Memorial Chapel
The chapel was built in 1878 by
prison labor from stone quarried on the post and today is considered to be
an outstanding architectural gem in the this area. The chapel is still
used as a house of worship and visitors are welcome. The sanctuary
walls display plaques and memorials to officers and men who served at Fort
Leavenworth. To the right of the altar is one to Colonel Edward Hatch
who commanded the 9th Cavalry Regiment for twenty years and fought in
fifty-four cavalry battles in three wars. The plaques flanking the
door are in memory of George Armstrong Custer and his officers killed in the
Battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876 and other battles of the 7th Cavalry.
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Memorial Chapel, Fort Leavenworth
Outside view of Memorial chapel |
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Inside Memorial Chapel
An example of the plaques and memorials to officers and men who served at Fort Leavenworth. Imbedded in the walls are six mountain howitzers from an artillery regiment who served at the post. |
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7th Cavalry plaque
Flanking the door are two plaques in memory of George Armstrong Custer and his officers and men killed in the Battle of Little Bighorn in June 1876 and other battles of the 7th Cavalry. |
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Murdock memorial
An example of some of the many memorials that have been placed in the chapel over the years. |
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general grant's statue
The statue of
General Ulysses S. Grant in the traffic circle across from the Memorial
Chapel was sculpted by Loredo Taft and unveiled in 1889. The statue
and pedestal are nine feet tall each. It was the largest statue of its
type in the Midwest when it was installed. More than 1,000 people
gathered to watch the unveiling ceremony.
Behind the statue,
portions of a stone wall can be seen. A plaque on the wall states that
this is a portion of the original fortifications of the fort built by COL
Leavenworth's men. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of this wall at that
time, and the first instance of this wall seems to be in the 1870s during a
post beautification project.
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Grant's Statue
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Close-up of Grant's statue
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Oregon and santa fe trails
At the foot of
the hill where you know see a warehouse was the original boat landing.
In the 1850s, the river swept along the base of this hill, just past the
railroad bed, and settlers heading for the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails
crossed the Missouri River at this point. Teams of oxen pulled the
loaded wagons through the "cut" in the hillside which can still be seen
today. The trail is marked by the large stone markers at the top and
bottom of the hillside.
Fort Leavenworth was
the main supply base for the west. Steamboats would bring supplies
upriver to this point where they would be put into wagons for the journey
west to Army forts across the frontier.
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Oregon and Santa Fe trail cut
Beginning point of the Oregon and Santa Fe trails, looking up hill to the bluffs (west) from near the Missouri River. The depression in the photo was made by the wagon wheels over the years. |
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