The Final Years

Post Commanders

• All Post Commanders
• Founding the Fort
• The Civil War Years
• The Post Civil War Years

Fort Larned's last major job was providing soldiers to guard construction crews for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in 1872. Once the railroad reached Santa Fe, the days of the Santa Fe Trail were over. The mail was shipped by rail eliminating the need for Fort Larned soldiers to guard it. Also, by this time the Plains Indian tribes in the area had all been removed to reservations.

It would be another six years before the fort closed but on June 29, 1878, the fort's last commander received orders form the Department of the Missouri to send all public property to Fort Dodge and the remaining troops to Fort Hays. With that order, the military history of Fort Larned came to a close.

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  Capt. Verling Hart

  October 1870 to January 1871

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  Maj. Richard Dodge

  March 13, 1871 to July 8, 1871

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  Capt. George E. Head

  July 1871 to October 1871

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  Maj. Jame Roy

  October 1871 to April 1872

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  Capt. Henry Bristol

  April 1872 to April 1873

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  Capt. Simon Snyder

  April 1873 to June 1874

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  Capt. William Lyster

  June 1874 to June 1877

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  Capt. Jacob Smith

  June 1877 to July 1878