Lawton students get hands on history at Frontier Army Days

The consensus seems to be that living on Fort Sill in the 1870s would have been fun, even though it was a lot of hard work.

At least that is what several Lawton Public School third-graders thought as they attended Frontier Days on Friday on post. Staff and volunteers of the U.S. Artillery Museum hosted the 15th annual edition of Frontier Days for about 1,200 area third-graders. The purpose is to give students and adults a peek at what life was like on the frontier. Students rotate through several stations and learn about artillery, the role of laundresses, how Buffalo Soldiers lived and how students attended school 154 years ago.

“This is a comparison of how they did laundry to what they understand of how their parents do laundry today,” said Carrie Starsnic, one of the 40 museum staff and volunteers who put on Frontier Days.

Starsnic and the other volunteers at the laundry station demonstrate what it was like to wash clothes in the 1870s, from getting the water from a stream, to boiling water to making soap. Washboards and agitators are available for the students to try out their laundry skills.

One child was less than impressed with the hands-on activity.

“It’s disgusting,” the child said.

But others seemed to enjoy the experience.

“It’s hard work, but it’s super fun doing it by hand,” said Kalista Baker, 9, from Hugh Bish Elementary School. “You get to dip the clothes in the water and rub it against the thing to get it clean. Then you just hang it on the clothes rack and let it dry.”

Cadience Powell, 8, Hugh Bish, was trying her hand at agitating the clothes. She said the process wasn’t hard because, “I work out a lot at home so it wasn’t really hard. You don’t use washing machines, you use other things. It’s kinda fun.”

Starsnic, who has worked the laundry station before, said she enjoys being around the kids and showing them how laundry was done more than a century ago.

“They always think the agitator is a plunger,” she said. “They are amazed you don’t just push a button and walk away. They are always surprised at how much force it takes.”

Students also learned about living conditions for those in the 10th Cavalry, also known as Buffalo Soldiers. Robert Anderson, a museum staff member, played the role of a Buffalo Soldier and told the students how the soldiers lived out in the open before they built their barracks. Although the barracks provided shelter, they also held the summer heat, he said, making conditions almost unbearable.

Then students went inside the barracks for a closer look. They were greeted by cots that were just two boards side by side. Anderson explained that the soldiers were issued one blanket when they enlisted and only received another one if they reenlisted.

The students were not overly impressed with the living conditions of the soldiers.

“The bed did not look comfortable,” said Vivien Lowrey, 8, from Edison.

Anderson took the students into the kitchen and explained that the cook also slept in the kitchen. He asked the students for their theories on why this was so.

“So when he wakes up, he doesn’t forget where the kitchen is,” one student guessed. (The correct answer is that the cook had to keep the fire in the stove burning.)

The prison cell also made a big impression on the students.

“I learned that for punishment they would be hung by their thumbs and stand on their tip-toes,” said Elizabeth Ivy, 9, a student at Pioneer Park Elementary School. She was not impressed by the cots the Buffalo Soldiers slept on, “They looked hard” and decided she would not have wanted to live in the 1870s, “because it’s harder.”

Taydon Zupper, 8 from Pioneer Park, also was impressed by the prison cells.

“They had to pick up people from far, far away and bring them to the jail cells,” he said. He said if he had lived in the 1870s that he would not have misbehaved.

“I would not be in jail,” he said.

A visit back in time would not be complete without a visit to the one-room schoolhouse to see how their counterparts earned their education on the frontier. Students sat on wooden benches facing the teacher’s desk and a chalkboard as Kim Warnock, dressed in period costume, described a typical day in the life of a student.

Of special interest to the students was what a trip to the outhouse after lunch might have entailed. She explained the concept of a wooden bench with a hole cut in the center and explained that students were fortunate if they had a piece of paper with them. She looked puzzled when someone mentioned toilet paper.

“What is this toilet paper you are talking about?” she asked. “We don’t have that.”

Then it was outside to play some frontier-style games. Jackson Taylor-Salazar and Mason Sadberry, from Hugh Bish Elementary School, became engaged in a game of using sticks to pitch a hoop back and forth. The game was more challenging than it looked.

“I liked tossing it from the sticks,” said Taylor-Salazar. While he enjoyed the game, he said he would not have liked to attend school in the one-room schoolhouse. “It would be too small for you and the other students,” he said.

Mina Blokker, 8, Hugh Bish, disagreed with Taylor-Sanchez.

“It seems fun,” she said. “You can use the white board and sit on the benches.”

The artillery station, where students got a lesson on firepower, also was a popular destination.

“I liked going to the artillery. I like it because it goes ‘swoosh,’’” said John Oliver Ferguson, 9, Hugh Bish Elementary. “It was a lot of fun. They (soldiers) got to guard stuff.”

The cannon boomed every 15 minutes, alerting those manning the stations that it was time to rotate.

Two new stations were added this year, one about Native Americans and one about the history of the Old Post Chapel and the role chaplains played in the military.

Tina Parker-Emhoolah and her granddaughter, Aliana Horse, were telling students of the roles Native Americans played in the history of the United States and of Fort Sill. Native Americans are foundational to the history of Fort Sill, Parker-Emhoolah said.

“It’s about who we are, how did we get here,” she said.

Another new station was a stop at the Old Post Chapel where Chaplain Capt. Brad Boyer told the students about the role of chaplains. When he asked the students who was there before the soldiers, one student responded, “God”.

Zane Mohler, exhibit specialist at the Fort Sill museum, said Frontier Day is important in keeping the history of Fort Sill alive.

“The kids really enjoy it,” he said of Frontier Days. “You hear a lot of hoopla, screaming and giggling.”

Noelle Scarfone, lead exhibit curator at the Fort Sill museum, said students take what they have learned in the classroom and see it come to life, she said. “They get to touch things. You can read it in a book, but seeing it and touching it will stay with them for the rest of their lives.”