Forsyth is a city in and the county seat of Rosebud County, Montana, United States. The population was 1,944 at the 2000 census. Forsyth was established in 1876 as the first settlement on the Yellowstone River, and in 1882 residents named the town after General James William Forsyth who commanded Fort Maginnis, Montana during the Indian Wars and the 7th Cavalry at the Wounded Knee Massacre. The town has long been a transportation nexus, starting with steamboats on the river and progressing to the Northern Pacific Railway and Interstate 94.
Forsyth was established as a settlement on the Yellowstone in 1876 as a steamboat landing supporting United States Army operations in the Indian Wars. In 1882, Thomas Alexander traded land to the Northern Pacific Railway to start the town, and developed four buildings on main street. In 1894, 500 men of the socialist Coxey’s Army inspired by Jacob Coxey and led by William Hogan, commandeered a Northern Pacific Railway train for a trip to Washington, DC. They fought Federal Marshals on the way, and were finally apprehended with the help of the Army in Forsyth. In the 1980s Forsyth served as the home of the United States Air Force 1st Combat Evaluation Group Detachment 18, evaluating radar observability for B-52’s on training runs.