Every seven years, a black horse would gallop across the Oregon Trail near Fort Laramie, urged into a run by a beautiful young lady in a green riding habit. Over the years, many saw her, but none were able to catch her, including two young soldiers.
James Allison was newly graduated from West Point when he encountered the “Laramie Ghost.” He was an enthusiastic sportsman but not one given to exaggeration.
So, when Allison shared this story with his family decades later, they took notice.
His son, Phillip Allison, related the story in 1951 to Fort Laramie Superintendent Dave Hieb who recorded it in his own remembrances of the fort in the July-August 1978 Denver Westerners' ROUNDUP.
It was June 1872 when Lt. James Nicholas Allison of "K" Company, 2nd U.S. Cavalry, arrived at Fort Laramie equipped with a fine thoroughbred horse and a large hunting dog that was half Russian Wolfhound.
Soon after his arrival, he joined a small party of young officers on a wolf hunt in the hills east of the fort. The dogs soon saw a wolf and Allison, who was better mounted than his companions, quickly outdistanced the others and lost them in the excitement of the chase.
Afterward, Allison picked his way down from the hills toward the Oregon Trail on his return to the fort. His horse went lame and Allison stopped to remove a stone from one of her shoes.
Turning to remount, the young officer saw a lone horseman riding rapidly eastward on the trail.
Fort Laramie was once a trading post and during that time, a young woman disappeared on the Oregon Trail while riding her black horse. While she never returned to the trading post, she is still seen galloping her horse across the trail. (Painting by Alfred Jacob Miller) 
While on a wolf hunt, two young soldiers from Fort Laramie saw a young woman galloping her horse across the Oregon Trail. It turned out she was the “Laramie Ghost” — a young woman who had disappeared 30 years prior. (Officers gathered on the steps of Old Bedlam at Fort Laramie, 1860s. (U.S. Signal Corps photograph) 
James Allison was a young lieutenant when he was stationed at Fort Laramie. Shortly after his arrival, he encountered the Laramie Ghost. (Find A Grave, Kenneth Robison II) 
An old Indian woman was one of the last surviving eyewitnesses who had watched a young woman leave Fort John, the trading post that predated Fort Laramie, and never return. 30 years later, the young woman was still seen, galloping her horse across the Oregon Trail. (Library of Congress)
The Lone Horseman
Allison’s path intersected that of the lone rider who he at first thought to be on Indian with a blanket. As he came nearer, he saw that it was a young woman in a long old-fashioned riding habit and a feathered hat.
Assuming she was a newly arrived visitor at the fort, Allison tried to stop her to warn her against riding so far out alone. Instead, she raised her quirt, which glittered in the sun and whipped her great black horse to dash past him and out of sight over a rise of ground.
Dashing in pursuit, Allison was amazed on topping the rise to find no one in sight. When he examined the little-used trail, his shock grew when he found no tracks.
Meanwhile, his great wolfhound cowered against him in an unprecedented show of fear.
As Allison looked about in astonishment, a shout from a ridge to the south alerted him that he had not been the only witness to the strange scene.
Another lieutenant from the fort rode down and started teasing Allison about the beautiful lady who had given him the “go-by.” However, when Allison pointed out the lack of tracks and how fast she disappeared, both young officers were perplexed.
They had both seen her and now they couldn’t explain her disappearance.
When Allison returned to the Fort and was dining with the assembled officers and their ladies and guests, he scanned the room but could not find any lady present who could have been the mysterious rider.
Fully aware he might be made the butt of many jokes, he told the group of his queer adventure.
Before any jocular comments could be made the commanding officer, whom Hieb said was most likely Bvt. Maj. Gen. John E. Smith, 14th Infantry, spoke up.
James Allison was a young cadet in 1872, fresh from West Point, when he encountered the “Laramie Ghost,” a young woman who was said to have disappeared in the area about 30 years earlier. He was a respected soldier and not one to make up stories. (Library of Congress) ) 
James Allison was a young cadet in 1872, fresh from West Point, when he encountered the “Laramie Ghost,” a young woman who was said to have disappeared in the area about 30 years earlier. He was a respected soldier and not one to make up stories. (Library of Congress)
'The Laramie Ghost'
“Well Allison, you have just seen the Laramie Ghost.”
Smith then told the gathering a story that had been often told since the early days of the fort.
Back in the days when Fort Laramie was a fur-trading post, a factor of the post brought with him his beautiful daughter, who had been educated in eastern schools and was an accomplished horsewoman.
The factor warned his daughter never to ride out alone and ordered his assistants to make sure she obeyed. However, there came a day when the factor was away and his daughter took the opportunity to take her favorite horse, a beautiful black, for a ride.
Despite the protests of the people in the fort, she rode eastward down the Oregon Trail.
She was never seen alive again.
Her father returned and searched for her for week, but no trace was found. Then, in the years that followed, a legend grew among the Indians and traders of the valley that every seven years the ghost of the factor’s daughter would be seen riding down the old trail.
Still unconvinced of what he had seen, Allison inquired until he found an old Indian woman who was at the fort when the factor's daughter rode out never to return. He asked the old woman how the girl was dressed.
She chanted out a description of a girl in a long, dark green riding habit with a feathered hat and a jewel-handled quirt. It matched what he had seen.
Allison was finally convinced he had seen the "Laramie Ghost" and buried the incident in his memory until years later.
He was riding the train through Wyoming when he heard cowboys on a depot platform talking about how a rancher had just seen the "Laramie Ghost," but his train started before he could question them for details of the incident.
“Now you may not believe in ghosts and in my eleven years at the old fort, I did not see the ghost just described,” Hieb said. “However, if any place in the West deserves a few ghosts I am sure you will agree that it is Fort Laramie.”
Contact Jackie Dorothy at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com
(CSD File) 
The Fort Laramie National Historic Site boasts the oldest building in Wyoming and its grounds have walked on by dozens of historic figures including General William Tecumseh Sherman, General George Crook, Kit Carsen, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, and the legendary Jim Bridger. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily) 
During its existence, Fort Laramie has three brigs, two of which still stand. This is the second brig built at the fort and would have been in use when a contingent of troops tried to arrest a native for allegedly stealing a Mormon’s cow and triggering ongoing conflict with Native Americans. (Dale Killingbeck, Cowboy State Daily)
Jackie Dorothy can be reached at jackie@cowboystatedaily.com.
