Well it has been almost a year since I last posted on this blog. A lot has changed, and it kept me from posting until now. I have changed the name of the blog. It was called Wargaming in Southern California, but since I have relocated to the Kansas City area I thought a name change was in order as well. In addition I thought I might post about my occasional travels in addition to my wargaming adventures. Sadly up till now there has been little to talk about. Getting moved, and settled in at home and in my new job has kept me very busy. Anyway, today being a holiday, my girlfriend Qiuyan wanted to get out of the house to take some pictures where it is green and had some water close by. So I hopped on the internet, and found a park by the river, not far from where we live. It is called Kaw Point Park, and I was delighted to find out that it was a camping spot for the Lewis & Clark Expedition in June of 1804.
Here at the confluence of the Kaw (Kansas) and Missouri Rivers the expedition stopped to repair their boat and scrounge up some provisions before heading up the Missouri. I was noticing the current and how strong it was. I was pondering how they got a vessel that size to go upstream. It has been awhile since I have read Undaunted Courage, and I had forgotten much about their experience. The placards on display reminded me that the men had to pull the boat along from the shore. What a back breaking task! It is easy to discount the accomplishments of our forefathers, until you remember what they had to go through to do what is considered a simple task today. here are some of the placards on display, unfortunately the park is not well kept
Here are a couple views of the campsite
Other than the sidewalk, and the makeshift amphitheater the site is relatively unmarred (except for a bit of tagging). However the river is amazing and a sight to behold.
Here you see the Kansas River, the confluence, with a nice view of Kansas City, and the Missouri River. Other than being away from family and friends, I really love living here. It is just so beautiful. So, since I was out and the weather was nice I decided we would take a drive down south to visit Ft Scott. Ft Scott is a frontier fort founded in 1842. It is only about 1-1/2 hours south of Kaw Point, and an hour south of our home. On the way I noticed a couple brown signs indicating additional historic sites, more on those later. We arrived at Ft Scott around 12:30pm. It was warm and partly cloudy today, but cooler than the 90 degree weather we have had up to now. Ft Scott is well preserved and is a great place to visit. The Visitors Center is on the first floor of the hospital, with a hospital exhibit set up on the second floor. From there we went next door to the first infantry barracks, there is a small museum and theater on the second floor of that building with some displays and many interactive exhibits. It is pretty nice for the size.
I really liked the bushwhacker mannequin, that was a nice addition. Below are some views of the grounds. The long building is the stables, with the dragoon barracks right next door.
The buildings on the opposite side of the parade grounds, just past the dragoon barracks were the officers quarters. The funky little brick building in the middle of it all is the magazine. Just past the dragoon barracks was another small building that was the post HQ, and next to that was a storage area with a 12# mountain howitzer, and a 6# Napoleon, the Napoleon was painted though.
Here are some other shots of the officers quarters taken from the area of the HQ. At one point they were all privately owned by the officers living in them. The open area after the second one was the location of another officers home, and the far one is actually half its original size for some reason.
There are plenty of placards telling the story of the fort. it really is a must see if you are ever in the area. It is well maintained and simply lovely.
We walked around the backside to see a small carriage house that contained a hospital wagon, and there was a patch of tall prairie grass next to it. I can just imagine the view across the plains of that tall grass waving in the breeze., Then there was a trip through the storehouse and the jail.
The town of Ft. Scott is a lovely old town with brick roads and buildings. Unfortunately, since today was a holiday, most everything was closed. We wanted to have lunch there but there was nothing open. So we headed back north, and to the first of the brown signs coming from this direction. This led us to the battlefield of Mine Creek. Now I have to admit, I have never heard of it, and wanted to stop and see what it was. well apparently, after Sterling Price's repulse near Kansas City in 1864, he retreated to the area of Mine Creek. There the Union Army caught up with him and handed him a resounding defeat. Unfortunately the visitors center was closed due to the holiday, but a peek in the window let me know I wasn't missing much. There were plenty of placards describing the action with maps of the opposing armies.
Here are some pictures of the Confederate lines the trees in the background is the location of Mine Creek.
The Union lines were on the other side of the road and are not as visible from the area of the visitors center.
Since this is a battle I have never heard of, and it is the largest Battle to have occurred in Kansas during the Civil War, I'll have to find a book on it. I did not take the time to walk the Confederate lines, it did not appear there was much terrain to see, just open prairie, except for the creek, and not having been able to eat my blood sugar was getting low and I thought it best to get up to the gas station to get a snack. Its not too far from home so I'm sure I'll be back. After our visit here we headed back north and hit the last historical stop on our journey. Five miles off the highway, including three miles of one lane dirt road (it was a well packed gravel road) we arrived at the site of the Marais des Cygnes Massacre. It was the last significant act of violence in the time of Bleeding Kansas. Approximately 30 proslavery men entered Kansas in May of 1858. On their way back to Missouri, they gathered up 11 anti-slavery men, in fact none of the 11 men had perpetrated any of the violence that has occurred in Kansas. It is thought that the eleven men knew the leader of the proslavery men Charles Hamilton, a Georgian. The men probably had no idea they were to be killed. They were led to a ravine and shot. Mr Hamilton firing the first shot. Five men died in that ravine. The US was shocked by this act of violence (not sure why, this occurred well after John Browns actions at Pottawatomie Creek two years earlier). The incident even inspired John Greenleaf Whittier to write a poem. You will have to look that up on your own. I could not get it to copy and paste here.
I took a few pictures from the top of the ravine. The ravine is now choked with growth and it is impossible to have the same view as the men did that day. Incidentally, Ft Scott held a mock trial this weekend for the only man that was actually tried for this crime, a William Griffith. Back then he was found guilty and hung. Ironically, the jurors this weekend found him not guilty. Not sure if that was due to the evidence, or just the general state of things these days.
The little house is notable because it was built close to the site of a home of John Brown, So after that we headed back to town and a Chinese Buffet. sorry for such a long post, but, it was an adventure filled day. Two planned stops, and two unplanned. It was fun and I look forward to many more explorations in the area. I have more time on my hands now so I am thinking my posts will be more regular in the future. Thanks for coming by and taking a look.
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