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Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings
Fort Scott was unique among frontier forts. Its
missions over the years were more variegated than most. Although towns
grew up alongside many posts and enjoyed a close interrelationship, that
between Fort Scott and the town of the same name was unusually cohesive.
Few of the towns experienced as tumultuous a life as Fort Scott. The
military history of the fort and town may be divided into three distinct
phases. In the period 1842-53, as one of the chain of posts on the
"Permanent Indian Frontier," the fort had a broad role in Indian
affairs. During the Civil War, in 1862-65, it was a key Union post in
the West. During the years 1869-73, the town was the headquarters for
troops protecting workers constructing a railroad through the
region.
The 1st Dragoons founded the fort in 1842, only 5
miles from the Missouri border on lands ceded to but unoccupied by
various New York tribes. The post was established to help control and
protect the eastern Indians who were relocated to Indian Territory in
the 1830's and to improve communications among forts. Situated on the
Marmaton River about equidistant between Fort Leavenworth, Kans., and
Fort Gibson, Okla., it sat astride the new 286-mile Fort
Leavenworth-Fort Gibson Military Road. Personnel from Fort Wayne, Okla.
(1838-42), discontinued because the Cherokees resented its existence on
their lands, built and garrisoned Fort Scott.
The dragoons policed Indian Territory, prevented the
encroachment of frontiersmen, and maintained peace in the region. In
conjunction with troops from Fort Leavenworth, Kans., they took part in
three major expeditions: those led by Capt. Philip St. George Cooke
(1843), Maj. Clifton Wharton (1844), and Col. Stephen W. Kearny (1845).
Ranging the northern Plains and the Rocky Mountains, the dragoons
marched as far as New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. Their goals
included general exploration and reconnaissance, protection of the
Oregon-California and Santa Fe Trails, and negotiation with and
pacification of the Indians.
Many troops from the fort served in the Mexican War
(1846-48). Afterwards, the post resumed patrolling the Santa Fe
Trail. But in 1853, the military frontier having moved westward, the
Army inactivated the post. Two years later, not owning the land, the
Government sold the buildings at public auction.
The town of Fort Scott, which then grew up around the
abandoned fort, was a focal point for the turmoil and violence that
plagued Kansas and Missouri during the decade preceding the Civil War.
The "Free-State Hotel," a stopping point of John Brown's antislavery
followers, occupied one of the former fort's officers' quarters.
Directly across the parade ground, in an old barracks next to the
hospital, stood the "Pro-Slavery Hotel" (in 1862 renamed the Western
Hotel). Federal troops, frequently assigned to the town for the purpose
of quelling disorder, resided in tent camps in the vicinity.
In 1862 the Union reactivated Fort Scott. It served
as a headquarters, supply and troop depot, prisoner-of-war camp, general
hospital, training center for black and Indian troops, recruiting point,
and refuge for displaced Indians and Union sympathizers who fled from
Arkansas. Although never directly attacked, the fort was an important
link between men and supplies in the north and the battles and campaigns
in Arkansas, Missouri, and Indian Territory.
The third and last military occupation of the town of
Fort Scott involved a mission as unique as the earlier two. It resulted
from a land controversy concerning the building of the Missouri River,
Fort Scott, and Gulf Railroad through the Cherokee Neutral Lands. These
consisted of some 800,000 acres in southeastern Kansas that had been
awarded the Cherokees in 1835 but reacquired by the U.S. Government in
1866 as a price for the Cherokee Nation's pro-Confederacy stance. The
land claims of the squatter farmers on the neutral lands had not been
confirmed, so the railroad obtained title from the Government. The
settlers, contending the railroad's land title was fraudulent, attacked
construction posts and workmen. The Army designated the town of Fort
Scott as headquarters for the "Post of Southeast Kansas" (1869-73), but
did not occupy the former fort. Troops protected construction crews from
a series of camps along the right-of-way.
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Restored Officers' Quarters No.
1 and front corner of Officers' Quarters No. 2, Fort Scott. (photo by
Margaret Mercer, National Park Service) |
At the time of publication (1971), Fort Scott
Historic Area is located in the northeastern part of the business
district of the town of Fort Scott. Authorized by Congress in 1964, it
is preserved by the city of Fort Scott through a cooperative agreement
with the National Park Service. Although the city of Fort Scott
encroaches upon the fort site, long-range plans call for removal of
nonhistorical structures and restoration of the area to approximate the
1842-53 period. Museum exhibits will interpret other phases of the
fort's history. The city has initiated archeological investigation and
plans to restore several structures and rebuild others.
On October 19, 1978 the area was designated Fort Scott National
Historic Site. All of the site's 20 historic structures, its parade
ground, and its five acres of restored tallgrass prairie bear witness to
this era when the United States was forged from a young divided republic
into a united and powerful transcontinental nation. It is the mission of
the National Park Service at Fort Scott National Historic Site to
preserve, protect and interpret nationally significant historic
resources related to the opening of the West, the Permanent Indian
Frontier, the Mexican-American War, Bleeding Kansas, the Civil War and
the expansion of railroads.
The primary extant sites and structures, dating from
the 1840's, include the parade ground; 2-1/2 two-story frame officers'
quarters, in good condition; the hospital, a frame shell; the well; and
some stone outbuildings, all in fair condition. One of the officers'
quarters, before the Civil War the "Free-State Hotel," was restored by
the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939 and rebuilt after a fire
in 1967. Just north of the group of officers' quarters is a squared-log
blockhouse known as "Fort Blair," a Civil War fortification. Moved from
its original location some five blocks distant, it has been completely
reconstructed. Scheduled for reconstruction are two infantry and one
dragoon barracks, the guard house, and the well canopy, all of frame;
wooden flagpole; and the stone magazine. One of the infantry barracks
was the "Pro-Slavery" (Western) Hotel. Many Fort Scott soldiers, as well
as others who died in the region during the Indian wars, are buried in
the national cemetery on the southern edge of the town of Fort
Scott.
NHL Designation: 07/04/61
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/soldier-brave/sitea14.htm
Last Updated: 19-Aug-2005
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