Alfred Terry - Postbellum Activities

Postbellum Activities

After the war, Terry remained in the military. He helped to negotiate the Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), which ended Red Cloud's campaign against American troops in the region. Terry became a strong opponent of the Ku Klux Klan after being assigned as the last military governor of the Third Military District, based in Atlanta, where he served beginning on December 22, 1869.

Terry was the commander of the U.S. Army column marching westward into the Montana Territory during what is now popularly known as the Centennial Campaign in 1876–77. Two other columns marched toward the same objective area (George Crook's from the south and John Gibbon's from the west). A column of troops under his command arrived shortly after the Battle of Little Big Horn and discovered the bodies of Custer's men. In October 1877, he went to Canada to negotiate with Sitting Bull. He was still in command in Montana during the Nez Perce War and sent reinforcements to intercept Chief Joseph.

In 1878, Terry joined Maj. Gen. John Schofield on a presidential board asked to reexamine the conviction by court-martial of Fitz John Porter. The board found that Porter had been unfairly convicted of cowardice and disobedience.

In 1886, Terry was promoted to major general and was given command of the Division of the Missouri, headquartered in Chicago. He died four years later in New Haven, Connecticut, where he is buried in Grove Street Cemetery.