Bent’s Old Fort celebrates 50th anniversary of designation

 

Following the Spanish and French explorations of the 1790s into what is now Colorado, various trading forts sprung up across Colorado’s Eastern Plains. The most famous was Bent’s Fort. William Bent established not one, but three forts along the Arkansas River, in what would become Colorado Territory. The original sites of Bent’s forts have been excavated and well documented.

On June 3, 1960, the realization of hard work by local, state and national activists, came to fruition when President Dwight D. Eisenhower designated Bent’s Old Fort a National Historic Site. A celebration of the 50th anniversary of that historic event will be held June 5-6, at the premier living history attraction that is now reconstructed and attracts tourists worldwide.

Bent, of French Canadian descent and a fur trapper by trade, came west with his brother Charles in the 1820s. At age 20, William Bent opened the territory’s first stockade along the Arkansas River, near the mouth of Huerfano Creek. The Bent brothers expanded their trade to include Ceran St. Vrain of Mexico, and established the Bent-St. Vrain trading empire in the southwest. While Charles Bent and Ceran St. Vrain opened numerous trading posts stretching from Wyoming to Colorado and New Mexico, William opened a second post, which would become a military fort, also on the Arkansas River, 12 miles north of the Purgatoire River, and 14 miles west of present day Las Animas.

Now known as Bent’s Old Fort, it was constructed of sturdy adobe in early 1833. Famous traders, such as Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Charles Autobees, Jim Baker and Black Kettle, all passed through this historic post. The site became the most important trading post on the Santa Fe Trail between Independence, Mo., and Santa Fe, N.M.

Following the Mexican War of 1847-1848, the government offered to buy the fort. When negotiations broke down, William Bent set explosives to blow up his fort in 1849. Some say he refused to let the fort be taken over, others say the fort held bad memories, including the death of his brother Charles, and his wife, Owl Woman. The fort lay in ruins until reconstruction began in 1976.

In 1853, William Bent built his third and final fort 38 miles down river on the Arkansas, again along the Santa Fe Trail in the Big Timbers area. Identified as Fort William, it was the first to receive a trading license under American rule. Still standing and also a National Historical Site, it is now known as Fort Lyon. Despite the ever-present Indian opposition, the fort was primarily a major supply service for the trappers, and Mexican trade, along the Santa Fe Trail until 1864 when it became the headquarters for Col. John Chivington’s massacre of the Indians at Sand Creek.   

For more than 40 years, William Bent was known as the “Peace Keeper” with the Native Americans. A friend to the Indians, he married Owl Woman, daughter of Indian Chief Gray Thunder. Smallpox swept the Indian nation, killing nearly half of the Cheyenne, including Owl Woman. Upon her death, Bent married her sister, Yellow Woman, as was the Indian custom. Bent encouraged rival tribes to make peace and work together with the white man. However, his son Charlie was forced at gun-point to lead Chivington’s men from Fort Lyon to his mother’s Indian camp, while his elder son George, visiting his Cheyenne mother’s people at Sand Creek, became an innocent bystander to the slaughter commanded by Chivington in 1864.

Charlie Bent never forgot the forced march and joined the Cheyenne Dog Soldiers in war against the settlers. George Bent, wounded in the battle, recovered at the Fort Lyon Hospital, where is father William watched over him. He later returned to the Cheyenne people and fought furiously against the white man, leading raids and causing terror across the Eastern Plains.  William disowned his son Charlie, who later attempted to murder his father. William Bent continued to negotiate for peace between the white man and the Indian, testifying before a military court assembled at Fort Lyon in August 1865 against the actions of Chivington at the Sand Creek battle.

William Bent died of pneumonia in 1869, still trading and seeking peace with the Indians and the encroaching white men. He was buried in the Las Animas Cemetery, the seat of Bent County, named for the great frontiersman. 

Volumes have been written about the history of Bent’s Old Fort and the importance it played during the expansion of the Western frontier.  For more than 15 years, it was the dominant structure in the entire southwest, the hub of all activity. Military expeditions pursuing the concept of Manifest Destiny, guarding and fighting against Indians used the fort as a point of contact. The wagon trains following the Santa Fe Trail, regarded the fort as a welcome resting spot. The Indians, who watched their land and freedom disappear, sought peace with Bent, and traded for supplies at the fort.

The years of painstaking archeology since the 1960 national historic status led to the authentic reconstruction of Bent’s Old Fort in 1976. The U.S. Department of Interior and the National Park Service built the grass-reinforced adobe fort. The historic site is now a national tourist site, furnished with and staffed by National Park Service personnel in period costume.

Bent’s Old Fort National Historic Site celebrates the rich history of Colorado’s frontier days with their 50th anniversary on June 5 and 6 with living history and reenactments.

“We plan to have action-packed programs for the commemoration,” said Greg Holt from the fort.

There will be trail rides along the prairie and the river with trappers and traders of the 1830s, as well as food and beverages made as they were back then.

Open year round, this summer promises to be an exciting time at the fort, and well worth a visit back in time. The fort is located 14 miles southwest of Las Animas, on Colorado Highway 194. For more information, e-mail bentsfort@nps.com, call 719-383-5023 or visit www.nps.gov/beol.