From 1864 through 1868 the Bozeman Trail – or “Bloody Bozeman” as it was known due to the numerous skirmishes between travelers and area Indians – connected southeast Wyoming with Virginia City, Montana. It passed right by the town of Big Horn. While nothing much is left of the trail itself today, plenty remains to be seen at the Fort Phil Kearney State Historic Site just outside Big Horn. Established in July 1866, Fort Phil Kearney was the biggest of three forts along Bloody Bozeman. Each was charged with protecting travelers, preventing intertribal Indian warfare, and drawing the Indians' attention away from the building of the trans-continental railroad corridor to the south. Not surprisingly, none of the three forts did a great job with any of these tasks. During its two-year existence, Fort Phil Kearney was actually the epicenter of a violent war between the U.S. Army and the Sioux, Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians.
Fort Phil Kearney was closed in 1868 when the Bozeman Trail wasn't really being used anymore and the Cheyenne Indians burned it soon afterwards. Portions of the fort withstood the fire however and these, along with two battlefields, compromise the Fort Phil Kearney State Historic Site. One of the site's battlefields, the Fetterman Battlefield, was the site of a defeat for the U.S. Army second only to that at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Plains Indians killed all 81 men under Fetterman's command in 30 minutes.