Bicentennial Story #119-Fort Rice, July 4, 1865

Bicentennial Story #119-Fort Rice, July 4, 1865

Description of celebrations at Fort Rice on July 4, 1865.

10/14/1975

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-119

Fort Rice, ND

Copyright Stark County Historical Society and Dickinson Museum Center

The Fourth of July, 1865 was a gala affair at Fort Rice. With gates and thoroughfares wreathed and festooned with decorations, the day began with a 13 gun salute which "shook the dirt roofs of Fort Rice, and waked for echoes in the hills and ravines around." At 9:30 the troops paraded in review, and Captain Enogh Adams indulged in traditional Fourth of July oratory.

Then followed footraces, with the mile being run in 3 3/4 minutes!, a wheelbarrow race in which the six contestants were blindfolded, dinner, a shooting contest, a sack race, horse racing with the officers and Indian scouts' ponies, then a mock parade and a drink at the Commissary. A 13 gun salute at sunset was followed by an elaborate dinner, and by a dance that lasted until dawn.

This is Bicentennial Story No.119, prepared by Father Louis Pfaller for the Stark County Historical Society.

Matthison, Fort Rice, 93-95

Sound recordings

1:40

128kbps

1970 1979

Bicentennial tape #7, Bicentennial stories 108-127