FORT ZARAH

Fort Zarah is a Kansas historical marker in Barton County.

Barton County · US-50N, three miles east of Great Bend · location approximate

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IN 1825 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SURVEYED THE SANTA FE TRAIL, GREAT TRADE ROUTE FROM WESTERN MISSOURI TO SANTA FE. TREATIES WITH THE KANSAS AND OSAGE INDIANS SAFEGUARDED THE EASTERN END OF THE ROAD BUT PLAINS TRIBES CONTINUED TO MAKE RAIDS. FORT ZARAH, AT THIS POINT, WAS ONE OF A CHAIN OF FORTS BUILT ON THE TRAIL TO PROTECT WAGON TRAINS AND GUARD SETTLERS. IT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1864 BY GEN. SAMUEL R. CURTIS AND NAMED FOR HIS SON, MAJ. H. ZARAH CURTIS, WHO HAD BEEN KILLED IN THE BAXTER SPRINGS MASSACRE OCTOBER 6, 1863. THE FORT WAS BUILT OF SANDSTONE QUARRIED IN NEAR-BY BLUFFS. FORT ZARAH WAS SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED AGAINST AN ATTACK BY 100 KIOWAS ON OCTOBER 2, 1868. IT WAS ABANDONED IN 1869.

Verbatim 1941 text, presented as a historical record, not current interpretation. Kansas rewrote many of these signs in 2011-2012 and retired others, and the current texts use different language about Native people.

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David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Kirke Mechem, "Kansas Historical Markers", Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. X no. 4 (November 1941), published by the Kansas State Historical Society

FORT ZARAH

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