Fort Steele, also known as Fort Fred Steele, was established to protect the newly built Union Pacific Railroad from attacks by Native Americans during construction of the transcontinental railroad in the United States.

[2] The fort was built in 1868 where the railroad crossed the North Platte River in Carbon County, Wyoming.

[3] Immediately after the fort's establishment in the summer of 1868 it was the scene of a meeting that included Generals Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, who had come west to inspect the railroad, accompanied by Generals Philip Sheridan, August Kautz, Joseph H. Potter, William S. Harney, Frederick T. Dent and Adam J. Slemmer, with Union Pacific officials Thomas C. Durant and Sidney Dillon.

The fort provided both military protection and law enforcement for the region.

The most notable incident occurred in 1878 during the White River War, when the fort sent a contingent that was ambushed with heavy losses in the Battle of Milk Creek.