Upcoming Evening Tour

“Everyone is carrying a gun” said one observer of the town of Fort Scott during the late 1850s.  During that era, known as Bleeding Kansas, people who held widely varied beliefs descended on Fort Scott.  From abolitionists to proslavery advocates, from Jayhawkers to Border Ruffians, each had their own point of view on what was right and wrong and their own concept of justice.  Those concepts often clashed violently at Fort Scott in the 1850s.

An evening tour at Fort Scott National Historic Site will take a look at many of the people who came to Fort Scott during that era.  Six different scenes will represent the buildings and people who brought about conflict in the 1850s. Conflict could be found in the courtroom, the land office, the sheriff’s office - there were even two competing hotels. From the attempted burning of one of these hotels to the tragic shooting of one of its leading citizens, Fort Scott was no stranger to violence and intrigue during this era.  

The tour will be offered on August 17 at 6:30 p.m. at the historic site. There is no charge for this tour which is the third in a series of evening tours this summer.  It will meet at the visitor center.

Fort Scott National Historic Site is open daily from 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Entrance to the site is free of charge. For more information call 620-223-0310 or visit our website at www.nps.gov/fosc.

Quantrill's Raid and Order No. 11

Shared Stories

Stories written by those

Who lived through Quantrill's Raid

Who lived through Order No. 11

Saturday, the Fort Scott National Historic Site

shared those stories

And the attendees had lively questions for the moderator.

Bill Fischer

Fort Scott National Historic Site Historian

A panel of readers

shared those stories

One by one,

we watched the stories unfold.

Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site President

Reed Hartford

one of the readers

Katie Wells, Matt Wells and Jim Scott were part of the panel

Reed Hartford and Cynthia McFarlin rounded out the panel.

Because the raid was not that far away in Lawrence, Kansas

And because Order No. 11 involved Vernon County (20 miles to the East)

there are stories of grandparents and great-grandparents

that were passed down.

And those were shared by the audience as well.

That is real living history.

Symbols of Sacrifice

September 2013

Jim Scott, representing Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site, 

delivering 7,000 American flags to Bill Fischer, Historian at Fort Scott National Historic Site. 

   Each flag will represent each of our lost military heroes since 9/11.   The flags will be on display the week of 9/11 with ceremonies honoring those fallen.

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

Candlelight Tour of the Fort

This Weekend

December 7 and 8

Friday and Saturday nights

Tickets are required for anyone 6 and above

Tickets are on a first come basis

$8.00 each

For tickets call 

620-223-0310 

Tickets reserved by phone can be paid for with a credit card

(Master Card, Visa, Discover)

Twenty-five tickets for each hour

Tours start

Friday from 6:30 to 9 p.m.

(and run every 15 minutes)

Saturday from 5:00 until 9 p.m.

(and run every 15 minutes)

(There will be a break at 7:15 on Saturday only)

If you haven't had a chance to see the Fort by candlelight, it is an awesome experience.

And the weather looks promising for this year's tour!

The Eleventh Hour of the Eleventh Day of the Eleventh Month

Over 25 million Americans served in the United States Armed Forces beginning with the American Revolution to today’s War on Terror. Veterans Day is your opportunity to honor veterans and their families for keeping this country free. Fort Scott National Historic Site staff and volunteers invite you to a special afternoon tribute to veterans on Sunday, November 11, beginning at 2 p.m.

Talented speakers including park volunteer Robert Thomas, superintendent Arnold Schofield of Mine Creek Battlefield, and Fort Scott Community College teacher John Seal will weave stories that will link past and present soldiers, providing you the opportunity to learn similarities from veterans serving at Fort Scott during the 1800s to soldiers of today.

Combat veteran Chief Master Sergeant Lawrence Cripps, keynote speaker, will present the program, “A Time to Honor the Cost of Freedom”. Mr. Cripps served in the Navy aviation field and flight engineer for 33 years. In civilian life, he served as a trooper with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Musical entertainment will be provided by the Blue & Gray Brass Brigade Band, a seven piece Civil War era music ensemble based in Kansas City, Kansas. Their primary music goal is to recreate sounds and music of brass brigade bands popular during the 19^th and early 20^th centuries. Instrumentation of the group is Eb Cornet, 2 Bb Cornets, Eb Alto Horn, Bb Tenor hour, Tuba, and Drums. Following the program, you are invited to stay and listen to more military music provided by the Blue & Gray Brass Brigade Band.

The Event -- Honoring Our Heroes of Local History

October 9, 2012

found the

Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site

honoring

two local heroes of history

Fred Campbell (left) and Don Miller (right)

both long time educators in Fort Scott,

the pair has written

a

History of Bourbon County

(it's what you do when you retire!)

Through their love of history both in the classroom and out

these gentlemen have touched many lives.

As witnessed by the tributes at the event tonight

at Liberty Theatre

which honored these two heroes.

It was our 4th Annual Friends Fest

and friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site

and

friends of Fred and Don came out en masse

for the event.

President of Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site Reed Hartford

in front of the Friends Display in the lobby 

of Liberty Theatre.

A big thank you to all who made the event possible.

And a big thank you to both

Don and Fred

You are true heroes!