Book One in the Series of Eight

This book recreates the history of the military post from its beginnings in 1842 until it was abandoned in 1865. Writer Leo Oliva covers the fort's vivid past and artist Jerry Thomas provides original cover art. The fort served as an important Civil War base, as a collection point for prisoners, and a gathering place for refuges during the war.

Fort Scott was founded on May 30, 1842, four days after Captain Benjamin Moore and Companies A and C, First Dragoons, abandoned nearby Fort Wayne. The troops settled at a ridge overlooking the confluence of Mill Creek and the Marmaton River to build the new fort.

During this period in American history the town of Fort Scott evolved from a small military fort, established to assist with the protection and maintenance of the permanent Indian Frontier, into a large railroad boomtown of the 1870s. The town was socially and politically divided by the sectional and regional conflict that preceded the American Civil War. During the war it was occupied continually by Union forces, became a large supply depot and refugee haven, and was critical to the defense of eastern Kansas and the Midwest. Fort Scott is the only major town still existing in Kansas that developed from a U.S. Army fort established before Kansas became a territory and a state.

Leo Oliva, a Woodston resident, is a historian specializing in Kansas and the American West. He has published numerous books and articles on the military and the trails. Jerry Thomas, a Manhattan resident, created cover artwork for each of the books in the forts series. He is a full-time artist who has received numerous national awards for his wildlife and historical paintings.

This series has been financed in part with federal funds from the National Parks Service, a division of the United States Department of the Interior, and administered by the Kansas Historical Society. The contents and opinions, however, do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the United States Department of the Interior or the Kansas Historical Society.