National Park Service
In spring and summer 1864 Forts Blair, Henning, and Insley were constructed to help protect the town and post of Fort Scott from Confederate forces. Fort Insley was named for Capt. Martin H. Insley. It was located just northeast of town, about 1½ blocks northeast of the main part of the post of Fort Scott, overlooking Buck Run Creek.
Fort Insley was the largest of the blockhouses, measuring twenty by thirty feet. It was garrisoned by a detachment from the 6th Kansas and served as an ammunition storehouse. The three blockhouses helped protect Fort Scott in October 1864 when Maj. Gen. Sterling Price retreated south during his failed invasion of Missouri. He hoped to overrun Fort Scott, but retreated without a fight.
After the Civil War Forts Henning and Insley were torn down. Fort Scott itself closed in October 1865.
Sources: Wikipedia
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One of the oldest roads in the state, Fort Road was originally built by the federal government after Fort Ridgely was completed in 1853-54. Supplies were shipped from Fort Snelling to Traverse des Sioux, then transported by wagon to Fort Ridgely.
Nicollet County Road 5 runs more than 42 miles from its eastern terminus at its intersection with US Highway 169 in St Peter to the Renville County line. Old Fort Road presumably extended from Traverse des Sioux, although the portion running through the campus of Gustavus Adolphus College has been blocked off. Fort Road as an address runs from the western edge of St Peter to the end of CR-5.
In an ideal world, a paved trail would have been installed when the road was refurbished in the early 2010s. This planned geocache trail will have to suffice, but won’t alleviate my anxiety when biking here.