The site of
Fort Dodge in the
U.S. state of
Kansas was originally an old campground for wagons traveling along the
Santa Fe Trail, just west of the western junction of the Wet and Dry Routes and near the middle or
Cimarron Cutoff. On March 23, 1865, Major General
Grenville M. Dodge, who commanded the 11th and 16th Kansas Cavalry Regiments, wrote to Colonel
James Hobart Ford to propose establishing a new military post west of
Fort Larned. On orders of Col. Ford, Captain Henry Pearce, with Company C, Eleventh Cavalry Regiment, and Company F, Second U.S. Volunteer Infantry, from Fort Larned, occupied and established Fort Dodge on April 10, 1865.