Wyoming Heritage & History
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Wyoming Heritage & History
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Fort Laramie and Living History
Every summer Ft. Laramie National Historic Site comes alive with living history. Women dressed in laundress clothing and men dressed in Frontier Army uniforms interpret for visitors what life was like in the 1800's at the Fort.
For many years, instructors from the University of Wyoming and across the country came to Ft. Laramie for an intensive week long training class. They taught students and Park Service personnel how to live and interpret the Frontier Army period. They lived for five days as if it were 1876 and most of the soldiers had gone north to meet with General Custer at what would be the Battle of the Little Bighorn. In reality....during May of 1876, there were only a handful of men left to guard the Fort and the civilians who lived there. The participants in the course ate, slept, worked and participated in authentic activities to help them better interpret the experience to visitors.
These photos are from Living History Camps of Instruction of the past and some of the Instructors who brought the experience alive.
All photos are © Don Warder Photographics, Half Moon Bay, California.
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The Sergeant Major and First Sergeant talking about the men while on the porch of the Guard House at Fort Laramie. |
| The Adjutant giving a last minute inspection of the flag detail in preparation for the evening "Retreat Parade" (the daily lowering of the United States flag) on the Fort Laramie Parade Ground. |  |
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The Sergeant Major, Corporal and First Sergeant pose for a photograph in a relaxed moment. The Sergeant Major and First Sergeant are wearing "shell jackets" made from their Civil War frocks and commonly worn during off-duty hours during the Indian Wars in the 1870’s. |
| New recruits are about to be drilled in the Retreat Parade procedure looking very much like the "awkward squad" of Fort Laramie. |  |
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Soldiers and their duty sergeant leave the barracks and Fort on a day-long "patrol" while many of the laundresses wish them a safe journey. |
| Laundresses sometimes lived close to the buildings at Fort Laramie and sometimes across the river, almost always in tents – year around – and always under the treat of a plains storm. |  |
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Skirmish-line drill continued with new recruits even on short campaigns away from the Fort. Soldiers learned to live and defend themselves on the open prairie, often against an unseen enemy. |
| A landmark for soldiers returning from campaign, travellers on the Oregon and Mormon Trails, and the Cheyenne to Deadwood Stagecoach was "Old Bedlam." This symbol of Fort Laramie was originally a bachelor officer's quarters. The building now houses displays depicting different eras of the Fort's history. |  |
