Army Architecture in the West: Forts Laramie, Bridger, and D. A. Russell, 1849-1912

by Alison K. Hoagland, Paul L. Hedren

Overview

During the nineteenth century, the U.S. military built numerous forts across the country as it stationed more and more troops west of the Mississippi. When most people think about military forts in the American West, they imagine imposing strongholds, meccas of defense enclosed by high, palisaded walls. This popular view, however, is far from reality.

In Army Architecture in the West, Alison K. Hoagland dispels the myth that all western forts were uniform structures of military might churned out according to a master set of plans authorized by army officials in Washington, D.C. Instead, by examining three exemplary Wyoming forts, Hoagland reveals that widely varying architectural designs were used to construct western forts.

With more than 120 illustrations, Army Architecture in the West offers a new way of using architecture to gain insight into the role of the army in the American West. By focusing on the tangible remains of the army’s presence in the West, Hoagland presents a new vision of American military history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780806136202
Publisher:	University of Oklahoma Press
Publication date:	12/28/2004
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Alison K. Hoagland is Associate Professor of History and Historic Preservation at Michigan Technological University and the author of Buildings of Alaska.

Paul L. Hedren is a retired National Park Service superintendent residing in Omaha, Nebraska. He is the author of Fort Laramie and the Great Sioux War and Great Sioux War Orders of Battle: How the United States Army Waged War on the Northern Plains, 1876–1877.