Fort Abraham Lincoln

Reproduction of Custer's House at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park is located seven miles south of Mandan, North Dakota. The park is home to On-A-Slant Indian Village, the blockhouses and the Custer house. President Theodore Roosevelt signed the deed to the land to the state in 1907 as Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.

History

The Mandan Indian tribe settled on the Heart River in 1575. They built earthlodges and thrived in their community by hunting bison and growing a number of crops. Two hundred years later, an outbreak of smallpox caused the Mandan population to significantly decrease. The Mandan resettled, and in the 1870’s the area along the west banks of the Missouri, the same location where the Mandan tribe had established their village, an infantry post was built.

By 1873, the 7th Calvary moved into the Dakotas to ensure the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railway. In 1876, the Army was sent to battle the Sioux at Little Big Horn, where they were to push the non-treaty Indians back to their particular reservations. General George Custer along with about half of his troops did not return to Fort Lincoln. The Fort was abandoned in 1891 after the completion of the railroad to Montana in 1883. A year after the fort was abandoned; local residents disassembled the fort for its nails and wood. Later, the federal Conservation Corps restored the blockhouses and earthlodges. The Custer House was not rebuilt until 1989. The house was built as it stood in 1875.

In 1934, the Civilian Conservation Corps built a visitor center, shelters, and roads. They also reconstructed military blockhouses and placed cornerstones to mark where fort buildings once stood, as well as replicating Mandan earthen lodges. Additional reproductions have since been built on the site creating a replica Mandan village, called "On-a-Slant Village." A reproduction of Custer's house was built in the park in 1989, in time for the state of North Dakota's centennial. The park also includes a campground and picnic area.

On-A-Slant Indian Village

Reproduction of Mandan earth lodge at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park

On-A-Slant Indian Village was established in 1575. The village consisted of 75 to 85 earthlodges with a population of about 1,000. On-A-Slant was located near the Heart River, and was named so because the village was built on a slope near the Missouri River. The women of the Mandan tribe were responsible for building the earthlodges which were made from a covering of willow, grass and earth held up by the support of cottonwood logs. The top center of the earthlodge contained a hole designed for light and a smokehole for the fire pit. The earthlodges were placed close together and usually housed about ten members of the immediate and extended family.

Custer House

Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and his wife Libby lived on Fort Abraham Lincoln from 1873 until Custer died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in the spring of 1876. Their first home was built in the summer of 1873, but burned down in February 1874. Fort Abraham Lincoln offers tours of Custer's last house and the barracks where the about 650 soldiers resided.

Five Nations Arts

Five Nations Arts is part of the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, which is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to maintaining and promoting the heritage and historic perspectives of Fort Lincoln and other historic sites in North Dakota. Five Nations Arts is a local art store specializing in regional Native American art, showcasing the five Indian nations of the Northern Plains. They offer paintings, jewelry, sculptures, dream catchers and beadwork created by 200 local artists. Painted buffalo skins and local sewn quilts are offered. Music from national and local musicians is also available along with locally produced soaps made from buffalo tallow and natural local herbs, such as cedar, rose, sage, and sweetgrass. Five Nations Arts is established in the former Northern Pacific Railway station, on Main Street in Mandan.

Recreation

Fort Lincoln Park offers living history tours of the Custer House every half hour. The tour is forty minutes long and takes you back to the 1875 when Custer and his wife were living on Fort Abraham Lincoln. The guides are dress in full soldier uniform and the maids throughout the house are also dress in full maids uniform from 1875. Interpretive tours of On-A-Slant Indian Village and the earthlodges are also offered every half hour and are fifty minutes long. Along with the interpretive and living history tours of the General George Custer House and On-A-Slant Indian Village, there is a historical museum about the On-A-Slant Village and other information about Fort Lincoln State Park. Visitors are welcome walk through the calvary barracks and the blockhouses. There are 95 campsites, two sleeping cabins, and picnic shelters. Horseback tours, hiking, fishing, and playgrounds are also located on the 1006 acres of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park.

Directions

Fort Lincoln State Park is located seven miles south of Mandan, on the banks of the Heart and Missouri Rivers along Highway 1806. Take 6th Avenue south after exiting from I-94 from the east or west.

Events in 2007

• April 12- Five Nations Arts will be holding a silent and live auction, and showcase of handcrafted Native American art from the Dakotas.
• May 1st- Fort Abraham Lincoln will open for tours.
• May 24- Third Annual Golf Torment to raise funds for the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation. Event will be held at Apple Creek Country Club.
• June 8 & 9th- Halloween in June at Fort Lincoln State Campground.
• June 16 & 17th- Fort Lincoln Festival. Large military encampments, artillery demonstrations, native crafts, music, food and live outdoor shows of the Fort Lincoln Melodrama will be featured. New this year, Craft vendors selling North Dakota made products will set up on the grounds of Fort Lincoln State Park Visitor Center.
• June 16 -Fort Lincoln Road Race will be held along with the Fort Lincoln Festival. A 5K walk and run,* and a 10K run will travel along the Heart and Missouri Rivers.
• July 1st- Old Fashion Root Beer Float Social.
• July 8- History Symposium. Authors, scholars, and interpreters will offer a wide view of history about the Mandan Culture and life at Fort Lincoln.
• August 18- Sheheke Returns to On-a-Slant. Historians talk about Sheheke, On-A-Slants most famous son. Sheheke, Lewis and Clark, and the Corps of Discovery camped on the Missouri banks across from the abandoned On-A-Slant Village.
• October 17- An Evening On-A-Slant. Hear stories of the Mandan people while sitting around a fire, listening to native flute music, and enjoying the surroundings.
• October 19 & 20th- Haunted Fort. Take a tour of Fort Abraham Lincoln; guides will tell tales of ghost sightings since the Battle of Little Big Horn.
• December 8th & 9th- Custer Christmas. Tour Fort Lincoln in 1875 Christmas fashion. Carolers, sleigh rides, "old time" photos and a church service will be featured.

Notable residents

• Frank L. Anders - Medal of Honor recipient and notable businessman who was born here in 1877

References

• Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation. 21 Mar 2007. 3 May 2007. <Fort Lincoln>
• Fort Abraham Lincoln. ND-Direct. 3 May 2007. 3 May 2007. <Fort Abraham Lincoln,North Dakota>
• Fort Lincoln. ND Story Ideas. 9 May 2007. <ND Story Ideas>
• Fort Lincoln. ND Parks. 9 May 2007. <Fort Lincoln History>

External links

• Fort Abraham Lincoln website
• Fort Abraham Lincoln - ndparks.com
• History of Fort Abraham Lincoln - ndparks.com
• Virtual Tour of Fort Abraham Lincoln
• Map links: 46°45′51″N 100°50′59″W