Members of the Washburn-Langford-Doane Expedition in 1870 gave this mountain the name of Brown Mountain, while Lt. Gustavus C. Doane, also a member of the expedition named the mountain Yellow Mountain. In 1871 during the Hayden Geological Survey of 1871 Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden named the peak Red Mountain. Also in 1871, Captain John W. Barlow, a military member of the Hayden expedition ascended the peak on August 10, 1871 and named it Mount Sheridan to honor the general. Years later the name Red Mountain was given to the entire range in which Mount Sheridan sits.