Fort Harker: Defending the Journey West

Kansas Fort Series #7

by Leo E. Oliva

Fort Harker, established as Fort Ellsworth in August 1864 on the north side of the Smoky Hill River at the juncture of the Fort Riley-Fort Larned Road and the Smoky Hill Trail, was founded to counter Indian resistance in the region and help forward supplies to military posts farther west. It also served as command headquarters for the District of the Upper Arkansas.

Genres: Military History

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2000

Reviews

[Gary Klein · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about Fort Harker. Why it was founded, its construction, and life at the fort. The fort's most famous historical connection is to the 1867 Hancock War, for which Fort Harker was a logistical depot. However, this book doesn't go into much detail on the activities of 1867 either.

[Thomas Isern · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because of local connections (central Kansas, my old stomping grounds) and because of acquaintance with its author, Leo Oliva. Leo is a rock-solid historian of the military frontier on the central plains. The story of Fort Harker is not scintillating--no big sieges, no celebrated stories--but what emerges from Oliva's narrative is the integral role of the post in the transition of regional settlement. The post bridged the freighting and railroad frontiers and was the staging point for major military expeditions, but more commonly, for countless routine patrols and escorts. Also, the final chapter is intriguing, leading me to want to go back to Kanopolis, Kansas, and find the relic buildings of the post now converted to private use.