In 1865, the Army decided it needed an outpost in the Warner Valley of south-central Oregon to facilitate the interdiction of Indian raiding parties passing through the area. Army scouts from Fort Vancouver selected a site along Honey Creek on the west side of the Warner Lakes in what is today Lake County, Oregon. In 1866, a unit of the 14th Infantry Regiment was sent from Fort Boise to establish the fort. The 14th Infantry came by way of Fort Harney, arriving on the east side of the Warner Lakes in late summer. The Army was unable to cross the Warner Lakes, a chain of lakes and wetlands that stretches more than north to south. As a result, the soldiers decided to build their outpost east of the lakes on the eastern slope of Hart Mountain. It was completed on August 10, 1866. The post was named Camp Warner after Captain William H. Warner, a topographical engineer who had explored the area before being killed by Indians in 1849.