Fort Rice was a frontier military fort. General Alfred H. Sully established Fort Rice in 1864 on the west side of the Missouri River, roughly twelve miles north of present-day Cannon Ball and thirty miles southeast of present-day Bismarck. Fort Rice was named for Brigadier General James Clay Rice of Massachusetts, who was killed during the Civil War. Until its decommissioning in 1878, Fort Rice was instrumental in supporting government-sponsored expeditions and railroad development, which induced settlement and enterprising activities. It offered both defense and supplies. Isolated from civilization and subject to severe weather, early inhabitants found life difficult. Eighty one people died at the fort during its first year of operation.
