Fort Scott National Historic Site, May 29, 2017 (by Chewie)
Hi. It’s me again. I got to own another National Park. This one was just across the Kansas border from where we are staying. Fort Scott was built in 1843 to monitor the Permanent Indian Frontier. See this fort was at the edge of the United States when it was built, and it was to keep the Indians to the west outside of the United States. Three years later, after the Mexican War, the border of the United States in the west became the Pacific Ocean. That should have ended the need for the fort, but then they started creating new states and couldn’t figure out which would be free states and which wouldn’t.
There was a free people hotel on one corner of the fort and a slave hotel on another corner. I don’t know what’s wrong with people; just give me a bed and a bowl of water, and I’ll be fine.
Anyway, it was interesting walking around the fort and learning about the soldiers and how people lived. I learned that the fort was 100 miles from the nearest supply station. They escorted wagon trains, patrolled trails for Indians, built houses, and tended gardens. The biggest problem they had to overcome was boredom. Even I wanted to take a nap while I was there.
Here are a few more pictures of the fort. I’m going to go take a nap…
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