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Retracement of the

Fort Churchill Military Reservation

By: Paul S. Pace, PLS and Matt Gingerich, PLS

Photo is of Officer’s Quarters at Fort Churchill, one of the two such
ruins still standing. There were six of these two story quarters built at
the fort. Photo by authors

Not long after his 1866 graduation from the U.S. Military Acad-
emy at West Point, Second Lieutenant George M. Wheeler was
appointed assistant Survey Engineer for the Presidio at San Fran-
cisco, with the Army’s Department of California. In March of 1867,
Wheeler was promoted to First Lieutenant.
During the year of 1868, Wheeler received a series of Special Or-
ders through the Presidio’s commander, General Edward O. C. Ord.
He was detailed to survey the boundaries of numerous military
reservations in Nevada, Arizona and southern California. In all like-
lihood, these orders were issued by the Chief of Engineers, Gen-
eral Andrew Humphreys in Washington, D. C. and merely passed
through General Ord.
1
Wheeler was ordered to consult with the post commander on site as to the location of the boundaries for these forts, creating a Military
Reservation around the facility. He was to add any additional lands required for wood or hay for the post’s horses and mules. Among the
forts Wheeler and his assistants visited was Fort Churchill, in what was by then Lyon County, Nevada.
The fort was situated on the north bank of the Carson River,
a mile west of Samuel Buckland’s trading post. Buckland
had settled there in the Fall of 1859, built a toll bridge across
the river and established a station for the Overland Stage
Company. The site was on the central Overland Trail from
Fort Ruby on to Virginia City, 25 miles to the west.

The fort was built in 1860 during hostilities between the
indigenous Paiutes and the flood of white settlers com-
ing into the area. The Army indicated it would send a small
force to what was then still the Utah Territory and, “under
the circumstances it will be necessary to erect a post on the
Carson River, or in its vicinity…”. The request was passed
2
along to General of the Army Winfield Scott who approved
it, then forwarded it to the Secretary of War, John B. Floyd.
Floyd approved the request and authorized the construction
of the post.

Troops who headed to the new post were under the com-
mand of Captain Joseph Stewart, 3 U.S. Artillery. The sol-
rd
diers, two companies of infantry and a company of dra-
goons, were drawn from the Presidio and Fort Alcatraz in
Lithograph of Fort Churchill, Nevada Territory, facing North San Francisco Bay. These men would not only garrison the
post, they were to build it as well. The Army indicated that,
“Construction to be of the simplest character with materials most easily procured. Work on these structures will be pushed with vigor by
the labor of the whole command.” The post was to be named Fort Churchill, after General Sylvester Churchill, who had been Inspector
3
General of the Army and decorated for meritorious conduct during the Mexican War.

1 General Humphreys took great exception to Ord interfering with his orders to Engineer officers stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco. Humphreys
finally wrote to the Secretary of War for relief
2 Letter from General N. S. Clark, commanding general Dept. of California to General L. Thomas, U.S Army HQ, Washington, D.C., 11 May, 1860
3 Special Order 67, HQ Dept Calif, 13 July 1860
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The Nevada Traverse Vol.50, No.2, 2023 5