Nick Rausch

Review of Fort Scott National Historic S...

Fort Scott National Historic Site contains a mixtu...

Fort Scott National Historic Site contains a mixture of surviving & reconstructed buildings from Fort Scott, an army post active from the 1840's-1850's, which experienced a revival in the 1860's during The War Between the States. The post hospital building is now used as the visitors center & bookstore. The infantry barracks building is used as a museum to the history of the fort's soldiers, as well as the area's history during "Bleeding Kansas" & The War Between the States. The stables for the dragoons horses have been reconstructed and contain exhibits showing how the horses were trained & cared for. One of the dragoon's barracks is a museum with exhibits on the dragoons themselves. The post headquarters building has been reconstructed & also contains the armory where cannons & long arms were stored & inventoried. There is a store house which contains an old ambulance wagon. The original bake house where bread for the soldier's rations was baked survives; as does the quartermaster's storehouse where supplies for the fort were kept. Several of the officer's quarters survive, restored to near original appearance, and contain furnishings from the era when Fort Scott was an active army post. The fort's powder magazine, where explosives were stored has been reconstructed, along with the guardhouse; both contain informative exhibits. I had scheduled two days to visit the fort, as I like to read everything on every sign whenever I go to any sort of museum; spent all of one day there & half of the next.