8/15/2010:
Fort Rice was a new, remote, frontier post along the Missouri River in 1865. The one-year-old post was home to the support troops for the Northwest Indian Expedition under command of General Alfred Sully, and aside from the constant threat of Indian attacks, life at the post was pretty routine. So, it was with some excitement that twenty-one men from the Iowa 6th Cavalry and 13 men from the 1st US Volunteer Infantry, along with Lieut. Col. Pattee, the Commander of the post, and his staff, had left the post for a buffalo hunt.
On this date they were returning to the post after killing two bulls and an antelope. They had seen plenty of elk and antelope, but only a few small herds of buffalo. Nonetheless, it was a welcomed break in the boredom of frontier military life.
Dakota Datebook written by Jim Davis
Source:
The Frontier Scout, August 17, 1865