Rank, Privilege, and Officers Row

At Fort Scott and other military posts, a rigid caste system shaped both professional and social life, with a soldier's rank determining status and the quality, arrangement, and location of quarters. Officers and enlisted men lived in separate quarters that kept the two classes apart, and the elegant homes on Officers Row occupied the best location on the parade ground. Enlisted men and post laundresses were barred from the walkway in front of Officers Row and instead used a separate path from their barracks to the well. By the 1870s, the homes along Officers Row were privately owned. The surviving houses are original, though the third structure and half of the fourth are gone, and their exteriors have been restored to their appearance of the 1840s and 50s. These duplexes each contained six rooms plus hallways on three levels, providing ample space for one officer, his family, and servants.

Fort Scott, Kansas · United States