Fort C. F. Smith was a military post established in the Powder River country by the United States Army in the southern portion of the Montana Territory on August 12, 1866, during Red Cloud's War.

[3] It was the third Army post to hold the name of Gen. C. F. Smith (previous others in Arlington County, Virginia and in Bowling Green, Kentucky)., who was killed in the American Civil War (1861–1865).

A large Sioux party unsuccessfully attacked civilian hay cutters guarded by 20 soldiers near the Fort in the Hayfield Fight in its second year of occupation in 1867.

Since most of the old fort's buildings were made of adobe, after a century and a half, as of 2010, the foundations of the structures can still be seen as low earthen mounds rising a foot or two off the pasture.

A stone monument in the approximate center of the parade ground (placed in the 1930s) commemorates the fort site and briefly describes its history and significance.. A wooden sign, in poor repair, marks the passing wagon route of the Bozeman Trail.