Tickets for candlelight Fort tours on sale Monday

FORT SCOTT, Kan. -- Fort Scott's involvement in events that contributed to the dividing of a nation will be the focus of this year's Candlelight Tour at the Fort Scott National Historic Site.

"Marching Toward War" is the theme for this year's tour, an event that has taken place each holiday season at the historic site since 1982. The hour-long walking tours feature living history presentations by volunteer re-enactors dressed in mid-1800s costumes and tours of the fort, which will be illuminated by more than 700 candle lanterns. This year's tour will be offered Dec. 3-4.

FSNHS Park Ranger Kelley Collins said the upcoming sesquicentennial of the Civil War in 2011 is the main reason behind the chosen theme for this year's event.

"We're right upon the sesquicentennial of the Civil War in 1861," she said. "There was so much activity in this area that was a precursor to the war that we wanted to highlight that -- the building of the Civil War."

Collins said programs that will be offered at the site the next few years will highlight Civil War activities in Fort Scott. Next year -- 2011 -- is also the sesquicentennial of Kansas entering statehood in 1861.

In the decades before the Civil War, the nation grew increasingly polarized, primarily over the issue of slavery. Fort Scott was involved in events that contributed to this growing division. Disagreements and conflicts between its residents reflected the larger controversy, according to a news release.

More than 100 re-enactors will bring the fort to life through their presentations, and several other volunteers help out with the event in various ways, Collins said.

"We average over 100 people participating each year, and probably more than that," she said. "For example, we have people who bake cookies for the reception in the Grand Hall afterward."

The tour will begin with a hospital scene involving a debate over the issue of slavery. Following will be a scene in the dragoon barracks set just after the Mexican-American War. Dialogue will revolve around the controversy of whether to allow slavery in the western territories.

Next will be a pair of scenes exploring the Bleeding Kansas controversy. In one scene, Deputy Marshall John Little will round up a posse to go after free-staters operating an illegal court, and the other scene will show townspeople gathered one year later to mourn the death of one of Fort Scott's leading citizens.

The final scene on the tour will be set in December of 1860 and will explore events that took place at Fort Scott at a time following the election of Abraham Lincoln when southern states were starting to secede.

Tours on Dec. 3 will begin at 6:30 p.m. and run every 15 minutes until 9 p.m.

On Saturday, Dec. 4, tours will run from 5 to 9 p.m. A variety of Christmas activities will take place in the Grand Hall following each tour.

Collins said a total of about 600 tickets will be available for sale starting Monday. Reservations are required and advance purchase is recommended to reserve specific tour times.

There will be 25 tickets available for each tour. Visitors may pick up tickets at the site's visitor center, or reserve tickets by calling (620) 223-0310. Tickets cost $7 for adults; children 5 years of age and younger will be admitted free of charge. Tickets are nonrefundable.

The Western National Parks Association, which operates the site's bookstore, sponsors the tour. Proceeds generated cover the cost of conducting the tour.