Fort Scott

Fort Scott National Historic Site

Fort Scott, city, seat (1855) of Bourbon county, southeastern Kansas, U.S. It lies on the Marmaton River near the Missouri border. The community grew up around a military outpost (1842) named for General Winfield Scott. After the garrison was abandoned in 1853, Fort Scott was the scene of clashes between proslavery and antislavery (free state) factions. Some of the buildings erected during the American Civil War (1861–65), when the fort was reactivated, remain; the fort itself is now a national historic site. Fort Scott National Cemetery was created in 1862 for the burial of American Civil War veterans. The city was the home of Eugene F. Ware, a nationally popular poet of the late 19th century. Fort Scott is now a railroad junction and a shipping point in a diversified farming area. Work clothes, cement, aluminum products, business forms, and calendars are made there. Fort Scott Community College was established in 1919. Inc. 1860. Pop. (2000) 8,297; (2010) 8,087.