, a recreation center, five residence halls, and
60 cottages. Veterans of the Mexican, Civil, Indian, Spanish-American,
Philippines, Boxer Rebellion, World War I, and II, Korean and Vietnam
Wars have all been occupants.
The peaceful park, quiet shaded tree lined walks, dignified buildings,
both old and new, and other markers seem a far cry from the dugouts and
forsaken soldiers barely existing on the Arkansas River bank in 1865.
Fort Dodge Haunting – There have been many reports of strange
occurrences at the old fort over the years. At a barn upon the site, it
is said that at 3:30 every morning all the lights go on and off and the
doors mysteriously open by themselves.
info courtesy of
Legends of America
