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| 8/4/2008 3:15:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
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| Chris Hagemann of Fremont peers intently at a pewter spoon he is shaping in the Tin Smith shop at Fort Atkinson. |
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| Marilyn Jones of Fort Calhoun makes it look easy but there's nothing simple about juggling 18 bobbins of thread when making 1820s era lace. |
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'The neatest sandbox in eastern Nebraska'
Volunteers' love of history comes alive once a month at Fort Atkinson
Stephanie Ludwig
Reporter
The sun is rising above the treetops, spreading light upon the 1820s era military fort, Fort Atkinson.
A lone soldier crosses the central field, checking one of two canons, his uniform precise n the early morning sunlight. The smell of flapjacks and bacon wafts from one of the barracks, accompanied by the sound of men's laughter. Pipe smoke drifts on the breeze.
Inside the barracks of Company K, five men in old-fashioned dress sit around a wooden table, hungrily eating their breakfast of eggs, bacon, pancakes and coffee. A sixth sits outside, strumming a dulcimer in anticipation of another day at the fort.
No, this isn't a trip back in time to the days when Fort Atkinson kept watch on the Missouri River and played host to Indians, fur traders and settlers alike. It's present day, but for a few anachronisms, this scene could represent what life was like almost 200 years ago.
A dedicated group of re-enactors call the former military post home one weekend a month from May through October. This group is so dedicated, that most of them will head to the fort Friday afternoon and stay there all weekend. The Friends of Fort Atkinson group has let them transform one of the barracks into their own cabin, stocked with food, bunks, blankets and some of the comforts of home.
But that's not why they're here.
The men of Company K, Dean Slader of Valley, Rich Flowers of Omaha, Chris Hagemann of Fremont, Tod Wells of Brookings, S.D., Tim Cuka of Tabor, S.D., and Dave Maron of Council Bluffs, love staying here at Fort Atkinson because its just fun. And it lets them explore some of the history that fascinates most of them.
"I think Chris said it best: 'we have the neatest sandbox in eastern Nebraska,'" said Dean Slader.
***
The men of Company K are not primarily soldiers. Slader and Cuka work in the blacksmithing forge, Hagemann and Wells work in the tinsmithing shop and Flowers and Maron fill other spots.
Other re-enactors arrive at the fort close to 9 a.m. when the fort opens to visitors, including Penny Ankenbauer of Council Bluffs, Kristine Ericson of Omaha, Zedaya Hamilton from Lincoln, Julie Ashton of Omaha, and Marilyn Jones and Doug Appel from Fort Calhoun. They head to their respective areas, such as the laundering, kitchen, weaving and lace making.
Appel joins Slader and Cuka in the forge.
Cling CLANG! Cling CLANG! rings through the humid morning air.
Slader and Cuka are double striking, hitting a piece of red-hot iron between each of them as they form a scroll nut. An 1820s scroll nut secured windows. In fact, everything the blacksmiths make at the fort could be used somewhere, from door latches to nails to musket balls. Appel is working on a serving fork.
"This place is like the Menards or Ace Harware of Fort Atkinson," Slader says. "What somebody needs is what we make."
Next door, away from the sweltering fire of the forge, the tinsmiths set about their work. Chris Hagemann works on fashioning a tin dustpan while Tod Wells carefully smoothes down the bowl of a pewter spoon cast from an 1800s die.
Visitors trickle in and out of the cabin, watching the men work and occasionally asking questions. The re-enactors portray characters at the fort, slipping in and out of them as guests come and go. They try to explain as accurately as possible what they are doing, and the historical significance behind it.
Hagemann patiently explains a short history of tin, and the various processes to make a simple tin cup. He can make about 60 different items since he learned the trade several years ago.
He admits there is no evidence of a tinsmith at the fort but when he became involved with the fort, he wanted to find a trade that he could call his own. Since tinsmithing was a profession at the time, Hagemann had found his niche.
Other actors portray life at the time the fort was active, but not necessarily real-life at the fort.
Marilyn Jones of Fort Calhoun makes lace outside the weaver's barracks. She carefully juggles 18 bobbins of thread as a complicated pattern unfolds under her fingertips. Jones readily tells guests a lace maker would have had no place on a prairie fort composed primarily of men, but the time period is appropriate for her trade.
The spinners and the weavers inside also know their trades probably weren't practiced at Fort Atkinson, but they certainly make the fort more interesting for visitors interested in the 1820s.
Penny Ankenbauer portrays one of just a few women known to have been at Fort Atkinson, Mrs. Sally Moore. Moore was a widowed laundress who worked at the fort and took care of many of the children of officers. Today, Ankenbauer's Mrs. Moore sews bonnets and a quilt in the craft area.
***
In the afternoon, Company K abandons their designated trades of the fort and double as soldiers, as not enough other actors showed up today. They aid in firing off the two cannons in the central field.
Another actor in a sergeant's uniform explains that a solider has deserted the fort, and the cannon fire is to inform the surrounding community to be on the lookout for this soldier. Guests are expected to aid in the search.
Later, the "deserter" will be brought to the fort's central field and forced into the stocks.
The men of Company K have managed to keep cool on this hot summer's day by staying in the shade, even in the blacksmithing forge, but even their white cotton costumes can't deny the blazing sun beating down upon them. They have been drinking water from tin cups all day, but a cooler of Gatorade is a concession to the modern amenities.
Slader, a native of Fort Calhoun, has been volunteering as a re-enactor at Fort Atkinson since 1976. Some of the others have been doing this for more than 10 years. The details are important to them, from wearing period correct eyeglasses beards, to using experimental archeology to recreate pieces found on the grounds of the fort.
Around five, the guests will begin to leave, as well as some of the other re-enactors. Tonight, however, the men of Company K will stay at the fort again, savoring the coolness that will come when the sun sets, and the company of one another. During the night is really when they'll feel the full weight of the fort.
"Overnight is really when you get the full ambience of the place," Hagemann says.
"It's kind of magical at night," Slader agrees. "It's almost like the spirits of those who came before us are here. They're not malevolent, but if they're there, they seem to appreciate what we're doing."
Slader and Cuka explain that in the evenings, the men usually sit around and tell stories of the research they've been doing of the era, and things that will enhance the experience for guests.
"Anybody who was anybody came through here," Slader says, referring to the stories of fur traders Hugh Glass and Jedediah Smith, riverboatman Mike Fink, and Colonel Leavenworth who are all said to have stopped at Fort Atkinson. "In the off hours, these are the stories we tell."
Slader says the unspoken mission statement of the fort is "Nothing will detract from the experience at Fort Atkinson." By sharing their research and their love of recreating a past era, the men of Company K are doing just that.
Cuka says that a visitor once told he and Slader that she had been to colonial Williamsburg, Plymouth Plantation and historic Jamestown, but that Fort Atkinson topped them all.
"They get paid, and we do this for fun," he said.
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Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Article comment by:
David Maron
What a great article!
Thank you, Stephanie.
Please stop down and see us again...as a visitor.
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