The story begins on April 5, 1865, when Captain Henry Pearce leaves Fort Larned, Kansas, with a company of Kansas volunteers to establish the new post. Captain Pearce's mission was to engage and discourage the large bands of Comanches, Apaches, and Kiowas. They were encamped on the Cimarron and Crooked Creek regions of the Arkansas valley. Pearce selected a site located 6 miles east of Fort Atkinson that guarded the Santa Fe Trail and stood midway between the two major Indian crossings on the Arkansas River. Captain Pearce officially established the post on April 10, 1865, and was named in honor of the departmental commander, General Dodge. The podcast is about the founding and construction of Fort Dodge. Excerpts from a manuscript by Leo E. Oliva are edited and revised for the purpose of these narratives. Narrators include Sheralyn King as Isadore Douglas, the wife of commanding officer Major Henry Douglas and Brad Smalley for the construction of Fort Dodge.
