WICHITA, Kan. (AP) – The Fort Larned National Historic Site about 130 miles northwest of Wichita is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the day President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation making the fort a national park.
The fort’s history stretches back to 1859, when thousands of soldiers were stationed there to preserve peace among Santa Fe Trial travelers and Native Americans. It didn’t become the Fort Larned National Historic Site until Aug. 31, 1964, The Wichita Eagle reported.
“Fort Larned was selected as one of the best preserved forts in the Indian Wars era,” said George Elmore, the fort’s chief ranger. “The whole parade ground was left and nine of the original buildings with original floors, original glass windows.
“Other forts from that time period are in ruins today. It was a phenomenal opportunity.”
In 1867, George Armstrong Custer was on his first command of the Indian Wars with the 7th Cavalry when Gen. Winfield Hancock ordered him to surround a Cheyenne-Sioux village 20 miles northwest of Fort Larned. The village’s residents saw the approaching troops and fled. Hancock ordered the village to be burned, an act that historians say was a turning point, instilling fear and mistrust among Native Americans and setting up major conflicts in the future.
“It is probably the most important military post on the Santa Fe Trail,” Kansas historian Leo Oliva said. “There was never a battle there. There was never an attack on the fort. But it was an Indian agency for a few years after the Civil War.”
The federal government sold the fort at a public auction in 1884 for $11,000, Elmore said. Private owners used the fort for stock and hay barns until E.E. Frizzell bought it in 1902. It remained in the Frizzell family until 1964, when it became a national park site.
___
Information from: The Wichita Eagle, http://www.kansas.com
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-08-30-14 1616GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
