Ft. Larned Nat'l Historic Site
Ft. Larned Nat'l Historic Site
Location: From Larned, take Hwy K-156 West 6 miles.
Nearest Town: Larned
Contact: Ph. 316/285-6911 or Email: fols_superintendent@nps.gov
The
year is 1868 and a soldier takes a brief rest from his duties to
gaze across the parade grounds into the blue Kansas sky that extends unbroken
from horizon to horizon.
In reality the date is the present, and the man is an intern working for the National Park Service dressed in period uniform. He and the rest of the staff is very friendly and helpful in showing you this little known part of the National Park System. Ft. Larned National Historic Site has been restored to what it would have looked like when the native stone structures were constructed in the late 1860's.
Though
international commerce had ceased on the Santa Fe Trail after the war with
Mexico in 1846, travel was still heavy on the trail. There were gold
seekers headed to Colorado and California, merchants with goods to trade in the
west, mail stages, military units, immigrants and adventures all following the
route surveyed in 1825. This activity along the trail was seen as a threat
by the Indians who inhabited the region, and tensions rose.
Inevitably,
this led to violence and by late 1859 the US army had established a camp in this
area along the Santa Fe Trail. Called "Camp Alert" this was no more
than tents and dugouts. In the summer of the following year they
constructed more permament structures of sod and adobe at the present location
of Ft. Larned. Soon would follow busy years at the fort. After
the Sand Creek Massacre in 1864 travel west of the fort without armed escort was
forbidden. Troops from this post rode guard for mail stages and wagon
trains traveling the Santa Fe trail. During the years from 1859 to 1869
Ft. Larned was a key post in the campaign that became known as the Indian Wars.
Black soldiers served here, too.
The earned the respect of the White Man and Indian alike for their bravery in
battle, and they came to be known by the Indians as "Buffalo Soldiers".
At
the height of activity in 1866, work was begun on the stone structures that
stand at the site today, and they were completed in 1868. By the 1870's
the railroad was pushing it's way along the route of the Santa Fe Trail, and
soldiers from the post guarded the workmen from Indian attack . By 1878
the rail line was completed and hostilities with the Indians had ceased.
The old fort was
abandoned except for a small detachment left to guard the buildings. In
1883 the buildings and land were sold at auction and would remain in private
hands until 1964 when it was acquired by the National Park System. During
this period of private ownership, the structures where used as the headquarters
for a ranch operation.
The National Park Service has done an excellent job of restoring this historic place. Informative displays in the buildings help the visitor step back into time to when this was the edge of the frontier.
A
few miles southwest of the fort, the National Park Service owns
and protects a small parcel of land with visible ruts from the Santa Fe Trail.
Ask for a guide map to the area at the visitors center of the Ft. Larned
National Historic Site.
In the photo at left, the depressions running diagonally are the trail ruts.