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Description

Detailed regional map of the Northwest, illustrating General William Tecumsah Sherman's route from Fort Ellis to British Columbia in 1883.

A heavy dark line depicts General Sherman's route from Yellowstone to Fort Hope, B.C.

The map shows a portion of WT Sherman's travels from Washington DC to the Pacific Coast and back, during what would be his final overland expedition to the west in 1883.  While Sherman led his troops through the sites of many native battles in his final year as the Head of the Army, one of the primary purposes of the trip was to re-visit Yellowstone, which had visited under different circumstances in 1877.

As Commanding General of the United States Army, this was Sherman's last inspection tour across the West in 1883, before his retirement. Sherman's journey of nearly 11,000 miles was in many respects a repeat of his earlier trip in 1877, but the West had changed a great deal in the intervening 6 years.

Sherman left Washington, D.C. June 20, traveling by rail and steamer to Minnesota and then by train to Glendive, Montana Territory. Arriving on June 29, 1883, the party proceeded on to Fort Keogh for the night. Following a short stay at the Fort near Miles City, they traveled west down the Yellowstone Valley and on July 1 stopped for dinner at the "span new town of Livingston."

Sherman arrived at Fort Ellis, where he had stayed on the previous trip, and spent the Fourth of July. They left Fort Ellis July 5 and traveled down Trail Creek to Yellowstone Park Headquarters at Mammoth. After touring the Park for several days, the group traveled to Bannack, then around the Big Hole Valley and crossed the Continental Divide into Ross's Hole.

On July 26, the party camped between Corvallis and Stevensville, and by the end of the day they had arrived at Fort Missoula. The next day the General left Montana on a Northern Pacific train to continue his journey for two more months. Following his return, Sherman wrote of the changes to the West that he had witnessed on his journey:

The recent completion of the last of the four great transcontinental lines of railway had settled forever the Indian question, the Army question, and many others which have hitherto troubled the country.