Fort Kearny
Depot, Great Platte River Road, Nebraska.
- Side
- Union
- Kind
- Depot
- Where
- Great Platte River Road, Nebraska
- Years
- 1861-1865
- Today
- Ruins
FORT KEARNY
Way station, sentinel post, supply depot and message center on the Great Platte River Road. When attacks on wagon trains along the Platte began in summer 1864, its soldiers escorted the trains, and the post outfitted several Indian campaigns. The Army abandoned it in 1871.
Then
Fort Kearny on the Great Platte River Road served as way station, sentinel post, supply depot and message center for travelers west, and by the 1860s it was a significant freighting station and a Pony Express home station. When attacks on wagon trains along the Platte and Little Blue rivers began in summer 1864, its soldiers escorted the trains, earthworks were thrown up, and the post served as an outfitting depot for several Indian campaigns.
The Union Pacific Railroad ended its role, and the Army abandoned the post in 1871 and moved its stores to Fort McPherson.
Now
Ruins
Little remains of the post except cottonwood trees and the 1864 earthworks.
The nearest railroad in service today is a line owned by Union Pacific, about 4 miles away.