The construction of the fort in 1846 at Table Creek, however, was a decision that proved to be a gross error in geographic judgment. The Table Creek site was not on the main route of overland traffic and relatively few emigrants passed nearby. Consequently, the War Department directed that an alternate military station should be established further west near Grand Island where the road to California encountered the Platte River.

The second Fort Kearny in 1849. Source - NSHS, RG2102:1-7.

In 1847, Lt. Daniel P. Woodbury, an officer in the Corps of Engineers, left Fort Kearny at Table Creek with about 70 men. When he got to the Platte, Woodbury described the site he chose in an official report:

"I have located the post opposite a group of wooded islands in the Platte River ... three hundred seventeen miles from Independence, Missouri, one hundred ninety-seven miles from Fort Kearny on the Missouri and three miles from the head of the group of islands called Grand Island."

Woodbury cited three advantages for the location of the fort:

1. a slight elevation that guaranteed against flooding
2. nearby was the heaviest timber of the Grand Island group
3. natural hay bottoms and a strategic location for keeping the peace between the warring Pawnee and Sioux.

Thus, the second Fort Kearny was built in 1848 in present day Kearney County, where the various trails westward converged. The fort was laid out in a square with buildings surrounding a parade ground of four acres. A flagstaff was erected in the center and cottonwood trees were planted around the parade ground.

Woodbury had given the name Fort Childs to the new post and headed his reports accordingly. The new post was named in honor of Col. Thomas Childs of Mexican War fame and he was also Woodbury's father-in-law. But a general order from the War Department in December of 1848, stipulated that, "the new post established at Grand Island, Platte River, will be known as Fort Kearny." Thus, the name of the illustrious soldier, Stephen W. Kearny, was transferred to the Platte River post.

The fort was built on a widely used main branch of the Oregon Trail, and its most important function was giving aid to travelers. It was the only fort between the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, and thousands of wagons camped there every summer. Some days over 500 ox teams passed the fort.

Although in the heart of the Indian country and exposed to great potential danger from any hostile outbreak on the part of the Indians, the garrison at Fort Kearny was usually not large, often not more than two companies. No direct attack was ever made on the post nor were there any major Indian fights in the immediate vicinity as there were in posts farther west.

In 1871, Fort Kearny was discontinued as a military post. After abandonment, the buildings were torn down, and the fort reservations were opened for homesteading. The earthworks of the fortifications and the large cottonwoods around the parade grounds were all that remained.

Ironically, the original Fort Kearny area did regain renewed importance as the beginning of a secondary route of the Oregon Trail, the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny cut off.

	Click this button to print this page of the story.