Fort Pease

Background:

On February 18, 1876 Paul McCormick, an area trader, trudged into Fort Ellis with a request for military relief. He had come from Fort Pease, a trading fort located along the Yellowstone River near the mouth of the Bighorn. The fort had been the subject of persistent attacks by Miniconjou Sioux for several months.

These same nontreaty Sioux, possibly incited by Sitting Bull, had also carried out raids on the peaceful Crow tribe settled nearby on its reservation. (A well cited article notes that most of the battles in the mid-1860’s and 1870’s were on lands the Sioux had taken from other tribes since the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty attempted to establish peace amongst those tribes.)

McCormick was one of a large group of trappers and traders who had banded together and established a large stockade and trade fort in 1875. It was well situated to secure trading opportunities both from the Crow Indian reservation, established in 1868, and also from expected steamboat traffic coming up the Yellowstone River. It also sat near the planned Northern Pacific Railway’s route, and the builders may have anticipated a military fort being built in the vicinity, which would also bring trade.

The fort’s builders were industrious and ambitious. Soldier and historian James Bradley, who marched with the Montana Column, included a brief description in his journal: “Fort Pease is built close on the bank of the Yellowstone, and . . . is a combinations of log buildings and palisades, enclosing a space about two hundred feet square. The buildings and palisades are loop-holed on every side. . .”

Name:

The post was named for Fellows Pease, one of the traders. Pease must have been the group’s leader, at least unofficially. He is relatively unknown, and little information on him seems to be readily available. What I have determined thus far is that he had been the agent at Fort Parker, the Crow Indian reservation headquarters, from November 1870 to November 1871. He had been the government’s agent for the Blackfeet Tribe before that.

It is unclear as to whether Pease had been guilty in the scandals and scams that seemed to plague the agency, but one source states that he submitted a bill for $133,936 in 1871 – or about the equivalent of $3.2 million in modern currency – for ”services and supplies.” If Pease was not guilty, it appears the area traders supplying him certainly were.

Pease was born ­­­­­in Pennsylvania in 1835 and lost three brothers in America’s Civil War. Perhaps, mercifully, to spare his mother losing all her sons, Pease went westward in 1861 and established a fur trading company. I have found no record that he served in any military capacity, but he was known as “Major” Fellows Pease.

In 1867, Montana Territory’s acting governor, Thomas Francis Meagher, did raise a citizen militia in response to Indian depredations. It is feasible that Pease earned his title serving in that militia, but I have found no record of it. “Colonel” has been a courtesy title often used despite the recipient’s lack of military rank. “Major” was likely used in similar fashion, acknowledging Pease’ leadership or authority over the contingent of traders at the trade fort bearing his name.

Although little is readily known about Pease, others at the fort would become much better known. Several would figure significantly in events leading up to the Little Bighorn and in the well known battle there. They included both Mitch Bouyer (also sometimes spelled ‘Boyer’ or ‘Bowyer’ – more will be written about him later) and George Herendeen (also a topic for future discussions and posts.)
 

McCormick:

Paul McCormick must have been one of the more intrepid and enterprising traders at the post. Within a few months he would be travelling down the Yellowstone River in Mackinaw boats loaded with eggs, vegetables and other “delicacies” so often absent from soldiers’ bland and repetitious rations. McCormick would readily sell those items to members of Colonel John Gibbon’s “Montana Column,” which included soldiers from Forts Shaw and Ellis.

Readers might recall these troops were marching to meet the Wyoming and Dakota columns in General Sheridan’s campaign to push nontreaty Indians onto reservations. Frontier troops on the march had nowhere to spend their pay and often gambled it away amongst themselves. McCormick made at least two trips downriver to sell wares to these troops and must have done a brisk business. Journal entries also mention the whiskey or other alcohol he was also allowed to sell at the column’s encampments.

Brief History, 1875-1876:

Fort Pease was home to 46 resident traders and trappers. Six had been killed and at least eight or nine wounded in seven months of Sioux attacks before McCormick managed to sneak out during a blizzard. He trudged through snow for four days to Fort Ellis, the nearest military post. He was successful in his mission, and Major James Brisbin secured permission to march out to rescue the remaining occupants of Fort Pease. By the time he arrived many had gone back to trapping, and unbeknownst at the time, the Sioux had also just left the area.

Apparently one of the traders attempted to burn Fort Pease as the occupants left under Major Brisbin’s protection. Only one building actually burned. Most of the fort remained standing, and it was soon used by the Montana Column as a base camp and supply depot as they advanced down the Yellowstone to cooperate with the other two columns. The post would also be used as a base where troops regrouped and reformed their commands after the Little Bighorn battle.

During their downriver march two months after McCormick’s trek to Fort Ellis, Gibbon’s Montana Column found several of the traders’ boats still at Fort Pease. These craft were still in usable condition, which also helped the expedition immensely. Some of the posts’ former traders now served as scouts for the column and may have profited by charging for the use of boats, which they rightly claimed as their own.

By some accounts, not all occupants at Fort Pease desired Major Brisibin’s military help. Some apparently left only grudgingly and only under orders of the military authority. Brisbin’s troops found George Herendeen out trapping or wolfing along the Yellowstone River and forced him to leave. His salty nature would prove invaluable later, as he served the Montana Column and then the 7^th Cavalry as a scout.

Fort Pease had an ambitious and promising start. However, as Lieutenant Bradley wrote, “. . . the times were not propitious and the enterprise was doomed to a troubled life and an early death.” He went on, “The Sioux war broke out, no steamers came to ply on the Yellowstone, no military post was located near by as had been anticipated, and additional settlers did not resort to the vicinity while swarms of hostile Indians did.”

Bradley concluded, “Its history covers a period of less than a year, but teems with incident. . .” It may have burned completely by area tribes after it was finally abandoned by the U.S. military. Other supply bases, cantonments and posts were established in the area in subsequent years.

Future posts on this site will mention Fort Pease along with some of its better known builders and occupants (namely Bouyer and Herendeen.) For now, with the fur fort’s location being strategic and pivotal in future events, be aware that it served a useful function for troops in the 1876 Sioux campaign. It would figure somewhat prominently in future events building up to the Battle of the Little Bighorn.