The Worst Post in the West

[dawna]

1862 Fort Ruby 1869

"Colonel P. Edward Conner was ordered to build and command this post in 1862. The Fort was built midway between Salt Lake City, Utah and Carson City, Nevada to protect the Overland Mail route (Pony Express) and emigrant travelers from Indian raiders. Most Army outposts of this time were built in remote areas, but this post was classified by the Army as the "Worst Post in the West." In 1869 the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad brought an end to the Pony Express, and the need for this Fort. Post Commander Captain Timothy (last name of Connelly omitted here) was ordered to close the Fort. He and his men returned the "Worst Post in the West" back to the Nevada desert in 1869."

A History of Fort Ruby

In May 1860, Co. B of the 4th Artillery assigned to Camp Floyd, Utah, was sent to Ruby Valley to find and establish a camp base to use to protect the Overland Mail Route and its passengers and others from Indian attacks. On Sept. 4, 1861, Col. E. P. Connor organized the 3rd Regiment of California Volunteers. A year later he received orders to patrol the Central Route of the Overland Mail Company. The site chosen for Fort Ruby is on the eastern side of the southern end of the Ruby Mountains in Ruby Valley, Nevada. The Fort was situated about 2 1/2 miles southeast of the Overland Mail Station on a six square mile plot of ground. The Fort's northern boundary was on the dividing line between what are now Elko and White Pine Counties in Nevada. The site was approximately midway if the 600 miles separating Carson City, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah.


Col. Edward P. Connor and seven companies of soldiers (about 600 men), 55 wagons, 2 howitzers, carriages for some of the officer's families, 3 ambulances and the regimental band departed Camp Halleck, Stockton, California, on July 12, 1862, and began marching east. They arrived at Fort Ruby on the evening of September 1, 1862. Fort Ruby was officially established pursuant to orders # 8 dated September 4, 1862 by Col. Connor.

Soldiers immediately began to gather stone and timber from the nearby mountains to build store houses and winter quarters. Living quarters were log cabins of hand hewn logs either laid horizontally or vertically and heated by fireplaces. Stables and store houses were built of vertical logs in a stockade fashion with the posts set vertically in trenches. Corrals were constructed of *****. A good sized pond, fed by a spring, supplied the Fort with fresh water.

This is one of the two original building that still existed when they burned to the ground in 1992 from an electrical caused fire. Several structures including a kitchen, recreation area and living quarters had been added on to it by Andy Anderson.

Major P. A. Gallagher served from Oct 1862 to July 1863. Dr. R. K. Reed was the first Post Doctor and then Asst. Surgeon Kirkpatrick took over the treatment of military and civilian patients at the Fort until 1863. Dr. John W. Long served as Post Doctor from 1863 to 1866.


Lt. Col. Jeremiah. B. (P.) Moore served from April 1863 to Sept 1863 (Co. K 2nd Cav. under command of Capt. Samuel P. Smith. Lt. Col. Moore was known to flog soldiers for minor infractions or made them carry heavy sandbags in the hot sun until they collapsed from heat exhaustion as punishment. He hung two Indians at this post when they were identified as having led the Indians at the Gravelly Ford battle and left their bodies hanging to frighten the Indians and keep them in line by using the hangings as an example.

During the Goshute War of 1863, the Overland Mail and Stage Company lost 150 horses, 7 of their stations were burned to the ground and 16 of their employees were killed in Nevada and Utah. Moore stayed in Ruby Valley after mustering out of the Army.

During the summer of 1864, the two California Volunteer companies stationed at Fort Ruby were replaced by a unit of the Nevada Volunteers of Co. B. 1st Nevada Infantry. The lessening of manpower made patrolling of the Overland Route much more difficult.

Capt. G. A. Thurstin was in charge beginning in the fall of 1864 until Dec. 1865. Capt. Thurstin and Dr. John W. Long, the Post Doctor tried to cure venereal disease of some of the soldiers and some Indians by constructing stone chambers at the hot springs on the Old Myers Ranch above Franklin Lake several miles north of Fort Ruby. Patients were required to sit on the stone "pots" and absorb the steam from the hot water. These structures could still be seen in 1957.

Capt. Thurstin wrote to his superiors at Fort Douglas, UT in 1864, suggesting that the Indians were stealing to prevent starvation and it would be beneficial for the Army to gather the Indians of the area together for a conference. The Army did not respond to his idea but the Overland Mail and Stage Company stepped in and told its station keepers to provide enough emergency rations to the Indians to keep them from starving to death.

A Company of 9th U. S. Infantry was in charge from Dec 1865 to Sept. 1867. On January 1, 1867, the name of Fort Ruby was changed to Camp Ruby.

Capt. George Walker assumed command Sept. 20, 1867, immediately took a six-month long furlough, and died upon his return to the command of the Fort of apoplexy about March or April 1868.

Lt. J. T. Trout took over the command when Capt. Walker died.

Capt. Timothy Connelly was in command from 1868 to 1869. Connelly was the last commanding officer at Fort Ruby. He was found guilty and court martialed at Fort (Camp) Halleck on May 20, 1869 for embezzling company funds at Fort (Camp) Ruby.

After 1865, Indian raids became infrequent and in 1869, the Army determined that Fort Ruby was no longer necessary. On instructions of Headquarters, Department of California, San Francisco, dated July 15, 1869, Fort Ruby was ordered to be abandoned. On September 20, 1869, the men of Co. I 9th Infantry and all of their supplies were transferred from Fort Ruby to Camp Halleck some seventy miles to the north.

Most of the abandoned building at Fort Ruby were sold to nearby ranchers. Thomas Short of Cave Creek is said to have bought several of the structures and moved them off the Fort. Some of the buildings or parts of them may still be being used on ranches today.

"A thing is not necessarily true because a man dies for it."
~Oscar Wilde~