Fort Caspar and the city of Casper are located along the North Platte River in central Wyoming.
In the 1800's mountain men, fur trappers, settlers, Mormons, Indians and the military all lived in or passed through this area. This area of the country now non as Wyoming , was inhabited by many Indian tribes, the Shoshoni, Sioux, Arapahoe, Crow and Cheyenne as well as others who ventured in to the area. In the 1840's through the 1860's the wagons of thousands of west bound settlers followed the Oregon Trail which lead them through the North Platte River Valley.
In 1847 Brigham Young led the Mormons from Nauvoo, Illinois to their new home in the great Salt Lake Valley. When he passed through the area where the City of Casper now sits he established a ferry service across the Platte River for the Mormons and others that were to follow, and it continued to operate until 1852.
In the 1840's and early 1850's hostilities between settlers and Indians were few along the Oregon Trail. But by 1854, hostilities had increased and additional U.S. Troops were needed in the area to protect the travelers and settlers.
The first permanent occupation of the Fort Caspar Site was in 1859 when Louis Guinard built a bridge across the Platte River and a trading post at the south end of the bridge. Through the years Guinard's trading post also became an overnight stage stop, a Pony Express station and a telegraph office as well as the site of Platte Bridge Station, later known as Ft. Caspar.
In 1862 volunteer cavalry company's were ordered to the Upper Platte Valley to guard against Indian raids which were becoming more frequent. From 1862 to 1865 Guinard's bridge became known as the Platte Bridge Station and became a military post.
Plains tribes were outraged by the Chivington Massacre at Sand Creek in the Colorado Territory, and in 1865 Indian hostility erupted on the plains. In response, troops of the 11th. Ohio Volunteer Cavalry and the 3rd. U.S. Volunteer Infantry were stationed here and were reinforced with the 11th. Kansas Volunteer Cavalry and the 6th. U.S. Volunteer Infantry. In July of 1865 the Sioux and Cheyenne tribes, resolved to eliminate Platte Bridge Station and the other small stations in the area, and there inhabitants.
In late July a wagon train with twenty five men under Sgt. Amos Custard's command were traveling from Sweetwater Station east toward Platte Bridge Station. Lt. Caspar Collins and a small detachment of soldiers were sent out to try and reach the wagon train and escort it to the station but upon crossing the bridge to the north they were overwhelmed by Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. Lt. Collins and several of the men were killed.
In November of 1865 the Army officially changed the name from Platte Bridge Station to Fort Caspar, to honor Lt. Collins who gave his life to try and save others. The fort was abandoned in 1867.
Citizens of the city of Casper reconstructed the fort on it's original location in 1936 using sketches that Lt. Collins had drawn in 1863.
