Fort Scott National Historic Site - Memorial Day Weekend (U.S. National Park Service)

Site volunteer dressed a a soldier assigned to braad making duty. Here he is tending the fire. Breadmaking will be one of the activities going on at the Fort during Memorial Day weekend.

Photo by VIP Susan Geertsen

Volunteer Rick Quinteros tends the fire in preparation for making bread during a demonstration

Securing the border was the mission of soldiers at Fort Scott in the 1840s. This Memorial Day weekend, you are invited to visit Fort Scott National Historic Site, located in Fort Scott, Kansas, and learn more about crucial events of the mid-1800s that helped shape our national character. A series of intriguing programs will highlight 1840s U. S. military life on May 24, 25, and 26. Saturday will feature traditional living history activities and demonstrations focusing on 1840s garrison life including an 11 a.m. black powder firing demonstration. Come and honor Fort Scott soldiers who died while serving their country from 1842 – 1853. A series of talks entitled “Highlights in History” will be offered on Sunday and Monday. A guided tour will be offered at 1 p.m. each day and a National Moment of Remembrance honoring America’s fallen heroes will be held Monday at 3 p.m.

Come Saturday, May 24, and see soldiers, civilians, and ladies of the 1840s Old Army Era. Visit with the post surgeon about the ailments and cures of the day. Jump in and assist the post laundresses as they wash and mend soldiers’ clothes. Smell the aroma of freshly baked bread from the fort bake house and watch as the soldiers and women of the fort go about their daily routines. At 2 p.m. join us in honoring Fort Scott’s fallen officers from 1842-1853 who died while serving their country.

“Highlights in History”, on Sunday, May 25, and Monday, May 26,features talks that interpret Fort Scott’s role in some of the most pivotal events in American history. The Intimidator is a program that explains how the Mountain Howitzer was used by the U.S. Army in enforcing the country’s Indian policy. Letters from the Frontier will demonstrate how officer’s wives brought Eastern sophistication to the frontier through flower pressing and letter writing. People of the Prairie explores the people who inhabited Indian Territory and the impact that the removed tribes had on the region. Red Armed and Lily White will demonstrate the importance of the laundresses, a vital cog of the 1840s U.S. Army. Flash Flood examines Fort Scott’s role in the opening of the West and events that brought about a flood of westward expansion in the 1840s.

Monday at 3 p.m. will feature the National Moment of Remembrance. You will learn about the history of Memorial Day and realize the importance of honoring our fallen soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

Heroism is latent in every human soul - However humble or unknown, they (the veterans) have renounced what are accounted pleasures and cheerfully undertaken all the self-denials - privations, toils, dangers, sufferings, sicknesses, mutilations, life-long hurts and losses, death itself - for some great good, dimly seen but dearly held.
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

The schedule of activities is listed below:

SATURDAY, MAY 24

10:00 a.m. – “Canned Oysters, Plug Tobacco, and Fish Hooks” – Post Sutler Talk
11:00 a.m. – “Bang for Your Buck” - Historic Weapons (Blackpowder) Demonstration
12:00 a.m. – “Bleeding and Purging” – 1840s Medicine
1:00 p.m. – Guided Tour
2:00 p.m. – Honoring Fort Scott’s Fallen Officers
3:00 p.m. – “Bread, Sweat, and Tears” – Bake House Duty
4:00 p.m. – Flag Retreat

SUNDAY, MAY 25

10:00 a.m. – The Intimidator
11:00 a.m. – Letters from the Frontier
12:00 p.m. – People of the Prairie
1:00 p.m. – Guided Tour
2:00 p.m. – Red Armed and Lily White
3:00 p.m. – Flash Flood

MONDAY, MAY 26

10:00 a.m. – Letters from the Frontier
11:00 a.m. – People of the Prairie
12:00 p.m. – Flash Flood
1:00 p.m. – Guided Tour
2:00 p.m. – Red Armed and Lily White
3:00 p.m. – National Moment of Remembrance

Fort Scott National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is an entrance fee of $3.00 for each adult 16 and over. Children 15 and under are admitted free of charge. For more information call the site at 620-223-0310.