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The first thing such visitors want to do, however, is pick up a copy of this book, a guide to re-created and existing forts and the ghostly sites of long-gone forts. Nebraska has the most entries in this guide and the most forts where visitors can actually wander around and wonder at the often primitive conditions that frontier soldiers endured.
[Jeff Barnes] will sign copies of "Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars" today at 2 p.m. at Lee Booksellers, 5500 S. 56th St. For more information or to reserve a book, call 420-1919.
Nebraska has a rich heritage of Plains history: the exploration by Europeans of the Great Plains, the Plains Indian wars and settlement and homesteading. An important part of that history today can be seen in 11 military forts and the site of one demolished fort that offer great day trips and weekend visits to Lincoln-area residents.
The first thing such visitors want to do, however, is pick up a copy of this book, a guide to re-created and existing forts and the ghostly sites of long-gone forts. Nebraska has the most entries in this guide and the most forts where visitors can actually wander around and wonder at the often primitive conditions that frontier soldiers endured.
Other states represented in the book are Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Wyoming. The guide gives a history of each of the 51 forts, locations and scheduling information and "the fort today" information.
Jeff Barnes drove more than 13,000 miles to cover the ground in those seven states, visiting each site that was designated a fort by the U.S. War Department to see what was there. If there was no trace of the structures of a historic place, it was not included in his book, while sites with at least a marker commemorating the fort were included. The best sites have original structures or recreated buildings or palisades, with resident curators and demonstrations of frontier life.
The author, a native Nebraskan and past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, was a press secretary for U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, who wrote the book's introduction.
Francis Moul, Ph.D., is an environmental historian.
BARNES TO SIGN COPIES OF BOOK
Jeff Barnes will sign copies of "Forts of the Northern Plains: Guide to Historic Military Posts of the Plains Indian Wars" today at 2 p.m. at Lee Booksellers, 5500 S. 56th St. For more information or to reserve a book, call 420-1919.
Credit: FRANCIS MOUL For the Lincoln Journal Star
Copyright Lee Enterprises, Inc. Sep 21, 2008