---

In late 1868, General Philip H. Sheridan arrived in the area with the 7th US Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer, the 10th US Cavalry under Colonel Benjamin Grierson, the 19th Kansas Volunteers and the 6th US Infantry. The new post was soon staked out and construction began on the permanent stone buildings in 1869-1870. The post was soon named Fort Sill in honor of General Joshua Sill who was killed during the Civil War in 1862. All four of the Black regiments that were later referred to as the “Buffalo Soldiers”; the 9th and 10th US Cavalry and the 24th and 25th Infantry, served at Fort Sill during the late 19th Century.

Fort Sill's primary purpose was to control the Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa and other tribes of the Southern Plains who were making frequent raids on settlements in Texas and Mexico.

---