Bicentennial Story #108-Forts without stockades

Bicentennial Story #108-Forts without stockades

Description of how forts were built.

9/29/1975

Father Louis Pfaller

This recording cannot be copied or reproduced without the written permission of the Dickinson Museum Center. This recording may be freely used for education uses, so long as it is not altered in any way. No commercial reproduction or distribution of this recording file is permitted without written permission of the Dickinson Museum Center.

mp3

audio reel, analog, 1/4 inch polyester tape

English

BS-108

North Dakota

Copyright Stark County Historical Society and Dickinson Museum Center

Much misinformation has been fed to movie and T.V. fans about the typical army post on the frontier. At the mention of the word FORT most people think of a stockade made of logs, sharpened at the top, and with blockhouses at the corners of the enclosure. The Hollywood producers portray not what the forts actually were, but what they think the people would like to see. In 1867 General Trobriand described Fort Sully, a typical Dakota outpost: "Nothing in the world justifies its being called a fort, for it is completely open, with not even a palisade or a ditch to protect it. General Stanley believes that in dealing with such a contemptible enemy as the Indian, it is better for troops morale to depend on vigilance and breechloaders for protection than to hide behind palisades."

This is Bicentennial Story No. 108, prepared by Father Louis Pfaller for the Stark County Historical Society.

De Trobriand, Military Life in Dakota, 33

Sound recordings

1:33

128kbps

1970 1979

Bicentennial tape #7, Bicentennial stories 108-127