Press Release
September 11, 2024
Contact: Jennifer Frazee
Fort Gibson Historic Site, Oklahoma Historical Society
Office: 918-478-4088
fortgibson@history.ok.gov
www.okhistory.org/fortgibson
Two-Day Living History Weekend Planned at Fort Gibson Historic Site
FORT GIBSON, Okla. — Fort Gibson Historic Site will host a living history weekend on Friday, September 27, and Saturday, September 28. This program will focus on the Bean and Boone Expedition, originally launched from the military outpost in 1832. Each day from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., United States Mounted Rangers reenactors will bring the fort’s stockade to life by showing typical activities of soldiers at the fort in the 1830s.
On Friday, September 27, the public can view living historians setting up camp and settling into the stockade area. Reenactors in period clothing will be on hand to discuss and demonstrate the equipment soldiers and the United States Mounted Rangers would have used in their daily lives and what was needed to undertake an expedition at a time when Fort Gibson was on the edge of a new frontier.
On Saturday, September 28, through a day full of activities, the group will reenact the Bean and Boone Expedition of 1832, demonstrating the fort’s early role as a starting point for several military expeditions that explored the West.
Initially, Bean was to join the Black Hawk War with orders to divert to Fort Gibson should he receive word of the war’s end before he arrived. The war ended before he made it, and he diverted his men to Fort Gibson, where Col. Arbuckle was already overloaded with soldiers. The arrival of the Mounted Rangers brought the population of the fort to nearly 900 men, not including the civilians, laundresses, enslaved people and others needed to support the operations of the site. The Mounted Rangers were initially directed to set up camp north of the stockade near a stream today called Ranger Creek. With a large influx of troops, Col. Arbuckle assigned Rangers to ride out to meet with the Plains Nations to develop peace and safe passage treaties to further westward expansion.
This program is included with paid admission. It will be located on the grounds of the Fort Gibson Historic Site, both within the stockade and north of it, at 110 Ash St. in Fort Gibson. Portions of the program take place over uneven ground, and visitors can expect a short walk to view all areas of the demonstrations. For more information, please call 918-478-4088.
The Fort Gibson Historic Site is a division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma and its people. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. For more information about the OHS, please visit www.okhistory.org.
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Editor’s Note: Photos of the Fort Gibson Historic Site are available upon request.
