Fort Seward, formerly Fort Cross, was established June 3, 1872. The post was built on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the James River and Pipestone Creek. Although the Sioux Indians had recently been settled on reservations, occasional raiding parties and intermittent warfare further west indicated a need for military production for Northern Pacific railroad workers and property.
Established along the rail line, Fort Seward served as a depot for supplies enroute to Fort Tolten, eighty-one miles to the north. Other fort functions included assisting U.S. marshals' enforcement of federal laws in the Jamestown vicinity, supporting the telegraph company in keeping its line open, and serving as a military mail and message transfer point. Soldiers escorted the paymaster and the officers and accompanied herds of beef cattle enroute to posts on the Missouri River.
The two-company Infantry post was named for William H. Seward, former U.S Secretary of State, and was originally commanded by Captain J.C. Bates, Company B, 20th U.S Infantry. Built mostly of lumber, for buildings include quarters for troops and officers, a hospital, a guard house, store house, stables, a granary, a bake house, offices and workshops. Post and hospital gardens less that a mile away.
During the summer of 1872, 900 railway
workers resided in tents in the vicinity of Fort Seward. After railroad construction stalled at Bismarck in 1873, there was decreasing need for Fort Seward's military protection and the Fort was abandoned on September 30, 1877. Most of the buildings were dismantled and the lumber shipped to fort Totten. In 1925, the Northern Pacific Railroad deeded a portion of the Fort Seward site to the State Historical Society. In 1969, the Lutheran Hospitals and Homes Society of America donated additional land.
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