Trabing Station-Crazy Woman Crossing

Trabing Station–Crazy Woman Crossing

Crazy Woman Crossing on Bozeman Trail
Nearest city Buffalo, Wyoming
Area 676 acres (274 ha)
Built 1866
MPS Bozeman Trail in Wyoming MPS
NRHP Reference # 89000815[1]
Added to NRHP July 23, 1989

The Trabing Station or Crazy Woman Crossing is a historic place on the Bozeman Trail, in Johnson County, Wyoming, about twenty miles southeast of Buffalo. Crazy Woman Crossing is significant as the site of the Battle of Crazy Woman, a skirmish during the Red Cloud's War in 1866. In 1878, August Trabing opened a store nearby to serve travelers on the Bozeman Trail. This was the first store in Johnson County. Crazy Woman Crossing is located at the point where Trabing Road crosses Crazy Woman Creek[2]

Bozeman Trail

In the spring 1863, John Bozeman and his associates scouted for a direct route from the goldfields at Virginia City, Montana to central Wyoming to connect with the Oregon Trail, which was then the major passage to the West Coast. The Bozeman Trail followed many north-south trails the American Indians had used since prehistoric times to travel through Powder River country. On July 6, 1863, forty-six wagons, eighty-nine men and an unspecified number of women and children crossed the North Platte at Deer Creek (present-day Glenrock, Wyoming) and became the first wagon train to try the new trail. After crossing the North Platte River, the first three major river crossings on the Bozeman Trail were Powder River Crossing, Crazy Woman Crossing, and Clear Creek Crossing (present-day Buffalo, Wyoming). [3]

Between 1864 and 1868, fewer than a thousand people used the Bozeman Trail because of the danger of Indian attacks. One Bozeman Trail emigrant was Ellen Fletcher, and she left a series of diary and notes which described her experiences on trail during the summer of 1866. She provides an early description of the Crazy Woman Crossing:

Camped at "Crazy Woman's Fork." It was a beautiful spot near the stream, in a large grove of trees. The men built large campfires all around the wagons. It was a pretty sight, the circular correll (corral) of white topped wagons and tents scattered here and there, the blazing fires shining forth through the trees, the busy men and women hurrying to and fro, and the quiet moon looking down over it all. A large tree, bent over like an arch, crowns our wagon.[4]

Crazy Woman Battle

The Powder River Expedition (1865) and Red Cloud's War (1866) were military actions intended to protect travelers on the Bozeman Trail from Indian attacks. On August 11, 1865, General Patrick Edward Connor's troops reached the Powder River Crossing, and began building Fort Reno. After the Battle of the Tongue River on August 29, 1865, Connor was ordered to return to Salt Lake City. At about the same time, another group of soldiers under Colonel James Sawyer were ordered to build a military road for freighting supplies along the Bozeman Trail.

In 1866, another military force under Colonel Henry B. Carrington was ordered to secure the route of the Bozeman Trail. Carrington established Fort Phil Kearny on July 14, initiating a military struggle known as Red Cloud's War. The Crazy Woman Crossing was one of the Indians' favorite spots for attack, as its terrain was especially amenable to ambush. On July 20, 1866, a group of thirty men and women under Lieutenant A. H. Wand left Fort Reno to travel to Fort Phil Kearny. Lieutenants Napoleon H. Daniels and George H. Templeton rode ahead to look for a suitable campsite at Crazy Woman Crossing. Unable to locate a suitable place, they turned back to join the larger group. Lieutenant Templeton described what happened next:

"Lieut. (Daniels) remarked "look there" and spurred his horse up, going way ahead. I looked over my right shoulder but could see nothing, but upon looking over my left, I saw between 50 and 60 Indians mounted and in full chase about 150 yards in the rear. I spurred up old Pegasus, punched his (flank) with my gun and did everything to increase speed, but the horse seemed to me to be moving very slowly. After Mr. Daniels had gone 200 yards he was shot with an arrow through the back and fell off his horse, the saddle turning. I could do nothing to help him and did not expect to get away myself."[3]

Templeton, hotly pursued, reached the wagon train, which then formed a corral on a bluff overlooking the Crazy Woman Creek. The battle continued for several hours, until a cavalry patrol traveling from Fort Phil Kearny on its way to Fort Reno, under Captain George Burroughs' command, relieved the beleaguered party. During the fight, a second soldier, Lance Corporal Terrence Callary, was killed near the corralled wagons, so the total casualties were two killed and several wounded.[5]

Red Cloud's War was inconclusive, and two years later, as a result of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, the army abandoned the Bozeman Trail along with three forts in the Powder River country.

Trabing Station

As a result of the Great Sioux War of 1876, American armed forces reclaimed the Bozeman Trail and established a series of forts (Cantonment Reno, Fort McKinney, and Fort Custer). The Bozeman Trail developed into a military road and telegraph route to serve these forts. Within a few years there were several stage coach lines that hauled freight and passengers along the trail.

In 1878, August Trabing established a trading post at the Crazy Woman Crossing. Trabing sold various goods including boots, hats, and liquor to local ranchers and travelers on the Bozeman Trail. In the fall of 1878, the store was robbed three times by a gang of about eight "road agents."[6] Because of these robberies, Trabing moved his store in 1879 from the Crazy Woman Crossing to the Clear Creek Crossing (present day Buffalo, Wyoming)

After Trabing left Crazy Woman Crossing, his building became a post office for ranchers and stockmen, and a stage station for the stage coach lines. Local people described the Trabing building as a long, log structure paralleling the road, with three rooms. At the south end of the building, there were two small log buildings, one a schoolhouse, the other a blacksmith shop. To the east was another large log building, the stable, and several corrals.[3]

According to Post Office records, Trabing City was established as a post office on January 20, 1879, with Abraham M. Baumann as postmaster. The post office was renamed Trabing and Andrew King was named as postmaster on August 26, 1880. The Trabing post office closed on December 13, 1913, and mail service was moved to Buffalo. [7]

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum (n.d.), Johnson County's National Register of Historic Places Driving Tour, Buffalo, Wyoming: Jim Gatchell Memorial Museum, p. unpaged
  3. 1 2 3 Bozeman Trail in Wyoming MPS
  4. ↑ Ellen Gordon Fletcher (1970). A Bride on the Bozeman Trail: The Letters and Diary of Ellen Gordon Fletcher 1866. Gandee Printing Center. p. 46. Retrieved 19 August 2012.
  5. ↑ "Crazy Woman Battlefield", Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site, Fort Phil Kearny, retrieved August 17, 2012
  6. ↑ Lawrence Milton Woods (December 1986). Moreton Frewen's Western adventures. American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming in cooperation with Roberts Rinehart, Inc., publishers. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-911797-26-8. Retrieved 20 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Mescher, Daniel Y. (n.d.), The Postoffices of Wyoming, Unknown: Self Published, p. 84
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