Once Remmy avoids the killer and the killing blizzard, he makes his way to Walnut and then to Fort Scott where he meets his first of many new friends.
Fort Scott was built in 1842 as one of the farthermost outpost of the army at the time. (Fort Leavenworth in northeast Kansas was the first west of the Mississippi, established in 1827.) The First Dragoons built and occupied Fort Scott, patrolled the area to make sure the Indians were living up to the terms of the treaty, which gave them what is now Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma all the way to the Continental Divide.
In 1854 with the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the dragoons helped escort tribes south to the new smaller Indian Territory. After that, they closed the fort and rode away. In 1855 many of the fort’s buildings were sold to the highest bidder.
With the outbreak of war in 1861, the fort was hastily reopened to prevent Confederate actions in the area. Several battles were fought within a 100 miles of the fort and troops from there saw action. For much of the latter part of the war the fort was a supply depot for the fighting in the western theater of the Civil War as well as actions against Indian tribes.
Wherever the military builds a fort, a city springs up. The city of Fort Scott is one of the oldest in Kansas, but many of the citizens in 1860 were living in the buildings they had purchased from the army. They actually lived on the grounds of the fort which was included in the purchase. The army reclaimed the fort for the duration of the war and the civilians had to build new. Having learned their lesson, after the war, many of the buildings were moved by the owners.
This depot was on the north edge of town, close to the fort. I believe it is the M-K-T or “Katy” Depot, though the source did not label it.
This photo is of the old post office, but was probably taken near the turn of the century.
Street scene
Remmy would have seen this view on his visit, except that it would have been snow-covered.
Below is the website of the National Park Service at Fort Scott. The page includes a video of what the fort was like in the years before the Civil War.
