Wyoming Western Trails Project - Annals of Wyoming - Camp Walbach Nebraska Territory, 1858-1859: The Military Post at Cheyenne Pass

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Camp Walbach Nebraska Territory, 1858-1859:
The Military Post at Cheyenne Pass

Annals of Wyoming 35:1:5-20
by Garry David Ryan
SKETCH: Courtesy National Archives - Camp Walbach from a sketch made by Assistant Surgeon Ebenezer Zwift.

SKETCH: Courtesy National Archives - Camp Walbach from a sketch made by Assistant Surgeon Ebenezer Zwift.

Camp Walback was a United States Army garrison southwest of Fort Laramie on the Fort Riley - Bridger's Pass Road. The road, originally proposed as a "more direct route west from the Missouri River settlements," was felt to require a United States Army presence because of the deteriorating relationship between Mormons and federal officials in the Territory of Utah. Brevet Major Thomas Williams commanded the post to protect the War Department's supply line to the Army of Utah. Named after Brigadier General John De B. Walbach, the post was located on Cheyenne Pass, a desolate and hostile part of Nebraska Territory in 1858. Short of a year the post was removed because the road was determined unfit due to lack of food and water and the Mormon War had petered out.

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