Portion of a red and white print soldier’s kerchief from a small US Army frontier post of the Indian Wars. This portion of a kerchief only survived by being discarded at some point between 1870 and 1895 at Fort Pembina, ND. It was preserved in remarkable condition by wet, anaerobic soil conditions that have preserved a trove of items throwing light on the material culture of a small postwar garrison on the frontier that was supplied first from the vast stores of Civil War gear left over in government warehouses, and then later from newer patterns as they were adopted and issued, along with a good amount of privately purchased material. The excavations were conducted on private property with the owner’s permission. This falls into the heading of a privately purchased item that was likely pretty common, but seldom preserved, used either as a simple handkerchief or as a bandanna on the plains, though many collectors fell into the assumption soldiers were issued some sort of bandana from old western movies and TV shows.

Situated in the Red River Valley in North Dakota near the Canadian border, Fort Pembina was established in 1870 and in operation until 1895. Trading posts existed earlier in the area as part of the fur trade, and the first U.S. military post there was temporary- manned by a detachment of Minnesota troops in 1863-1864 following the 1862 Sioux uprising. In March 1870 a new fort was established south of the Pembina River and about 200 yards west of the Red River, completed by July and named in honor of Gen. George H. Thomas. The name was changed to Fort Pembina in September and the initial garrison consisted of two companies of the 20^th US Infantry. Their main duty was to provide security for settlers worried about Sioux returning south from Canada, but the troops were more occupied with escorting boundary surveys along the Canadian border and preventing Fenian raids heading north into Canada.

The fort included enlistedmen’s barracks, officers’ quarters, guard house, ordnance storehouse, company kitchen, root house, laundress’s quarters, quarters for civilian employees, hospital and hospital servant’s house, a barn for the “hospital cow,” quartermaster and commissary offices and storehouse, stables, wagon shed, etc. The garrison reached peak strength in 1878 af 200, but the average was about 125 enlisted men and 8 officers. An October 1885 return listed 97 men, 2 field pieces, 1 mountain howitzer, 100 rifles, 19 pistols, 23 mules, and 9 wagons. By 1890 the post had just 23 men, and after an 1895 fire destroyed some 19 buildings it was decided to abandon the fort rather than rebuild, the last detachment left in September. The property was turned over to the Interior Department and later sold in 1902.

This is displayable and has a tight provenance to an Indian War post garrisoned by the U.S. army for during the 1870s and 1880s Indian Wars.  [sr][ph:L]

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