Fort Custer ( Montana ) Fort Custer was established during the Indian wars in the Department of Dakota by the U . S . Army to subjugate the Sioux , Cheyenne and Crow Indians near present - day Hardin , Montana . The post was named for General George Armstrong Custer who died at the Battle of the Little Big Horn . Construction . In April and May , 1877 , three companies ( C , F and G ) were moved from Cheyenne Agency , and three companies ( A , B and H ) from Fort Yates in the Standing Rock Agency to the $ 3 , Montana , under the command of Lieut . - Colonel G . P . Buell , 11th Infantry , where they constructed the post of Fort Custer . On June 9 , 1877 , Lieut . Col . Geo . P . Buell and 2 companies Eleventh Infantry ( C and F ) , together with a number of mechanics , arrived , per steamer Florence Meyer , en route to build Post No . 2 on the Bighorn River . The construction of Fort Custer , on the Big Horn , was entrusted to Lieutenant - Colonel G . P . Buell , of the Eleventh Infantry . Colonel Buell , with four companies of his regiment and a large force of mechanics and laborers , left Bismarck by steamers for the site of the post ou the 16th of May . Owing to the wretched character of his boats , and to an accident which happened to one of them , he did not reach his destination until the 23d of June . Subsequently two additional companies of his regiment were sent to him . It had been determined to build this post from material to be found in the country ; and as soon as Colonel Buell had put up temporary storehouses to protect his supplies , he commenced cutting logs , baking brick , and sawing lumber . The lumber in this immediate vicinity is cotton wood , and , with the exception of some finishing lumber — pine — sent up from Bismarck , the post was built of this material . The post is intended for the same number and description of troops as Fort Keogh . The buildings are not framed , but they are built up of planks two inches thick by six inches wide , laid flat one upon another , forming a solid wall six inches in thickness . The officers ' quarters are of one story and an attic . All other buildings are of one story . The site of the post is on an extensive elevated plateau in the fork of two streams . Colonel Buell was originally instructed to place it on the left bank of the Bighorn , as near to the mouth of the Little Bighorn as the nature of the ground would permit . Immediately after his arrival he made a thorough examination of the whole neighborhood , and became so well satisfied of the superior advantages of the plateau in the fork over any other possible situation , that he selected it as the site . His action in this respect was subsequently fully approved . Many unforeseen obstacles delayed the completion of the post ; but its construction is so far advanced , that the garrison , its animals and supplies , will be well sheltered during the winter . Lieutenant - Colonel Buell deserves great credit for the activity , energy , and resource which he has displayed . Fort Custer had quarters for 10 companies including stables for 6 troops of cavalry . It was built with buildings surrounding a large parade ground but had no walls or other fortifications Naming . Fort Custer was originally called Post No . 2 on the Bighorn River . General Orders , No . 1 Headquarters Big Horn Post , Mont . , July 4 , 1877 . Until the post be named officially , in orders from higher authority , it will be known as Big Horn Post , and the military reservation pertaining to it is hereby declared as 20 miles square , the center of which will be the flag - staff , the sides running north , east , south , and west . Geo . P . Buell , Lieutenant - Colonel Eleventh Infantry , Commanding Post . At the Bighorn Post , Lieutenant General Sheridan and Brigadier General Crook deliberated over the status of the forts and what to name them . In General Sherman ' s report to Secretary of War George W . McCrary regarding this matter stated : We have discussed the subject of names for the new post I suggested the names of Custer . . . I find General Terry indisposed thus to Honor Genl . Custer , . . . I think General Sheridan agrees with me , still we dislike to act without General Terry ' s consent . The designation of the post was changed to Fort Custer , pursuant to General Orders , No . 101 , Headquarters of the Army , Adjutant General ' s Office , November 8 , 1877 . History . Most of the Native Americans in the vicinity had been confined to reservations , when the fort was built . The Second Cavalry Regimental Headquarters , Band , and Companies C , D , K , and M were stationed at Fort Custer first in November 1877 , along with Companies B , C , F , and H of the 11th Infantry . The fort supplied troops for some of the Plains campaigns , including the Bannock War . Custer battlefield . It was from Fort Custer that Captain George K . Sanderson , Company C , Eleventh Infantry , was sent to the Custer battlefield to police and rebury any exposed remains in April 1879 . Then on January 28 , 1881 , Lieutenant Charles F . Roe and Troop M , Second Cavalry , left Fort Custer for the battle - field on the Little Big Horn River , in charge of the materials for the monument to be erected to the officers and men who fell in that action . First Cavalry . In 1884 the First Cavalry headquarters and troops D , G , I , K and M , were stationed at Fort Custer replacing the Second Cavalry and joining Companies I and H of the Fifth Infantry and E and K of the Seventeenth Infantry . Yellowstone National Park turned to the U . S . Army for help , and in 1886 men from Company M , First United States Cavalry , and Fort Custer , Montana Territory under Captain Moses Harris came to Yellowstone to begin what would be more than 30 years of military presence in Yellowstone . There was an uprising at the Crow Agency in the fall of 1887 , and on the morning of November 4 , Colonel Nathan Dudley left Fort Custer with Troops A , B , D , E , G and K , and Company B , 3d Infantry , with a section of Hotchkiss guns , to arrest " Sword Bearer " and the Native Americans who had fired into the agency buildings on the night of September 30 . On December 31 , 1889 Headquarters and Troops B , D , E , G and M , were at Fort Custer . On April 20 , 1892 , Headquarters and troops A , B , E , G , K , and M , First Cavalry , Col . A . K . Arnold commanding , left Fort Custer . Buffalo Soldiers . On May 5 , 1892 , Headquarters and Troops B , E , G , and K , Tenth Cavalry , Lieut . Col . David Perry commanding , arrived at Fort Custer ; Troop A , being dismounted , marched from Custer Station and arrived at post May 8 , coming from the Department of Arizona , and took station . The nickname Buffalo Soldier was given to the Black Cavalry by the Native American tribes they fought ; the term eventually became synonymous with all of the African - American regiments formed in 1866 . Troops A , B , E , and K , Tenth Cavalry and Companies B and D Twenty - fifth Infantry left Fort Custer and were sent to Fort Harrison near Helena when the post closed on April 17 , 1898 and the buildings were sold and used to build Hardin , Montana . A Daughters of the American Revolution marker designates the site , within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation on an abandoned golf course . All that remains are scattered cellars and ground depressions . It is located just off of I - 90 ( U . S . Hwy 87 ) south of Hardin , Montana , where the Hwy crosses the Big Horn River . A remnant of the fort can be found in the town of Fort Smith , Montana as a Bed and breakfast managed by the Crow Indians as well as a replica of the fort at the Bighorn County Historical Museum .