514 - Expansion of Fort Rice

In 1868 Fort Rice was expanded to cover an area of 864 feet by 544 feet. It was protected by a ten-foot-high log stockade on three sides and by the Missouri River on the east. Within the stockade and surrounding the parade ground were four company barracks with kitchens, seven officers’ quarters, a post hospital, bakery, storehouses, library, and a powder magazine. Outside the east line of buildings were the guardhouse and post headquarters. Various other buildings stood between these buildings and the stockade, such as company sinks (privies), laundress quarters, and bathhouse. Outside the stockade were the stables, barns, corrals, blacksmith shop, Indian scouts’ quarters, and the post-trader’s store.
Although the fort was designed for four companies of infantry, it was later modified to accommodate several companies of the 7th US Cavalry. Four companies of the Fort Rice contingent of the 7th Cavalry accompanied Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer on his Black Hills expedition in 1874. Two companies from Fort Rice fought in the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
The post was abandoned on November 25, 1878, after the establishment of Fort Yates on the Standing Rock Agency.