Summer at Fort Abraham Lincoln

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:50:00 +0000

Wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:50:00 +0000

During my time at Fort Lincoln I have learned lots of diverse information. At the Cavalry Fort diverse topics include but are not limited to: Civil War battles General Custer was involved in, woman's role in Victorian society, and army regulations. On-A-Slant topics that are discussed on tour include: Lewis and Clark and the Mandan tribe, Mandan religious practices, agricultural techniques, ceremonies, tools, the Native American Indian dog (used by the Mandan as a pack animal before they attained horses) Scaffolds (used as lookouts for the village, to dry corn and for burial purposes.)
Presenting the information to the public is done by finding the most relevant and interesting information and setting up the tour in the manner that accomplishes two things, keep the tourists interest, and inform them about the various aforementioned items in the sentences above. One of my favorite ways of keeping the tour interesting is by using my sense of humor to keep the tourist interested.
Philosophically, learning in the field is much different than learning in the classroom. For although some things are the same, in both cases reading books on the subject and doing research is required, giving tours puts me more in the place of a teacher or a professor in the classroom than a student. Because if someone has a question I must answer that question to the best of my ability.

Postscript

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Isern) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:34:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:54:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 15:19:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 03:30:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 04:46:00 +0000

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

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:38:00 +0000

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.

New Trousers

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:02:00 +0000

At the beginning of this summer when looking for a uniform to wear this summer at the Cavalry Post, I was unable to find any pants that fit and lacked a stripe of rank (Corporals and Sergeants have stripes of yellow that indicate their rank, I am only a Private). So after asking management if they had any other pants that would fit me, they said that they did not, but that they would order a pair that fit. Recently the new pair came in and so I returned my pair of Corporal pants for a pair of new Private pants. However, I soon realized that the pants were a bit too long, one of the other workers at the Fort, a Laundress, volunteered to hem them up for me so the trousers did not drag on the ground too much. While Miss Nora was sewing up my pants, I had to hide in the tent that we have set up waiting for the trousers to be mended. While I was waiting and Miss Nora was sewing an elderly man came over and announced that he wished to look inside that tent. Nora replied that he had best not go into the tent as a Private was napping inside. The man then chatted for the next forty-five minutes the man talked while Nora finished sewing my pants and managed to give me the pants without the man noticing. I managed to get the trousers on under the army blanket in the tent without any visiter being any the wiser. The man continued talking about how thirty years ago he had slept in the barracks, which had not been rebuilt yet.

A Day at the Custer House

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 04:05:00 +0000

Today while working at the Cavalry Post I only gave one tour of the Custer House because it rained all day which kept the tourists away. After giving my tour and waiting for more tourists to arrive, I helped dust the Custer House and read Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense. Common Sense, a document that as it helped spark the American Revolution would also have been something that could have been read when solders occupied the post, although as many soldiers were immigrants literacy rates in the Army were around fifty percent.

Also recently we learned that from last year to this year we had an increase of 21% in tourism. This may be because many tourists from other parts of the country taking advantage of comparably low gas prices have decided to travel through the area. A small number of out of state workers have also told me that they are temporarily stopping in North Dakota to capitalize on this states economic successes while riding out other states economies failings. This increase in tourism has come at a time where the Fort Abraham Lincoln Foundation has fewer people working than were working last summer. This has meant many busy days of work. So although today was fairly uneventful, it is the exception rather than the rule for there to be so few tourists. Most days there are fairly large numbers of people coming to see history come to life.

Day to Day Life In the Village

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 23:10:00 +0000

Today at the On-A-Slant Village I started working at 9:00 AM. As I was arriving another guide was taking out the first tour of the day into the village. So as I was the only other guide working at this time, it was my job to greet the tourist and let them know that my tour would be leaving at 9:30, and that if they would like to look around the museum in the meantime I would come in and announce when my tour was about to begin. At 9:30 I took out my first tour of the day. After the tour I took over the desk inside the museum where I answer any questions people may have about items in the museum or about the Mandan people, while answering the phone, and selling passes to the Custer House and the On-A-Slant Village. After doing that for about an hour I was relieved from that post and I went into the village and started weeding earthlodges, a task that would not have been done by the Mandan but is necessary for us to do in order to maintain the clean appearance on top of the earthlodges that would have been provided with the river clay on the roof of the earthlodges. After weeding lodges for a while, I took my second tour out into On-A-Slant. After this tour I helped sweep the museum and then took another turn sitting behind the museum desk. After greeting and giving my last tour I went home for the day.

Summer at the Fort

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Isern) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 13:43:00 +0000

Looks like a great summer so far, Brock! Enjoying the images and musings.

Give us a little more, too, about your day-to-day work and duties.

Fort Lincoln Melodrama

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:37:00 +0000

Here are some photographs taken from the June Melodrama as recorded by the Bismarck Tribune:

http://spotted.bismarcktribune.com/photos/index.php?id=180123

Some other photos from the Melodrama as taken by my father, Randy Schmeling:

http://gallery.me.com/randyschmeling#100042&bgcolor=black&view=grid

Currently the July melodrama of "A Pair of Lunatics" and "A Marriage Proposal," are going on in to its second weekend. My family went to it last weekend and enjoyed watching it very much.

Fest at the Fort Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 16:00:00 +0000

The following website has some pictures that were taken at the Fest at the Fort:

http://www.me.com/gallery/#100025

Parade ground- Where the encampment and most of the demonstrations were.

Encampment- Lots of tents with reenactors in them.

Barracks- Where Dr. Herb Wilson talked about medicine used in 1885.

Custer House- Tours of the house given every 20 minutes.

Horses- The thing that set the Cavalry apart from the Infantry.

Chickens- Kept by the General for eggs and dinner.

Laundresses cooking, and Infantry Laundresses- These Infantry Laundresses can cook! They had all sorts of pies that they had made for the Festival. Vinegar and Sweet Onion pies, my oh my, I may have to become an infantry solder because our Cavalry Laundresses can't cook nearly as well as the infantry ones.

Gatling gun- Not used at the Little Bighorn, because Custer attacked before the Infantry could get there.

Infantry soldier- looks a lot like a Cavalry soldier however the light blue that outlines his collar and sleeves and the bugle on his Kepi.

Cannons- Another weapon that was not used at the Little Bighorn because Custer wanted to attack with the element of surprise. Could have shifted the tide of the battle with its firing power.

Cavalry soldiers- Needed at Fort Abraham Lincoln to help defend the railroad.

General Custer- Actually only a Lt. Col. at the time he resided at Fort Lincoln. Previously a Civil War hero attained the rank of Major General during that war.

Prairie Schooner- Used to transport people and goods in the absence of the railroad that only came as far West as Bismarck at the time.

The Wonderful Air Conditioned Earth Lodge

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:08:00 +0000

Whenever I hear people say something to the effect of "how could people live without air conditioning," I have to laugh, because many people seem to believe that there is only one way to keep your house cool. My house does not have air conditioning and we manage by opening the windows at night and closing them during the day, the Mandan had another solution to this problem, a solution that probably preceded the problem, they built lodges that maintain a fairly constant temperature throughout the year. This is because the earthlodge is made up of three layers the outermost layer of river clay keeps out both the summer heat and the winter freeze. The middle layer of willow reed branches keep the river clay from collapsing in and the inner layer of cottonwood logs provide the support. No air conditioning no problem, one can survive without air conditioning. One can even be comfortable without the modern amenity. The next time someone asks "How could people live without air conditioning," the answer is probably Earthlodges, or perhaps they open their windows at night.

Checking In

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Isern) — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:24:00 +0000

Interesting to read your remarks about the German visitors, Brock. I've met people at Fort Berthold who were invited over to visit Prince Maximilian's descendants a few years ago.

Got any photos from the fest this past weekend?

Fest at the Fort

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Today is the first of two days of the Fest at the Fort a yearly draw that includes: Soldier for a day, pony rides, free tours of Custer House and the On-A-Slant Village, melodrama, cowboy action shooters, watermelon splitting, mail call, gunfights and live music. This is one of the busiest days at the fort and one that has lots of Historical reenactors playing: officers, enlisted men, officer's wives, scouts, laundresses, doctors, infantry solders, artillery soldiers, and the General Custer. It promises to be a festive and busy couple of days.

The effect of Prince Maximilian on the Mandan.

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 16:54:00 +0000

Today at the On-A-Slant Village, I gave a tour to two German gentlemen who were interested in the Mandan people. The older gentleman had read many books on Mandan culture and he asked very good questions about how they lived, he asked questions about the Mandan: diet, cultural practices, hunting practices, and the building of Earthlodges. Every other year they come to the United States and learn about the Mandan and other Native American peoples. He said that Fort Lincoln State Park was one of their favorite places to visit in the United States. After the tour was finished he said he enjoyed it, and learned a lot about the Mandan, then he gave me a postcard from his home city of Dresden. Many Germans seem to be similarly enthralled with the Mandan, as we have quite a few Germans come visit the park every year. This may have something to do with the fact that Prince Maximilian of Wied, traveled and studied the Mandan and Hidatsa peoples. Upon his return to Wied, the Prince published his findings on the Mandan and Hidatsas. These findings created an ideal of the "noble savage" and created a spark of interest that can be seen to this day. The findings of Maximilian and the Swiss artist who accompanied him, Karl Bodmer have helped to extend our understanding of the Mandan, while connecting an unlikely group of people, the Germans, to them. Maximilian has inspired the imagination of his people and caused them to place great significance on the history of the Mandan people.

Pictured above is a photograph of the Frauenkirche, similar to the postcard given to me.

Summer?

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Isern) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:38:00 +0000

Here's hoping, Brock, that the "summer" part of your summer job finally kicks in! Looks like some sunny weather finally coming this weekend.

Keep posting - I've enjoyed reading thus far what you're up to. I'm going to link this weblog into my home page today.

Also, remember you can upload photos to the blog.

Melodrama and Working On-A-Slant

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 19:17:00 +0000

During the past week or so I have been busy rehearsing for the Melodramatic production of Box And Cox. The first showing of this melodrama was done by the Royal Lyceum Theatre on November First 1847. The melodramatic productions were done at the Fort as a source of entertainment, the original actors and actresses were the solders and laundresses.

Preparation for my role as Mr. Cox in the melodrama has included learning to speak with an English accent, and memorizing numerous lines. The dress rehearsal for the production will be taking place tonight with the first performance taking place tomorrow night.

According to the Mandan (and many other tribes of the northern plains) a person is Mandan if that person's mother is Mandan. This makes sense as well as the Mandan are a matrilinear people, that is they trace their descent through their mother's line If the father is Mandan, but the mother is not the child is not Mandan (certain circumstances can allow a child with a Mandan father to be welcomed as a member of the tribe). As I was giving a tour of the On-A-Slant Mandan village, it came to my attention that a mother and her three children where Mandan. The mother told me that she did not realize why her Mandan mother's heritage was while her father's Sioux heritage was largely ignored, when I told her that both the Mandan and the Sioux are matrilinear peoples she said that I had taught her something. It was very gratifying to teach her and her three children something about their heritage.

Introduction

noreply@blogger.com (Brock Schmeling) — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Hi,

I am Brock Schmeling and I am a sophomore history student at NDSU this summer where I am employed at Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park as an interpretive guide. As this is my second summer working in the park my expectations of what is to be expected is quiet clear I am to: give living history tours of the Commanding Officer's Quarters (the Custer House) as a member of the 7th Cavalry, give tours of the On-A-Slant Mandan Village, act in the Melodrama, and keep the historic sites clean. Such things as dusting the Custer House, sweeping the Barracks, and sweeping Earthlodges is included in the latter.

My first week back at the Fort included lots of school groups. It also included me trying to recall facts that had been learned over the coarse of the previous summer and looking up anything that I may have forgotten. The school groups were a lot of fun to give as I was at the Cavalry side I marched them up to the house and pretended that the students had just enlisted in the army. Then if they mentioned something that was not time period I was either look at the offender like he or she was crazy or mention that he had better have his or her head examined by the post surgeon. The students are also interesting tourists because they tend to ask interesting questiong. I hope the rest of the tourists that come through the park this summer are as interested in the history as these students have been.

Brock's Summer at Fort Abraham Lincoln

noreply@blogger.com (Tom Isern) — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:27:00 +0000

This weblog is established for the use of Brock Schmeling, who is enrolled for field experience credit at NDSU this summer in connection with his employment at Fort Abraham Lincoln. I'm Brock's contact for the field experience at NDSU. As for the rest of what he's doing, I'll let him tell you about it.