(I have divided our time here into 2 parts, mainly because of the pictures. Part 1 is about our day at the Fort Smith National Historic Park.)
On Monday, 22nd, we visited Fort Smith National Historic Park.
“The fort was initially established in 1817 to keep the peace between the Cherokee and Osage tribes. As the Indian Territory boundary was moved, Fort Gibson was established and the garrison was moved there.
The new fort was built in the 1840’s and over the years became a supply depot to equip military units marching to the Rio Grande and to supply frontier posts in Indian Territory. During the Civil War, the Confederate Army used the fort as a major supply base and defensive bastion protecting Southern interests in Arkansas and Indian Territory.
Once the war was over and the U.S Lands moved further west, the Fort became the United States District Court of the Western District of Arkansas The jurisdiction of the United States District Court of the Western District of Arkansas was a vast area encompassing western Arkansas and the entire Indian Territory of present-day Oklahoma. Here, tribal courts had no jurisdiction over non-Indian settlers. This legal detail gave an advantage to the most desperate breed of outlaw, who found refuge beyond the pale of justice and could murder and steal with little fear of retribution. To bring offenders to justice, a federal marshal and a number of deputies, never more than 200 strong, combed this wilderness. When fugitives were apprehended, they were taken to Fort Smith for trial.”
That is the short version and there is a wonderful longer version here:
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ar-fortsmith/
We started at the visitor center, the site of the old courthouse:
This is what we saw when we walked thru the doors:
When I asked the ranger why the lady had a mask but the man did not, she just laughed and told us one of the visitor’s put masks on both of them and the one probably fell off – LOL
We started with the introductory film and then explored the downstairs museum:
Layout of the old fort:
The courthouse basement of the new fort was the jail – very inhumane. This was the chamber pots:
The guard sat in this cage that had an opening to the outside:
Another picture of the jail:
Eventually a new jail was constructed and the prisoners moved. The second floor museum had a replica of the new jail – three floors:
The second floor museum was in three parts. The first part was about the jail, the lawlessness of that time, and the federal marshals. The second was a timeline of the part the fort played in our history. The third part was the courtroom where the trials were held:
One thing we have learned is that many museums have an audio tour and most of the times they are free. We really enjoy them because they give so much more information. It is like taking a ranger led walk/talk.
From there we walked the parade ground:
The Commissary had a few different uses over the lifetime of the fort including; food storage, a barracks for troops, federal court offices, a private residence, and the city’s first museum of history. It is Fort Smith’s oldest building.
Love this wagon! It symbolizes Fort Smith’s place in history as a supply depot for western expansion:
The courthouse that houses the museum and visitor center:
The gallows:
From there we took the river route and walked to the old fort.
The 1834 boundary between Arkansas and Indian Territory:
Our walking path:
The Arkansas River:
The trees here are huge:
That is me standing by one of the trees:
The original fort:
The original stone work:
We had a great time learning more history and enjoying the beautiful day.
Part 2 is coming up.
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