Stagecoach, Oxen, and Telegraph are highlights of Good Ol’ Days at Fort Scott NHS

During the Civil War, commanders from both the Union and Confederate armies needed reliable forms of communication to get messages to troops in the field and to relay information to headquarters and government agencies.  They also needed dependable means of transportation to supply troops in the field, to convey sick and wounded soldiers to hospitals for treatment, and to deliver mail and other important messages.

Civil War transportation and communication will be the theme of this year’s Good Ol’ Days celebration at Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, KS.  Held on June 7, the event will feature many different transport vehicles, modes of communication and important support functions for each. 

To tell the story of transportation, the site will have a stagecoach, a Civil War era ambulance, a freight wagon, a Conestoga wagon, and oxen on site. Oxen were strong and reliable and could pull wagons up steep hills and out of mud holes. Mr. Rick Lunceford, of Oak Grove, MO, will have two of his oxen, Levi and Sampson, at the site for the public to visit with. Mahaffie Farmstead out of Olathe will be bringing a stagecoach, which will be on display on the site’s parade ground.  Civil War officers often road stagecoaches; these vehicles were also used to transport U.S. Mail.  Visitors at this station will be able to write letters on period–looking stationary and then send those letters (using postage stamps which will be for sale at the site).    

Additionally, the site will have its ambulance set up next to the hospital building where a surgeon will tell the story of Civil War medicine.  Two different types of wagons used for hauling freight will be on display near the quartermaster storehouse and the site’s stables which was used as the commissary building during the Civil War.  The commissary building held enough food items to comprise one million rations.   The Conestoga wagon next to the stables, while quickly becoming an outmoded form of transportation by the Civil War, was still used for short run hauls by area teamsters.

The site will also have a blacksmith and a saddler on site.  The blacksmith will have a period forge and will be demonstrating what has nearly become a lost art.  The saddler will be discussing his important role in keeping the cavalry “in the saddle”.

Various modes of communication during the Civil War will likewise be highlighted during the event.  Donald Reser and Dick Spain of Topeka, KS will be setting up a telegraph which visitors can use to send messages back and forth to each other. Telegraphs were commonly used to relay information during the war with the first transcontinental telegraph being completed in 1861 and the first telegraph reaching Fort Scott in 1864, one hundred and fifty years ago.

The signal corps will be represented; signal flags were used for passing messages on the battlefield during the Civil War.  One of the site’s volunteers will be portraying a courier, a dispatch rider who delivered packages, mail, and other messages during the war, often between commanders in the field and headquarters. Michelle Martin will be portraying Sarah Edmonds Seelye, a female who masqueraded as a soldier during the war, and also served as a spy for a brief period of time.  Finally there will be a letter writing station, demonstrating the fine art of putting ink to paper in the mid- nineteenth century.  

Stations where visitors can learn more about all of these methods of transportation and communication will be open from 10-4.  Additionally, there will be some programs throughout the day addressing these topics. The schedule of activities is as follows.

1030      Nurse and Spy In The Union Army

1130      Wheels of Healing:    Civil War Ambulance

1230       Batteries On the Border:     Civil War Artillery Demonstration

130          Signals of Safety:     The U. S. Army Signal Corps

200          Supplies, Survival and Success - Civil War Quartermaster

230          A Fine Yoke:     The Role of Oxen in Westward Expansion

330          Nurse and Spy in the Union Army

So come to Fort Scott NHS on June 7 and learn about all these vital forms of communication and transportation. Programs and stations will all be at accessible locations. The site is open from 8-5 daily. There is no entrance fee. For more information, call 620-223-0310 or visit us online at www.nps.gov/fosc.

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 401 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov. 

Women at War - February 8, 2 p.m.

 Women at War Program to be Held at Fort Scott NHS

 Most military histories detail the exploits, heroism, and sacrifice of male officers and soldiers, but equally as important in wartime are the roles of women.  While they have not traditionally served in combat roles, women throughout history have served in a variety of functions during war to support the efforts of soldiers. They have kept the home front going, provided aid and comfort, followed the army into war, served as nurses, and in modern times become an integral part of the armed forces.  For many women, war has been as much of a challenge to them as it has been to their male counterparts.

On Saturday, February 8, 2014, a program featuring women and war will be presented at Fort Scott National Historic Site.  The program will be offered in two parts.  During the first part of the program, Fort Scott volunteers will tell the stories of women during the Mexican-American and Civil Wars.  The second part of the program will feature the Fort Scott Community College’s theater department performing segments of Women and War, a  play that brings to light the varying roles that women have played in all of America’s 20th Century wars. 

During the first part of the program, Fort Scott volunteer Katie Wells will portray Susan Shelby Magoffin, a young newlywed who accompanied her husband down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico during the Mexican War.   Wells will be sharing several of Magoffin’s journal entries that show her reaction to war.  Susan Anderson will then play the role of Emma Morley, who came to Fort Scott during the Civil War, where she became a nurse in the hospital.  Morley experienced the fear of the border war and also witnessed the suffering of soldiers after the Battle of Mine Creek.  The concluding presenter for the first part of the program will be Michelle Martin. Martin tells the story of Sarah Edmonds Seelye, a woman who disguised herself as a soldier, served as a Union spy behind Confederate lines, and later worked as a nurse.  Seelye moved to Fort Scott after the war.

Following a short intermission, students from the FSCC’s theater department will tell stories of women and war in a reader’s theater format. Based on historical facts, this play is presented through a collection of stories told in letters and monologues by generations of Americans impacted by conflicts, from The Great War (World War I) to the war in Afghanistan. Deeply touching and educational, this play is an emotional roller coaster. These accounts are moving, funny, exiting, humbling and incredibly sad all at the same time.

The program will begin at 2:00 p.m. and last for approximately two hours.   It will be held in the Grand Hall, located on the top floor of an infantry barracks building at Fort Scott NHS.  Admission to the program and the site is free of charge.

They Fought Like Tigers

Kansas was the first Union state to recruit, train, muster and send African American soldiers into combat.

The 1st Kansas Colored Infantry was the first African American regiment to be recruited from a norther state and the first to defeat the Confederates in combat.

January 14, 2013 will be the 150th Anniversary of the federal muster of this unit which was sworn into service on the parade grounds in Fort Scott.

In commemoration, Fort Scott National Historic Site will offer a special program on Saturday, January 12, 2013, at 2 p.m. in the site's library.

Retired National Park Service Historian, Arnold Schofield, will offer the keynote address about the formation of the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry.

The program will also honor the African American officer with the unit, Captain William D. Matthews, with a dramatic reading of his life's story.

Period music will be performed by volunteer Matthew Wells.

Additionally Park Ranger, Barry Geersteen will give a talk about the Emancipation Proclamation, which became official on January 1, 1863, and paved the way for the mustering in of the unit 12 days later.

The program will last approximately one hour and is open to the public.

There is no fee for the program or for visitation to the site which is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

One item of note is that it was the story of the 1st Kansas that convinced Congress to authorize funding for the site in 1965., the same year that civil rights legislation was passed.

This story will also be briefly addressed during the program.

This program is one of many planned to commemorate the Civil War sesquicentennial.

For more information, call 620-223-0310