On June 7, 1867, disaster struck this newly renamed fort. A destructive flood on Big Creek almost wiped out the first site of Fort Hays. Several soldiers were drowned and there was extensive loss of property to the stores and supplies of Fort Hays.

After this disaster at the site of old Fort Fletcher and the newly named Fort Hays, was moved to a site closer the the Kansas Pacific railroad that had laid tracks near this location. The site was selected by a Major Alfred Gibbs, upon approval by General W. S. Hancock and the fort was moved to the location where is stands to day. This location is on the southwest side of Hays Kansas near Big Creek. Major Gibbs became commander of the new Fort Hays on June 23, 1867, and on July 4, 1867 the first United States flag was hoisted on the military reservation of 7500 acres of rolling Kansas prairie.

The Great Fire of Portland, Maine occurred on the first Independence Day after the end of the American Civil War on July 4, 1866. Five years before the Great Chicago Fire, this was the greatest fire yet seen in an American city. It started in a boat house on Commercial Street, likely caused by a firecracker or a cigar ash. The fire spread to a lumber yard and on to a sugar house, then spread across the city, eventually burning out on Munjoy Hill in the city's east end. Only two people died in the fire, but 1,800 buildings were burned to the ground making almost 10,000 people homeless. Soon after the fire, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow described his old home town: "Desolation! Desolation! Desolation! It reminds me of Pompeii, the 'sepult city'."

The intrepid Southern boatsmen had been at sea for some 40 days attempting to reach Nassau. The attempt to run the blockade in small boats, powered by sail and oars, was an extreme measure even for the South's struggling economy.

Lieutenant Commander Phelps, embarked in the 300-ton, 8-gun Hastings, commented in his report to Rear Admiral Porter: "I had been at a loss to know how we should celebrate the Fourth, being underway and having so much of a convoy in charge, but this attack occurring about noon furnished the opportunity of at once punishing the enemy and celebrating the day by firing cannon. "It had been a year before, on July 4, 1863, that Union forces had commemorated Independence Day with decisive victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, the latter pivoting on the Union Navy. With control of the Western waters assured, the North was certain of victory."

Early on July 3rd, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston led his Army of Tennessee toward the Chattahoochee River, ending 26 days of operations around Marietta. Fearing for the safety of his left flank, Johnston placed his troops behind prepared works 6 miles south of Marietta, adjacent to Smyrna Camp Ground and not far above the Western & Atlantic Railroad depot at Vining's Station.

The armies of Federal Major General William T. Sherman followed in pursuit. Doubting that his adversary would stop short of the Chattahootchee, Sherman planned to strike Johnston's south flank during his crossing. On the 4th, closing up on Smyrna, Sherman sent the IV Corps/Army of the Cumberland, under Major General Oliver O. Howard, to attack down the railroad against Johnston's center, held by Lt. General William J. Hardee's corps. Simultaneously, Major General Grenville M. Dodge's XVI Corps/Army of the Tennessee would menace the Confederate left near the river.

Howard's offensive achieved limited success. Unable to convince his superior that a formidable line of works lay before him, Howard dutifully advanced early on the 4th. His 1st Division, under Major General David S. Stanley, the brigade of Col. William Grose leading, gained some ground, capturing a line of skirmishers' rifle pits under fire. But even with support from the divisions of Brig. Generals John Newton and Thomas J. Wood, Stanley failed to reach the main Confederate works. His troops reeled under what Stanley called "the severest and most continued cannonade the rebels had ever used upon us."

Dodge's turning movement proved more fruitful. At daybreak, the XVI Corps, led by the division of Brig. General James C. Veatch, crossed Nickajack Creek near Ruff's Mills, then plowed into the corps of General John B. Hood. Some Union troops met unexpectedly stiff resistance on the extreme left, held by the mounted division of Brig. General William H. Jackson, and the Georgia militia under Major General Gustavus W. Smith, and the Confederates fell back in disorder. But the bulk of Dodge's corps, aided by a XV Corps division, 2 XVII Corps regiments, plus an infantry brigade and the cavalry of the Army of the Ohio, secured a lodgement one mile beyond Nickajack Creek. With Federals now closer to the Chattahootchee than Johnston's main body, another Confederate retreat was inevitable.