Postscript

Brock, it's been a pleasure following your work over the summer through this weblog. Now, to wrap up business for the field experience, I'll ask you to make one more posting.

Write once more, with attention to this question: to put it simply, what did you learn from the field experience? You might divide your remarks into two areas, the specific (historical information, techniques for presenting history to the public) and the philosophical (I knew you'd like that). By the latter I mean, comment on the type of learning achieved by this field experience in comparison or contrast to your classroom experience.

Closing Credits

Today was my last day and for the last tour of the day, two couples came, one from Puerto Rico and the other from Denmark. Other guests visiting the Fort this year included people coming from as far as Germany, France, England, Austria, and Australia.

The Germans seem to have a great interest in the Mandan, as Maximilian, Prince of Wied and Neuwied lived with the Mandan for a while, they also tend to be well informed about the customs of the Mandan people.

Other visitors from closer to home includes the nations of Canada and Mexico as well as most states in the Union. People came to us from: California, Florida, Maine, Washington and Alaska.

Special thanks as well to the people of North Dakota, and the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation, without which neither the Custer House nor any of the other building on the Cavalry Square would have been built.

This is not the end at Fort Abraham Lincoln, however for as the Mandan saw time as being cyclical, things at the Fort run in cycles as well. The next events include Haunted Fort and Custer Christmas.

The former is our least historic event that happens at the Fort. It simple entails scaring people senseless as they go through the Custer House, Granary, and Barracks.

For the later event the General Custer will return and traditional Victorians decorations will be used. These decorations include adornments for the thistle trees including such things as popcorn and cranberry strings and ornaments which are made by children in the surrounding area. Sleigh rides are given in the parade ground and Hot Apple Cider is also served.

Thanks and so Long,

Brock Schmeling

Barracks Sleepover

Once a summer the staff has a Barracks Sleepover. A couple of days ago we had our annual Sleepover which to me is a night of Thanksgiving. Not because we eat turkey or mashed potatoes and gravy but because during the night I realize how thankful I am not only to have a job in these rough economic times-but to have such a great job, and to get to work with such great people makes me very thankful.

The night started with a potluck dinner. After supper and a few board games, we headed out into the night to compete in the scavenger hunt. We split into teams for the scavenger hunt and ran around the Fort, in the dark, trying to decipher clues and find the next clue. This year however the hunt had a twist however, after finding a clue your team had to take a photograph that depicted a scene that was written on the back of the clue. In the picture below, for example we were asked us to come up with a picture that shows your team name, as we were in the cemetery our team name became "The Undertakers." The post cemetery is on the site where solders who died on at Fort Abraham Lincoln were originally buried. All of these solders have been exhumed and buried in other sites. After the scavenger hunt all of these pictures were downloaded onto a flash drive and each team talked a bit about the pictures that they had taken.

After the scavenger hunt we headed up to the Infantry Post were we told Ghost Stories about the Fort. This year quiet a few stories were told about an actual event that took place at the Fort about a week before the Sleepover when Paranormal Investigators had come out to the Fort to check to see if either the Cavalry Post buildings or the On-A-Slant Village were haunted. One of my fellow workers had gone out with the investigators in the hopes of seeing something he could not explain, he told us what he claims to have seen and heard. After the Ghost Stories we naturally went to sleep as some of us had to work the next day and three hours of sleep is better than none.

Life of a Solder

The last couple of days were above 100 degrees and wearing wool would not have been my first choice of materials to be wearing. In 1875 the solders would have faced conditions that were much worse than what we had to face during the last couple of days, because while we was giving tours of an air conditioned Custer House the solders of the Seventh Cavalry would have been required to complete stable and fatigue details among other duties in the extreme heat. So while we got a sample of how hot wool can be on a torrid day, it would have been much worse for the solders of the time as they would have faced the blistering conditions wearing the same material while completing his duties.

Medicine of the 1870's

Medical care is being debated by the President, the Congress and the American people. The problem in the system today that is causing so much debate today is not the quality of care, but rather the cost of care. Medical care has had many breakthroughs since the 1870's, a time where Tuberculosis (referred to as consumption) was treated by sleeping sitting upright. Some other prescriptions for ailments include the following: Confection of Senna, 2 ozs.; a cream of tartar, 1 oz.; sulphur, 1 oz.; syrup of ginger enough to make a stiff paste. Mix. A piece as large as a nutmeg is to be taken as often as necessary to keep the bowels open. One of the very best remedies for piles, Pulverized Ipecac, 1 scruple; pulverized cayenne, 10 grains; water, 2 oz. Mix. To be taken at a draught. Chamomile Flowers, 1/2 oz.; cold water, 1 pint. Macerate for one hour and strain. A wine-glassful to be taken several times a day.(1) As you can see medicine has advanced quiet a lot in the last one hundred and forty years and another hundred and forty years it will likely change quiet a bit more making some of our accepted medical practices obsolete and laughable at the time, however this treatment makes sense to those giving it and seems like the best thing to do by those receiving the treatment.

1. The household physician

By Ira Warren (pg. 693, 695 and 767)

History Professor

Just the other day while I was giving tours of the Custer House, a strange thing happened, someone understood what I was talking about. This may not seem like it would be abnormal however while on tour and the year becomes 1875 where Victorian customs and dress are the norm. Such things as fainting couches and the corsets that made them necessary were things that this man seemed to have heard of before.

After the tour I talked to the fellow for a while and come to find out he is a professor of history at Dickinson State University. After telling him that I was a History Major from NDSU, he said that he had graduated from Cornell with Dr. Barrett, as they were both working towards their PhDs. Dr. Barrett has recently been hired as the new Asian History professor at NDSU. He recommended taking classes from her as she has a great sense of humor and is very knowledgeable in her field.