Last updated: January 5, 2021
Article
The Fort Larned Post Cemetery
“To the east of the post there is a dry ravine nearly circular in form surrounding a level piece of ground...lying in contact with the creek at one side; on this island...[is]the old burying ground...”
- Asst. Surgeon W. H. Forwood
Honoring the Fallen
On the east side of Fort Larned stand commemorative headstones marking the location of the first post cemetery at Fort Larned.Taller than the headstones is a monument, a single brown pointed obelisk. This monu- ment, made of native stone, was placed in the cemetery in 1867 by soldiers of the 3rdU.S. Infantry stationed at Fort Larned. It was dedicated by the living soldiers in honor of those who had died here in service to their country. Time and weather have worn away most of the monument’s original inscriptions. If you look closely, though, you can still make out this dedication to one fallen comrade:
J.B. MacIntyre Col. USA Died at
Fort Larned Kansas, May 9 1867.
Was one of the officers, of Extra
Duty, Maintained the Honor of his
Country G. [Gallantly] the Days of
the Recent Rebellion
The Soldier's Monument Then and Now
Left image
The 1867 monument in the cemetery.
Credit: NPS Photo
Right image
An 1867 photograph of the cemetery monument. It's barely visible in front of the tree.
Credit: Public Domain
Public Domain
A Proud Tradition
A monument raised by soldiers for soldiers was not a new idea. The tradition started before the Revolutionary War and continues to this day. During the Civil War men in both armies had dedicated monuments to fallen comrades, beginning with a Confederate memorial near Manassas, Virginia, in September 1861 to Col. Francis Barlow. Union soldiers followed in 1862 with the 32nd Indiana Regimental Monument near the Rowlett’s Station Battlefield outside Munfordville, Kentucky, the Hazen Brigade Monument at the Stones River Battlefieldnear Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1863 and a marble obelisk at Vicksburg, Mississippi, on July 4, 1864 to commemorate the one year anniversary of the city’s capture.
Monuments like these were heartfelt gestures by soldiers honoring those who had, in the words of Abraham Lincoln in the Gettysburg Address, “given the last full measure of devotion.”
The soldiers at Fort Larned were not the only ones to erect such a monument at a frontier Army post. In 1867 soldiers at Fort Wallace, Kansas, dedicated a monument in honor of soldiers there who had died in the Indian Wars.
Hazardous Duty
Although life could be hazardous at a remote frontier Army post, Indians weren’t the only threat soldiers had to watch out for. Disease and accidents posed more danger than battles with Indians. Of the 68 soldiers buried in the post cemetery only about 15 percent died from battle wounds. The majority, approximately 70 percent, died from such illnesses as cholera, typhoid fever, gonorrhea and dysentery. The rest died from accidents in and around the fort. Although some of these were major, such as broken limbs and blows to the head, limited medical knowledge and care meant even a small injury or cut could eventually lead to death from infection. One soldier even died from the bite of a rabid wolf!
Along with the soldiers, about 40 civilians who died at or near Fort Larned between 1859 and 1872 were buried in the post cemetery. Civilians at the fort included the families of both officers and enlisted men as well as contract employees such as the blacksmith, carpenters, hospital matrons and laundresses. A Cheyenne named Little Heart was the only Indian known to have been buried in the post cemetery.
A Place to Rest
Fort Larned’s cemetery was originally located on the east side of the fort where the commemorative headstones and original monument now stand. In 1869, due to flooding and a prairie fire that destroyed the wooden markers there, the Post Commander ordered another cemetery established in what he considered a better location northwest of the fort.
The fort closed in 1878 and the Army eventually sold the land and buildings at public auction in 1884. Following Army policy to move any soldiers’ remains from decommissioned posts to national cemeteries, the soldiers buried at Fort Larned were transferred to the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery in 1888. Civilian remains were not moved, and because the Army didn’t keep records of civilian deaths, their names are unknown.
In 1866, members of the Grand Army of the Republic, a Union veteran's organization, moved the soldiers' monument to the Larned Town Cemetery located four miles to the east. In 2009, as part of the fort's 150th anniversary celebration, the monument was restored and returned to its original location at the Fort Larned Post Cemetery. Wooden commemorative grave markers and a bronze plaque were also placed in the cemetery to commemorate the soldiers originally buried there.
The Honored Dead
Below are the names of the soldiers who died and were buried in the Post Cemetery. Their remains were eventually moved to their final resting place at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery.
| A through F | G through L | M through P | R through S | T through W |
|---|