President's Day - February 17, 2014FORT SCOTT NHS ANNOUNCES HOLIDAY CLOSURE Fort Scott National Historic Site will be closed Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 17, 2014. Visitors may enjoy the fort grounds during daylight hours, but the buildings and visitor center will not be open. Administered by the National Park Service, Fort Scott National Historic Site commemorates Fort Scott’s role in the opening of the West, Bleeding Kansas, and the Civil War. Normal operating hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no charge to enter the park. For further information call (620) 223-0310 or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/fosc.

FORT SCOTT NHS ANNOUNCES HOLIDAY CLOSURE

Fort Scott National Historic Site will be closed Presidents’ Day, Monday, February 17, 2014.  Visitors may enjoy the fort grounds during daylight hours, but the buildings and visitor center will not be open. 

Administered by the National Park Service, Fort Scott National Historic Site commemorates Fort Scott’s role in the opening of the West, Bleeding Kansas, and the Civil War. Normal operating hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no charge to enter the park.  For further information call (620) 223-0310 or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/fosc.

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.

Underground Railroad

FORT SCOTT, KANSAS: Fort Scott National Historic Site invites the public to 

“The Underground Railroad,” 

a guided reading and discussion activity

 on Saturday, January 25, at 2:00 p.m. in the site’s Grand Hall.

“The Underground Railroad” is part of Shared Stories of the Civil War, a collection of reader’s theater scripts created from historical letters, diaries, newspaper articles, and other archival documents from the 1850s and 1860s. The scripts explore the events – the shared stories – that occurred in Kansas and Missouri during the Border War and American Civil War.

The Underground Railroad was a secretive network of individuals who defied existing laws to aid enslaved people find refuge in non-slave states and Canada. Using the terminology of the railroad, those who guided freedom seekers were called “conductors” and safe havens enroute were known as “stations.” Nowhere in the United States during the late 1850s was the Underground Railroad more dangerous than in western Missouri and eastern Kansas; if caught, the penalties were severe and the retribution swift for both freedom seeker and conductor. While many enslaved African Americans successfully found freedom through their own initiative, those involved with the Underground Railroad let their moral convictions overrule federal law. The Underground Railroad can perhaps be called the first major civil rights movement in the nation.

Because it was so dangerous, records dealing with the Underground Railroad are scarce. Learn more about this heroic epic by hearing some of those first person accounts, then join in the discussion about what freedom means to you.

Shared Stories of the Civil War is a partnership between Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area (FFNHA) and the Kansas Humanities Council (KHC). For more information, visit www.freedomsfrontier.org and www.kansashumanities.org

Fort Scott National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, is open daily from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. The program is free and the Grand Hall is mobility-impaired accessible. 

Fort Scott National Historic Site Announces Holiday Hours


Fort Scott National Historic Site will be closed Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 20, 2014.  Visitors may enjoy the fort grounds during daylight hours, but the buildings and visitor center will not be open.
Administered by the National Park Service, Fort Scott National Historic Site commemorates Fort Scott’s role in the opening of the West, Bleeding Kansas, and the Civil War. Normal operating hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. There is no charge to enter the park.  For further information call (620) 223-0310 or visit the park website at www.nps.gov/fosc.

Proud to Be An American

The United States District Court for the District of Kansas will hold a special naturalization ceremony at the Fort Scott National Historic Site in Fort Scott, Kansas on Friday, September 27, 2013 at 10:30 a.m.  The Honorable James P. O’Hara, Magistrate Judge for the District of Kansas, will preside over the ceremony on the grounds of the Fort, 

which features a welcome from Fort Scott Mayor Cindy Bartelsmeyer, musical performances from the Fort Scott High School band, orchestra and choir, and an address from the Honorable Mark A. Ward, District Judge of the 6^th Judicial District. 

  Pittsburg State University Army ROTC will present of colors and lead the new citizens in the pledge of allegiance.  

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Approximately 90 applicants will be naturalized at the ceremony, which is open to the public.  In case of rain or other inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at Fort Scott Memorial Hall.

A luncheon to honor the new citizens follows immediately in the Grand Hall.    The Luncheon is provided by the Friends of Fort Scott National Historic Site and is free to the new citizens and their families.

We hope you and your family attend this event where, what we take for granted -- our citizenship, is prized and revered by these, our newest citizens.

IMAGES FROM SYMBOLS OF SACRIFICE - SEPTEMBER 7, 2013 TO SEPTEMBER 15, 2013

One Flag

One life lost

in Iraq or Afghanistan

Almost 7,000 flags

on the Parade Ground

of the Fort Scott National Historic Site

In dawn's early light

So proudly they wave

A Field of Honor

To Honor The Fallen

Of the 21st Century

On the grounds of an 18th Century Fort

The Field of Honor

And the flags.

SYMBOLS OF SACRIFICE

Come Honor

our Fallen Heroes!

Saturday, September 7-15, 2013

Fort Scott, Kansas

Fort Scott National Historic Site

(FSNHS)

is pleased to partner with the

Friends of FSNHS and

community members to present

Symbols of Sacrifice

a free series

of programs that highlight the 

sacrifice of Americans throughout much of the

19th, 20th, and 21st centures.

The main focus of the event will be a

Field of Honor on the historic

FSNHS Parada Ground,

where a US flag will fly for each service member

who has died while serving in

theater supporting US military operations

during the War on Terrorism

The purpose is to remember the fallen,

their sacrifice and their humanity,

not to glorify war.

JOIN US FOR THESE EVENTS:

:WEDNESDAY, SETPEMBER 11

On Wednesday, September 11, FSNHS will host a memorial service beginning at 12:00 noon to remember the victims of the 9/11 attachs.    The ceremony should conclude by 12:45 pm following the playing of Taps.    The public is invited to remember that day of uncertainty where average Americans exhibited selfless, uncommon valor, then walk the Field of Honor.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14

On Saturday, September 14, Symbols of Sacrifice programming begins at 10:00 a.m.    Students from Fort Scott High School will provide prelude music beginning at 11:30 am. 

At noon, the Colors will be presented, followed by brief remarks of welcome and remembrance by members of government, veterans and the American Gold Star Mothers.

Taps will conclude the remembrance ceremony and visitors will again be invited to walk the Field of Honor.

Programming continues at 1 p.m. with a presentation by the American Gold Star Mothers and concludes with a stirring rendition of the Gettysburg Address and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

For additional information

contact

Anne Emerson

2091 145 Street, Fort Scott, Kansas

H:  620-829-5280

C:  620-249-4134

email:   awemerson5@gmail.com