FORT HAYS STATE HISTORIC SITE
Established to keep peace on the plains
HOURS
9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Wednesday - Saturday
Closed state holidays
EVENTS CALENDAR
ADMISSION
Members Free
Adults $6
Special* $5
Youth (5-17) $3
* Special = Seniors 65+, active military, college students with ID
Portions ADA accessible
Call ahead for
Group Tours
School Tours
Plains Indians watched as their lands were taken for trails, railroads, and settlement. Fort Hays was established in 1865 to protect merchants and travelers crossing the Kansas prairies. Walk these grounds and step into the four remaining buildings to discover how this clash of cultures forever changed the lives of many people.
Tour Fort Hays
View the blockhouse, guardhouse, and officer's quarters where military life once thrived. Walk the interpretive path to see experiences awaiting your visit.
History of the site
Originally called Fort Fletcher, its mission was to protect the Butterfield Overland Despatch stations and passengers. This stagecoach, which followed the Smoky Hill Trail, offered a faster route to Denver. Yet, that meant passing through Cheyenne and Arapaho hunting grounds. The fort closed when the stagecoach ended. It was relocated, renamed, flooded, arriving in its final location in 1867. The community of Hays grew nearby as the fort operated over the next 25 years.
Black soldiers serving in the segregated units of the 38th Infantry and the 10th Cavalry, known as Buffalo Soldiers, made up most of the post's enlisted men in the earlier years. These units served as the garrison to protect the stage and engaged in several Plains Indian battles. The 38th Infantry protected the fort at times when the cavalries were called away. They railroad guarded workers laying tracks for the Union Pacific Railroad's, Eastern Division, when it reached Hays.
With its proximity to the railroad, Fort Hays could receive and store supplies to be distributed to the network of nearly a dozen frontier outposts in the region. Buffalo Bill Cody was among the scouts who helped escort supply missions to the forts.
The fort relied on a number of civilian workers--laundresses, servants, scouts, and carpenters to provide support.
A cholera epidemic in the summer of 1867 proved deadly for the post and the community. Since the post hospital had not yet been built, patients were housed in tents.
The U. S. Seventh Cavalry was among those assigned to Fort Hays. They were part of the government's entourage to provide security when the Peace Commission convened the Medicine Peace Treaty talks in October 1867.
Tens of thousands of native peoples representing five Plains Indian tribes gathered with government for the talks. The national media attended to report on the progress.
Many tribal representatives delivered passionate messages in hope that honest negotiations would lead to lasting peace.
We were once friends with the whites, but you nudged us out of the way by your intrigues, and now when we are in council you keep nudging each other. why don't you talk, and go straight, and let all be well? I am please with all that has been said.
Mo'ohtavetoo'o "Black Kettle," Southern Cheyenne chief
Chief Black Kettle and his family would be killed by Seventh Cavalry troops in the Battle of Washita River a year later.
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Buffalo Bill Cody
Elizabeth Custer
Soldiers
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George Armstrong Custer's boots
