Markers highlighting the history of Fort Scott as an army garrison (1842-1853) and its subsequent roll as a civilian town in the fight from Civil War to Civil Rights.
“I have now over 200 in camp, and they are in a most deplorable condition….I have a mother with her dying babe in my office. The rest are in camp, in a condition next to death. Most of them have no shelter….Your agent here has no funds, . . . — — Map (db m36270) HM
"But remember this, I am a girl, but I can fire a pistol and if ever the time comes I will send some of you to the place where there is [sic] 'weeping and knashing of teeth'...."
Gene Campbell, in a letter to James Montgomery, . . . — — Map (db m54075) HM
"The commands are given, the companies break into column....hardy, dashing looking fellows, those men, tanned up in their march from Fort Scott, from whence they have just joined us....The men are nearly all quite young....They are mounted on . . . — — Map (db m36137) HM
Look at the structures around the parade ground. Fort Scott’s appearance is largely the work of one man, Captain Thomas Swords, post quartermaster from 1842 to 1846. Shortly after the army assigned Swords to Fort Scott, he vowed that he would . . . — — Map (db m36185) HM
Civil War Dead
An estimated 700,000 Union and Confederate soldiers died in the Civil War between April 1861 and April 1865. As the death toll rose, the U.S. government struggled with the urgent but unplanned need to bury fallen Union . . . — — Map (db m108813) HM
The back yards of Fort Scott's officers' quarters provided officers and their families private space that was not available to enlisted men. Back yards were the site of diversions such as gardening, gossiping, and entertaining.
Archeology has . . . — — Map (db m36146) HM
Today when we get hurt, we can call an ambulance and get whisked away to the hospital quickly. During the Civil War, they did not have the luxuries we do today. In the beginning of the war, there were not enough ambulances to carry all the . . . — — Map (db m128668) HM
"If you have reinforcements...send them forward. The point to defend Fort Leavenworth is in the neighborhood of Fort Scott."
General Jim Lane to the commander of Fort Leavenworth, 1861
The army had vacated Fort Scott in 1853, but the . . . — — Map (db m36273) HM
"A profusion of vegetables - beets, carrots,
onions, potatoes, beans, turnips, and
tomatoes - were harvested from (fort)
garden plots."
'Broadax & Bayonet,' Francis Paul Prucha
General order - "To promote the . . . — — Map (db m128650) HM
Fort Scott tells America's story during a critical time in its growth. When the fort was established, most of the nation's population lived east of the Mississippi. However, soon soldiers from Fort Scott would be part of westward . . . — — Map (db m128757) HM
This western outpost, named for General Winfield Scott, was established by U.S. Dragoons in 1842. The fort was located on the military road that marked the "permanent Indian frontier" stretching from Minnesota to Louisiana and stood midway between . . . — — Map (db m78770) HM
Main marker upper
The men in whose honor this
monument is erected were led by
the fires of Liberty.
They fought for no North, no
South, no East, no West, but for
one glorious and united country.
carving of G.A.R. . . . — — Map (db m22172) HM
This National Cemetery
has been listed in
The National Register
of
Historic Places
by the
United States
Department of the Interior — — Map (db m61520) HM
Civil War Fort Scott
Fort Scott, founded 1842, was named for former commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army, Gen. Winfield Scott. The army abandoned the fort in 1853, but the Civil War prompted federal troops to return in 1862. Fort Scott . . . — — Map (db m108814) HM
"The site selected is a ridge seventy or eighty feet high projecting like a wedge into a dry timbered bottom....A fine stream of water flows at its base....We designated [the site] Camp Scott, and would respectfully suggest that the post...be . . . — — Map (db m36305) HM
If you had been an African-American student standing here around 1950, you would have been facing your school, the Hawkins School (above). This school was part of a continuum of African-American education that began with the Civil War and . . . — — Map (db m36269) HM
Gordon Parks was born on November 20, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas to Sarah and Andrew Jackson Parks. Gordon wrote, "Poppa was a dirt farmer who farmed mostly dirt, but he kept us alive and taught us about love and devotion." The youngest of 15 . . . — — Map (db m128781) HM
Homecoming [Side A]
This small town into which I was born, has, for me, grown into the largest, and most important city in the universe. For Scott is not as tall, or heralded as New York, Paris or London - or other places my feet have . . . — — Map (db m79845) HM
who gave their lives in battle May 18, 1863 near Sherwood, Missouri
Henry Aggleson Pvt Co F
Greene Allen Pvt Co H
John Booth Pvt Co H
Edward Cockerell Pvt Co E
William Grisby Pvt Co D
Frank Haze Pvt Co F
Milton Johnson Pvt Co I . . . — — Map (db m116815) WM
This reconstructed infantry barracks, one of two at Fort Scott, serves to remind us of life for an infantry soldier here in the 1840s and 50s.
During wartime, infantry fought on foot, but during peacetime, life in the infantry meant isolation, . . . — — Map (db m36186) HM
The quartermaster was the officer responsible for a multitude of functions needed to run a military post, including supply, subsistence, construction, and repair. Most of his operation took place here, in the area called the quartermaster complex. . . . — — Map (db m36171) HM
To see evidence of the rigid military caste system in the Old Army, compare the substantial homes along Officers Row in front of you to the enlisted men's barracks behind you. A soldier's rank determined his position both professionally and . . . — — Map (db m36135) HM
"Every military post shall have one Sutler, to be appointed by the Secretary of War."
General Regulations for the Army of the United States, 1841
About 100 yards in front of you an engraved stone marks the location of Fort . . . — — Map (db m128685) HM
"The immediate site of the post...opens out rapidly to the south in a beautifully undulating prairie."
Assistant Surgeon Joseph K. Barnes, describing the Fort Scott landscape in 1862.
Walk this short trail and imagine "the most . . . — — Map (db m36166) HM
"Fort Scott can boast of the handsomest Square in Kansas Territory."
Fort Scott Democrat, praising the town plaza, April 5, 1860
The grassy square in front of you silently witnessed events that defined Fort Scott and that . . . — — Map (db m36285) HM
After the army sold Fort Scott in 1855, the infantry barracks located here (reconstructed in front of you) became the pro-slavery Western Hotel. The building across the parade ground directly behind you became the anti-slavery Free State Hotel. . . . — — Map (db m36272) HM
"Bathing is promotive both of comfort and health; and where convenience for it are to be had, the men should be made to bathe at least once a week. The feet are to be washed at least twice a week."
1841 Army Regulations
This foundation, . . . — — Map (db m36168) HM
