Fort Mitchell Site
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Nearest city: | Scottsbluff, Nebraska |
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Area: | 20 acres (8.1 ha) |
Built: | 1864 |
Governing body: | Private |
NRHP Reference#: | 78001713[1] |
Added to NRHP: | June 07, 1978 |
Fort Mitchell, Nebraska an Army fort in service from 1864-1867. Its location is marked by Nebraska Historical Society Marker 190 on highway NE 92 two miles west of present day, Scottsbluff, Nebraska, just south of the junction with highway NE L79G.
First constructed northwest of Mitchell Pass as Camp Shuman, Fort Mitchell was manned in the autumn of 1864 by Company "H" of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry under Captain J. S. Shuman. It was named in honor of General Robert B. Mitchell, who ordered the establishment of this post to protect traffic along the Great Platte River Road between Julesburg and South Pass and the nearby Scott's Bluff stage station. Fort Mitchell was abandoned after the Fort Laramie peace conference of 1867.
The ground plan of Fort Mitchell consisted of a stockade with a sally port, firing loopholes, and a sentinel tower. Today no trace of the sod structure remains at the site west of the North Platte River bend northwest of Scott's Bluff.
Mitchell Pass and the city of Mitchell, Nebraska, derive their names this military post.[2]
Google Earth has a marker with detailed biography of the fort at the above coordinates. There is also an image of the highway marker a mile west of the fort's site, which is located at: 41.859199,-103.723292
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