Fort Shaw

Fort Shaw (originally named Camp Reynolds) was a United States Army fort located on the Sun River 24 miles west of Great Falls, Montana, in the United States. It was founded on June 30, 1867, and abandoned by the Army in July 1891. It later served as a school for Native American children from 1892 to 1910. Portions of the fort survive today as a small museum. The fort lent its name to the community of Fort Shaw, Montana, which grew up around it.

Fort Shaw is part of the Fort Shaw Historic District and Cemetery, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 11, 1985.

Most of what was to become Montana became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Although first organized into an incorporated territory in 1805 as part of the Louisiana Territory, it was not until large numbers of farmers, miners, and fur trappers began moving into the region in the 1850s that the government of the United States paid much attention to the area. The creation of the Montana Territory in 1864 came about, in part, due to the rapid influx of miners after the gold strikes of 1862 to 1864 in the southwest part of the state.

Camp Reynolds was established on the site on June 30, 1867. The camp was established by Major William Clinton, in command of four companies of the 13th Infantry Regiment. The site was about 20 miles (32 km) upstream from the confluence of the Sun and Missouri rivers. It was about 5 miles (8.0 km) upstream from the point where the Mullan Road crossed the river. It was also about 12 miles (19 km) upstream from the site of the former St. Peter's Mission, which had been evacuated in April 1866 after the Piegan Blackfeet killed four white settlers nearby (one almost on the doorstep of the mission). The first Blackfeet Indian Agency office, established in 1854 by Isaac Stevens (Governor of the Washington Territory), was also nearby. The 13th Infantry Regiment previously established Camp Cooke near the mouth of the Judith River in July 1866, and Camp Reynolds was intended to keep the Mullan Road open and prohibit further Native American attacks on settlements to the south.