enter 2014 to her, visit www.c-span.org/local content. we continue now with our look at the history of casper. this is american history tv on c-span3. at fort caspared museum which is on the west side of the city of casper in wyoming. fort caspar is a reconstructed 1860 cavalry fort located on the western emigrant trail corridor. so we are standing on the oregon trail and the mormon pioneer trail and the california trail and the pony express trail, the transcontinental telegraph came through here. all of these things were located on this site and the u.s. army in the 1860's. one of the important things to remember about this site is there was a lot of activity happened here before the army ever showed up. the first occupation of this site, the first time people actually stayed more than passing through for the day was

1847. brigham young and the planar party are moving west and they get to this location and they need to get across the north platte river. it does not look overly intimidating but that -- but back then, there were not dams upstream and you did not have a regular to channel. when they get here on june 12, you've got a big river that you have to contend with. in june, you've got the snowmelt coming out of the mountains on the river is as big as it will be all year whenever the pioneers are showing up here. we're looking at a river that is almost 1000 feet across. what they had done as they built a ferry operation. prior to that, you just forwarded the river and found the shallow spot and hoped the river was shallow enough to ford it and the ferry operations became a safer way to cross so once they cross their party, they realized there were a lot of immigrants on the trail and we can help others for a small fee.

they set up a ferry operation during the migration period each summer in the first location was here. yearsrry lasted for six and there is a bridge built downriver from it. the bridge puts the ferry out of business. basically, you can pay your fee and cross on the ridge and you keep moving. for our site, we had a bridge built in 1859. these were toll bridges. the fee was based on how high the river was running. it was purely a commercial operation and in 1860, this is a pony express relay station. the pony express at home stations and relay stations. this was a relay station where they would just change horses. this was a pony express station. that lasted 19 months and the pony express goes out of business and this is now a telegraph station. andfort is located here merrily because of the transcontinental telegraph. war,62, early in the civil

the north is not doing so well by keeping the communication open to the west coast like california and keeping that transcontinental telegraph going was important enough that the u.s. government sent soldiers out here to help maintain the telegraph. they did not send very many of them. the units that were located here between 1862-1865 was the 11th ohio volunteer calvary. we had one regiment that was responsible for more than 300 miles of the telegraph and trail. things started to change an agency d5 as the war winds down back east. you start to see more military units coming out here. we are reinforced in the spring of 1865 by the 11th kansas volunteer cavalry. there were a couple of infantry units. the third and sixth u.s. volunteer infantry came out here also as troops that were stationed in the west.

depending on the year, there were sometimes issues with various native tribes and sometimes they were more friendly and other times more hostile. this particular area was not really settled. it was a pass through but it still created tensions with some of the tribes. in 1865, that was a particularly bad year for that. 1864,evious winter, in you had the massacre at sand creek. that was a colorado militia that road out of denver and attacked the village which was friendly. they really massacred people. as a result of that, the following summer in 1865, you skirmishes and fights and problems with the native tribes as originals -- as a direct result of the sentry -- of the sand creek massacre.

one of the locations were problems occurred was here. we had the battle of platte bridge and red butte in 1865. the goal was to get rid of the bridge. the bridge was a visual symbol, structure that could be attacked that represented all of the migration and all of these people moving west. the tribes goal was to get rid of this. early in the morning, we had the battle of platte bridge. there was a young lieutenant named caspar collins. he is passing through this fort on the day of the battle. he was ordered to leave the 11th kansas volunteer cavalry soldiers out to meet and army supply wagon that were coming back from supplying points further west. that morning he rides out. it takes 20 guys with him. they get across the bridge and not even a mile away and they

are ambushed by the lakota, cheyenne, and arapahoe gathered together to get revenge for sand creek. they wheel around and raced back to the fort. casper collins and four other soldiers are killed. amazingly, the other guys made it back or it about four hours later, the army supply wagons show up on the horizon. this is called the battle of red butte and the army shows -- sees the wagons show up in fire a warning shot with her canon and the tribes see them and race out in that direction and attacked the wagon supply train. it was led by commissary sergeant amos custard. there were 25 guys with that group. there were five of them an advanced guard and they wheel to the right and raced down to the river and get rid of their horses and three of those guys actually made it back to the fort. of the people at

the supply wagons were killed. shortly after that because of the battles and because we have a young lieutenant named caspar collins who was the son of the regimental colonel, the army changes the name of this fort. from 62 -- agency d5, this was called platte bridge station. in agency d5, they change the name of the 424 caspar -- in 1865, they change the name of the fort to fort caspar. it lasted only two more years. they added a lot of buildings. there is a massive construction program in 1866 and agencies to seven. -- and 18 six to seven. this becomes as large as fort laramie and there are almost 500 soldiers stationed here by 1867. in 1857, the army really determined they built in the wrong place. in the fall of 1867, they issued orders that they are to take all

salvageable materials and hall at 45 miles east of here and use that to pull up -- to put up fort federman. >> when they closed in 18 six to 7, 4 caspar had nothing left. the community started in 1888 and incorporated in 1889. it was near the location of the old historic fort. even those early pioneers that formed the community, they knew there used to be a fourth-year which is how we end up -- a fort we end up withow the town of casper named after fort caspar. >> throughout the weekend, american history tv is featuring casper, wyoming. our local content vehicle team traveled there to learn about its rich history. learn more about casper and other stops on c-span's cities tour at www.c-span.org/local content. you are watching american history tv all weekend, every

weekend, on c-span3. 200 years ago, on august 20 4, 18 14, british soldiers routed american troops at the battle of bladensburg outside washington, d.c. the victory left the nation's capital wide-open to british forces who marched into the city and burned down the white house and the u.s. capitol. you can learn more about the burning of washington during the war of 1812 this thursday from author and historian anthony pitch at an event hosted by the smithsonian associates. live coverage starts at 6:45 p.m. eastern. ofe about the burning washington next saturday, august 23 as we take you live to bladensburg waterfront art for a panel discussion on the events of 200 years ago. that is live at 1 p.m. eastern here on american history tv on c-span3. yosemite grant act was

signed by president abraham lincoln 150 years ago. it was the first land-grant act passed by congress to protect wildlife. huntley discusses the legislation and key individuals who contributed to the birth of yosemite national park. the california said that historical society hosted this event and it's over one hour. >> thank you for your patience. welcome to the california historical society. i have the honor of being the executive director here. i am the 17th executive director and the fourth woman and i am honored on behalf of our board of trustees and my incredible staff and/or volunteers to welcome you here tonight. i see some familiar faces and some new ones which is a treat. you are surrounded by are still brand-new exhibition of yosemite.