Fort Abraham Lincoln

Snow is a common occurrence in North Dakota, but not in June! That’s what the Seventh Cavalry endured for two cold, wet days, stuck in camp in the Badlands, while marching west from Fort Abraham Lincoln. The expedition was headed into Montana Territory, where Plains Indians would later defeat Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his men at the Battle of Greasy Grass, or Little Bighorn.

Bismarck was home to a number of historical characters in its early years. One of them was photographer D.F. Barry. He is remembered for his photography of Native Americans, frontier forts, battlefields and military officers. His subjects included Sitting Bull, Gall, Rain-in-the-Face, Red Cloud, Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley and General George Crook.

The Seventh Cavalry will forever be connected to North Dakota. Formed in 1866, the Seventh patrolled the Great Plains to protect westward expansion.…

On May 18th, 1876, Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer and his 7th Cavalry rode west from Fort Abraham Lincoln for a summer campaign against the Lakotas,…

As Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his thousand-man expedition meandered south and west to the Black Hills in the summer of 1874, there…

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer was busy in the summer of 1874. General Phil Sheridan had selected Custer’s Seventh Cavalry for an expedition…