The 2nd Regiment, based in Shawnee County (where Topeka was located), was sent to western Missouri to meet Price's force.
[2] The home regiment, led by Maj. Andrew Stark, built a stockade in the middle of the intersection of 6th and Kansas Avenues and two sets of trenches on the east side of town.
The mountain howitzer was kept inside the fort and a port was cut in the east, west, south and north sides to allow it to be moved and fired.
On October 23, in the evening, news reached Topeka that the Union forces had been crushed in the Battle of Westport, waged in what is now part of Kansas City.
The entire city was in a state of panic and 350 armed men manned the trenches and Fort Simple through the night, expected an attack.
In April and July 1865 the Topeka city council took actions to make the fort appear more attractive, since it was no longer used.
In 1929 a bronze tablet was laid on the southwest corner of the intersection to honor Fort Simple's memory.