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George H. Crosman

6/17/2006:

On June 17, 1867, Brevet Major George H. Crosman, commanding a battalion of the 10th US Infantry, arrived at the newly established Fort Ransom. Crosman later described life at the fort in a letter:

“…During the summer the weather was not unpleasantly hot, but…In all my experience in Texas, Louisiana and other places, I never saw anything to compare to the mosquitoes in Dakota; they actually made life a burden. The winters were very severe, the thermometers froze every year. After the snow fell at Fort Ransom, we were actually shut in from the world entirely; our own communication with the outside world was made by Indians in government employ, on snowshoes who carried our mail to and from Abercrombie.”

Crosman also described a prairie fire approaching with the speed and noise of several railroad trains. The post was spared; the hay and wood supply was not. Crosman left in 1872 when the fort was dismantled.

Written by Christina Campbell

Sources:

http://www.fortransomnd.com/index.asp?pageID=1004&page=history

http://www.sdgfp.info/parks/Learning/DakotaForts.htm