Jul 28 2018 10 mins 4
The “Founding and Construction of Fort Dodge,” Kansas is narrated by Brad Smalley. The story takes place on April 5, when Captain Henry Pearce leaves Fort Larned, Kansas, with a company of Kansas volunteers to establish the new post. Captain Pearce was to engage and discourage the large bands of Comanches, Apaches, and Kiowas who were encamped on the Cimarron and on Crooked Creek regions of the Arkansas valley. Pearce selected a site located 6 miles east of Fort Atkinson that both guarded the Santa Fe Trail and stood midway between the two major Indian crossings on the Arkansas River. Captain Pearce officially established the post on April 10, 1865, and named it in honor of the departmental commander, General Dodge.
