Ranger Sarah sets off down the Courage Trail. Using the Fort Scott Road, the troops traveled from their camp at Fort Lincoln, Kansas, and arrived in Bates County on Oct. 27, 1862. Upon arrival, they commandeered the home of local Southern sympathizers Enoch and Christiana Toothman as their headquarters.
— at Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah continues learning about the Battle. In October 1862, 240 soldiers and 12 officers of the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry marched into Bates County to clear out the pro-south guerrillas.
— at Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah learns more about the First Kansas Colored Vol. Infantry. In August 1862, U.S. Senator and notorious Kansas jayhawker Jim Lane began recruiting Black soldiers to join his Kansas forces before other federal efforts.
— at Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah starts her learning of the Battle of Island Mound. Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site preserves the site of the Toothman Farm, which the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry used as its headquarters and renamed “Fort Africa.”
— at Battle of Island Mound State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah passes by some wild Sumac as she approached the Kiosk making the end of the loop portion of the Osage Village Interpretive Trail
— at Osage Village State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah learns that The Osage Nation were dominant players in the North American fur trade, controlling vast territories west of the Mississippi River and leveraging their strategic location to build a lucrative trade network with European powers.
— at Osage Village State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah continues along the trail as the prairie grasses tower above her. In 1971, the Osagesite was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
— at Osage Village State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah spots a lone large tree along the trail. Through excavations, archaeologists have learned that the houses were rectangular - 30 feet to 50 feet long and about 15 feet to 20 feet wide, with doorways that faced east.
— at Osage Village State Historic Site.

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Ranger Sarah learns about the Osage Spiritual Beliefs. Traditional Osage spirituality is rooted in a deep reverence for Wah-kon-da (or Wakonda), the invisible, all-controlling creative force that permeates the entire universe.
— at Osage Village State Historic Site.

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