 Congress passed a law to build a military wagon road on March 3, 1863 from Fort Wilkins to Houghton and then south to the state line. The road was laid out in 1864 following what is today M-26 between Copper Harbor and Phoenix, US 41 south to Houghton, M-26 south to Winona and Federal Forest Highway 16 (FFH-16) to the state line. Wisconsin authorities ran the road along what is now Highway 29 between Green Bay and Shawano and Highway 55 north to the state line. Military Road would connect Fort Wilkins with Fort Howard near Green Bay.
