Thirteen Ways to Think About the Fort Phil Kearny

Quiz Yourself

Here are some questions to ask before you visit Fort Phil Kearny, while you’re there, and again after you return:

Who lived at Fort Phil Kearny?
Was there ever a wall around this fort? What was it made of?
Is this a good spot for an Army fort? Why or why not?
What was life like at Fort Phil Kearny for Indian, white and mixed-blood people during the Indian Wars?
What was the Bozeman Trail? What connection does it have to Fort Phil Kearny? What was the size of this fort in relation to others on the trail?
Who traveled on the Bozeman Trail and why?
What famous battles occurred nearby? When did they happen?
Why was the Bozeman Trail sometimes called “the bloody Bozeman?”
Who was Red Cloud?
What was Red Cloud’s War? What connection did it have to Fort Phil Kearny?
Why was the timber in the nearby mountains important for the fort?
What connection did the fort have to the transcontinental railroad? How far away from the fort was the railroad?
What happened to Fort Phil Kearny under the terms of the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868?

THERE ARE HUNDREDS of more good questions a person could ask about Fort Phil Kearny.

SEND US three interesting Fort Phil Kearny questions of your own. Be sure to identify your school and classroom teacher or note if you are home schooled when you send in questions. Contact editor@wyohistory.org for information on a 2014-2015 contest for submitting the most questions.

Note to Teachers

This lesson addresses a number of the Wyoming State Social Studies Standards detailed in the 2013 draft of Wyoming Social Studies Content and Performance Standards, benchmarked for the ends of grades 2, 5, 8 and 12. All are available at http://edu.wyoming.gov/sf-docs/publications/DRAFT_2013_Social_Studies_Standards.pdf?

More specifically, the lesson addresses Content Standard 4, Time, Continuity and Change, under which students analyze events, people, problems, and ideas within their historical contexts, and Content Standard 5, People, Places and Environments, under which students apply their knowledge of the geographic themes (location, place, movement, region, and human/environment interactions) and skills to demonstrate an understanding of interrelationships among people, places, and environment.

Under Content Standard 4, the lesson addresses standards SS5.4.4. SS8.4.4 and SS12.4.4, which call for students to discuss, identify or describe historical interactions between and among individuals, families, and cultural/ethnic groups, and standards SS5.4.5, SSD8.4.5 and 12.4.5, which call for students to understand the difference between primary and secondary sources, and how to use them in their research.

Under Content Standard 5, this lesson addresses the Human Place and Movement standards SS2.5.3, SS5.5.3 (which specifically mentions American Indians and the Oregon Trail), SS8.5.3 and SS12.5.3, and the Environment and Society standards SS2.5.4, SS5.5.4, SS8.5.4 and SS12.5.4, which call on students to understand how people in Wyoming adjust and have adjusted to their physical and geographical environment.