Fort Sisseton

 (1864-1889) - First established in 1864 as Fort Wadsworth (2) by Major John Clowney and named after Brigadier General James S. Wadsworth, who was mortally wounded, 8 May 1864, in the Battle of the Wilderness, in Virginia, during the U.S. Civil War. Renamed Fort Sisseton, 29 Aug 1876, after the local Sisseton Sioux Indian Tribe. Abandoned in 1889.

History
Established 1 Aug 1864 as Fort Wadsworth by Maj. John Clowney, 30th Wisconsin Infantry, after the 1862 Sioux Indian uprising. Strategically located atop a tableland called Coteau des Prairies, the fort was built to control the hostile Indians and to protect travel routes to the goldfields in Idaho and Montana.

The post was renamed Fort Sisseton, 29 Aug 1876, after the local Sisseton Sioux Indian Tribe, when it was discovered that the original name conflicted with a Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, New York, also named for BG James S. Wadsworth.

By the 1880s the need for the fort had disappeared and the post was turned over to the Interior Department for disposition 22 April 1889 and abandoned by the Army on 9 Jun 1889.

Current Status
Fort Sisseton State Park, National Historic Landmark. Restoration of the fort was begun in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration, WPA, and carried on to date. Sources:
 * , page 733

Links:
 * North American Forts - Fort Sisseton