"Hardy, Dashing Looking Fellows"

In 1844, Lt. J. Henry Carleton described the departure from Fort Leavenworth of the expedition to Pawnee villages as companies breaking into column, with hardy, dashing looking fellows who had marched from Fort Scott, were nearly all quite young, and rode the best American horses, each upwards of fifteen hands high. The reconstructed barracks and stables at Fort Scott represent the post's dragoons, mounted soldiers who fought on horseback and on foot as forerunners of the cavalry. Assigned to Fort Scott to protect trade and enforce Indian policy, they patrolled the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails each summer from 1843 to 1845, protecting travelers and contacting Indian tribes. In June 1846 they left for the Mexican War and earned distinction at the battle of Buena Vista. Missions from Fort Scott into the Great Plains included one of the U.S. Army's first ventures into the Rocky Mountains, and the dragoons helped open the West while also hastening the end of the Permanent Indian Frontier for which the fort had been built.

Fort Scott, Kansas · United States