Short stops: Fort Scott National Historic Site

Fort Scott magazine (left), well, officers quarters (background).

Fort Scott hospital/visitor center (right), infantry quarters

Hopes for Fort Scott were not high. I felt like I had short-changed every site I visited this day. I would hit Fort Scott shortly after 3 p.m. 

Fort Scott business district

Coming into the city of Fort Scott just across the Missouri border, I had no clue what to expect for my fourth NPS site of the day. The overcast, blustery day didn’t allow the city to represent itself well. 

Like many park sites, Fort Scott left no question about its protected area. The antebellum-style structures on a little bluff seemed like an ideal spot for a fort on the flat prairie. Forts on the antebellum western frontier generally lacked barricades or walls. 

Aside from some cannons and the powder magazine situated in the center of the buildings, Fort Scott looked more like a small settlement than a military post. I pulled into the lot and like many NPS sites, a full view of the protected area immediately changed my mind. 

Fort Scott looked fuller than Fort Smith, with a mix of historic buildings and restorations spreading out across the plain. To the immediate west, the downtown historic district held buildings that didn’t look that much older than the park site. 

 Fort Scott dates to 1842, a fortification between Fort Leavenworth to the north and Fort Gibson to the south. Like Fort Smith on the Arkansas, Fort Scott stood steady put down attacks that never came from the removed Indian tribes. 

The fort appeared ready for mothballing before it became a flashpoint during the Bleeding Kansas era that ran from 1854 to 1860 and continued through the Civil War. Bleeding Kansas was a series of raids and violent acts between abolitionists and pro-slavery advocates. 

During the war, Fort Scott became the primary supply depot and hospital in the region. Many refugees escaping battles came through Fort Scott, which was also home post to the 1st Kansas Colored Infantry. 

Fort Scott played one more role after the war, with soldiers charged to remove squatters from the path of the transcontinental railroad. Prairie wind necessitated moving quickly between the buildings. 

All stone buildings at Fort Scott were original, as were some of the quarters and the renovated visitor center, which included a hospital restoration on its second floor. The dragoon quarters stood next to a long barn for their horses. Dragoons rode to battle on horseback, then fought on foot, and were predecessors to the cavalry. 

A talkative ranger awaited me inside park headquarters, as I was the only visitor that afternoon. Fort Scott sees about 35,000 visitors a year, but I arrived far outside tourist season. 

Still, signs of life arise at Fort Scott in the cold months. In December, they held a sold-out nighttime event with luminarias lighting the way through the fort. Having experienced Bents Fort after dark, similar conditions to the fort’s heyday, a candlelit Fort Scott would be worth the drive. 

Numerous buildings had been returned to period looks, including officers quarters, the powder magazine, and the stockade. Setting the magazine and the post well at the end of the fort made it harder for anyone to tamper with them. 

Further restorations will occur as time and funds allow, necessitating a future visit to Fort Scott. 

Leaving Fort Scott, I definitely felt I shorted my stay, and had a much higher opinion the little settlement on the Kansas prairie bluff.