Fort Abraham Lincoln log scouts' quarters. Water was supplied to the fort by being hauled from Missouri River in wagons, while wood was supplied by contract. By 1873, the 7th Cavalry moved into the fort to ensure the expansion of the Northern Pacific Railway. The first post commander of the expanded fort was Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, who held the position until his death in 1876. In 1876, the Army departed from here as part of the Great Sioux War of 1876-77, resulting in Custer's defeat at the Battle of the Little Bighorn, where they were to push the non-treaty Indians back
7th Iowa Volunteer Cavalry Regiment the Battle of Killdeer Mountain and in the Battle of the Badlands. Units of the regiment were at Camp Rankin on the South Platte in January, 1865 when more than 1,000 plains Indians attacked the fort and stage station at Julesburg during the Sioux Wars following the Sand Creek Massacre. In the Battle of Julesburg, 14 men of the 7th were killed, including 4 non-commissioned officers. Company F of the regiment accompanied Colonel James H. Kidd's column of the Powder River Expedition in 1865 to the Powder and Tongue river valley's in Dakota Territory and Montana Territory. The regiment was