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Fort Phil Kearny, near the present day town of Story, Wyoming, was established July 15, 1866 as the headquarters for the Mountain District, Department of the Platte, under the command of Colonel Henry B. Carrington to protect emigrants traveling the Bozeman Trail north to the gold fields of Montana. The fort was constructed at the eastern base of the Big Horn Mountains in the very heart of Sioux country. Among the many actions fought in the shadow of Fort Phil Kearny were the Fetterman Massacre in which Capt. William J. Fetterman and 80 men, pursuing a hostile party near the fort, were led into an ambush prepared by the Indians. No one in Fetterman's command survived the battle. In August 1867, on a small plain a few miles west of the Fort, the Wagon Box Fight occurred. A detail of 32 woodcutters and guards were attacked by a large force of warriors under Chief Red Cloud. Firing from within a corral of wagon boxes and using the recently issued breech loading rifle, they beat off successive charges until relief came from the Fort. Under the Fort Laramie treaty of 1868 all military posts along the Bozeman Trail were abandoned. The last troops left Fort Phil Kearny during the summer of 1868 and the post was burned to the ground by native forces.