MS 313 - Fort McPherson Cabinet Card Collection | McCracken Research Library

General Philip Sheridan invited Lord Dunraven, a noted English sportsman, to hunt from Fort McPherson, Nebraska, in the fall of 1872.  Buffalo Bill Cody and Texas Jack Omohundro were scouts for the hunting party.

Fort McPherson began as an outpost in Cottonwood Springs.  It came into existence during the Civil War when Confederate officers roused the Cheyenne Indians against the Union in an attempt to divert Union troops away from the Civil War battlefields in the east.  Located between Fort Kearny and Fort Laramie, it was called Fort Cottonwood from 1863 to 1866. The name of Fort Cottonwood was changed to Fort McPherson on February 26, 1866, to honor General James B. McPherson, who had fallen while fighting with General W.T. Sherman against the Confederate forces in the battle for Atlanta. The Civil War ended in August, 1865; Nebraska became a State March 1, 1867. The fort played an important role in the Indian wars before being decommissioned in 1880.

Buffalo Bill Cody was at various times a scout at the fort and he later established his large ranch nearby named “Scouts Rest.” Lord Dunraven had one other hunt from Fort McPherson in 1874 with Texas Jack as his Scout.