Drybone: A History of Fort Fetterman, Wyoming Book

The story of Fort Fetterman is one of hardship and hard luck, but it is also the story of a frontier military post too tough to die, at least for a while. Throughout its active life, location worked both for and against it, too often the latter. Author Owen Wister visited Fetterman and used it as a basis for his fictional town Drybone, thus the title for this book. Crazy Horse called it a source of irritation, the one thing he objected to in the Treaty of 1868. But author Lindmier calls Fort Fetterman full of excitement and challenge. He calls it an important frontier military post. Established in 1867 to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail, Fort Fetterman was under siege nearly constantly. It soon became the launching point for General Crook's 1876 campaigns that eventually led to the Battle of Little Big Horn. But by 1880, with the Indians confined to reservations and the territory peaceful, the fort's usefulness was diminished. It was soon abandoned.