The Overland Trail was a stagecoach and wagon trail used as an alternative route to the Oregon, California, and Mormon trails through central Wyoming in the 1860s. The Overland Stage Company, owned by Ben Holladay, used the trail to run both mail and passengers to Salt Lake City.

With the onset of the Civil War, soldiers previously assigned to guard stage station property were unavailable to protect the trail against stock theft and harassment of passenger coaches. Holladay requested permission of the federal government for protection to move the stage line route further south into what is now southern Wyoming.

Col. William A. Collins, Army commander of the region, had few troops to spare other than the “galvanized Yankees” – former Confederate soldiers who had chosen to serve on the frontier as an alternative to prisoner-of-war camp – but his unit assisted successfully with moving the company’s equipment and personnel to a new route.

Eventually, Fort Collins, in Colorado, would be named for Col. Collins.

Learn more about the Overland Trail and Stage. 

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Ulysses S. Grant was a United States General and commander of the Union armies during the latter years of the Civil War. Serving under President Abraham Lincoln, he engineered a successful end to the Civil War in 1865.

In 1868, when a major dispute arose between Dr. Thomas Durant and General Dodge over the engineering of the Union Pacific Railroad, General Grant was called in as a mediator. He made it clear in the meeting that General Dodge was expected to be the chief engineer on the project.

Grant became the 18th president of the United States (1869–77).

Learn more about President Ulysses S. Grant. 

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The Pony Express was a mail delivery service by horseback that used a series of relay stations operating from April 1860 to October 1861. The route began in St. Joseph, Missouri and traveled across the Great Plains, over the Rocky Mountains, running as far the Sierra Nevada and Sacramento, California. Founders William H. Russell, Alexander Majors, and William B. Waddell were all notable in the freighting business.

The Pony Express became the West’s most direct means of east–west communication before the telegraph was established, and was vital for tying the new state of California with the rest of the United States.

Learn more about the Pony Express. 

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An early depiction of Fort Sanders military fort.

The garrison at Fort Sanders frequently protected railroad crews from Indian attacks along the line over the Laramie Range and across the plains. Initially, Fort Sanders was the county seat for the original Laramie County (as created by the Dakota Territory), which was almost all of what later became the Wyoming Territory. On December 27, 1867, Dakota lawmakers moved the Laramie County seat to Cheyenne and created a new Carter County out of the western half.

Learn more about the history of Fort Sanders.

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Soldiers, such as these men serving at Fort Sanders near Laramie, were originally tasked with protecting travelers on the nearby Overland Trail from Native American attacks. Later, their primary duty became protecting the workers of the Union Pacific Railroad when it arrived in 1869.

Note the man on the right, who is a shoe cobbler depicted with some of his tools. This photo shows a bit of everyday life at Fort Sanders and highlights the need for craftsmen and merchants at the fort.

Learn more about the history of Fort Sanders.

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Photo by Joseph “J.E.” Stimson. 

This photo shows men at mess time and was likely taken sometime in the early 1900s by photographer Joseph Stimson after Fort Sanders had been dis-established.

In 1901, Stimson was hired as a publicity photographer for the Union Pacific Railroad to help change the image of the scandal-plagued railroad. Stimson was given free rein to photograph anything that might draw investors to the railway.

Learn more about photographer J.E. Stimson.

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Above is a picture of what appears to be a merchant  or a “sutler” at Fort Sanders. Sutlers were people who followed the army to sell provisions to its soldiers.  At one point in time, the sutlers were banned from selling alcohol to the troops at Fort Sanders, as they were getting into too much trouble in town.

Learn more about the history of Fort Sanders.

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This letter shows how slowly information traveled, even along designated routes. In this letter from 1868, the writer is still requesting information about the Civil War.

Learn more about the mail service during the Civil War as well as the handwriting style of the day. 

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