By Tom Hintgen

Otter Tail County Correspondent

Over the years local historians, youth groups and others from Otter Tail County have appreciated the opportunity to roam the grounds at historic Fort Abercrombie only 40 miles westward from Fergus Falls. 

To get there, drive 26 miles from Fergus Falls to Breckenridge and then 14 miles north on Highway 75 to the town of Kent in Minnesota. Fort Abercrombie is just across the Red River in North Dakota where the fort is a state historic site.

In 1857 Lt. Col. John Joseph Abercrombie of the 20th U.S. Infantry established the fort at the approximate head of navigation on the Red River near present day Abercrombie, N.D. 

After the Civil War began, in 1861, volunteers replaced the regular Army troops manning the fort. The fort dwellers helped guard steamboat traffic on the Red River heading northward to Fargo, Grand Forks and Winnipeg as well as fur traders who traveled along oxcart trails. The fort also protected travelers along stagecoach and wagon train routes. 

During the last two weeks of August and throughout the month of September 1862, Fort Abercrombie was besieged by the Sioux Indians for six weeks. Company D of the Fifth Minnesota Regiment was stationed at Fort Abercrombie when the conflict started. The fort was a haven for protection of area settlers and traders.

Fort Abercrombie continued to guard the Minnesota and North Dakota frontier and serve as a supply base for frontier military posts until 1877 when it was finally abandoned.

The buildings were sold at public auction in 1878, and the land was transferred to the U.S. Interior Department in 1880. Eventually the Interior Department sold the land to settlers for farmsteads. The post was partially reconstructed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the period of 1938 to 1940. 

An interpretive center is only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day, but visitors can visit the grounds any time of the year and make stops at kiosks with historical information. People also can visit the blockhouses formerly used at Fort Abercrombie in fortification as defensive military structures.