In reveiwing the era post returns for Kansas there is no mention of this Ft.Nichols, other than as a camp ground. The 7th Cavalry after 1867 to 1870 posted two companies in the area in which they patrolled that part of the country and camped on that ground. The records indicate only as camp Nichols, else there would be post returns. By the time of the 1867 Medicine Lodge treaty, attended by a battalion of the 7th Cavalry, the posts in existence at that time were centered on the protection of the Santa Fe trail and the Kansas-Pacific Railroad to Denver. The department of Missouri just didn't have the troops to spare for permanent garrisons for the Upper IT, when the Osage and Cherokee were regarded as very low risk.