Fort Riley Kansas

[custer]

If you are ever near Ft. Riley, Kansas it would be well worth your time to visit the Custer House. All of the Officers Quarters in that area are beautiful stone houses. It is located on the main post and is furnished as it was during the time George and Libby were there.
Custer House is also next to the old Cavalry Parade Ground. Kinda gives you shivers to stand in their parlor.

The Cavalry Museum is very near and is well worth visiting.

[harpskiddie]

That was on my circle tour for this year, but has been postponed. They have great research materials there.

Gordie

[TopKick1833]

I visit Fort Riley a couple of times a year while I'm seeing family out that way. The National Cavalry Competition is in September this year at Fort Riley.

Top Kick

[AZ Ranger]

This fits better here.

I visited Fort Riley with my wife a few years back. It had a modern military gate along with cement abutments and soldiers in camouflage with M-16s. While at the Custer house and looking at the statues that stood on the edge of the parade deck, I heard horses. We observed troopers, dressed in 1800's uniforms, riding at a gallop across the parade deck.

We looked at each other like did you see that. We didn't know they had any horses still there and I am glad we didn't at least until I verified my sanity at the museum.

[Diane Merkel]

The parade ground, which is still used today, has a monument -- a life-size sculpture on a pedestal of a Remington painting that has been called both "The Cavalryman" and "The Trooper and Old Bill" -- in front of it, and in front of the monument is the grave of the last cavalry horse, "Chief," who served from 1940 to 1949 and died in 1968.

The Custer House is furnished with period items, complete with kitchen and pantry. Much of the house and its displays are about life at Fort Riley and not specific to the Custers.

Article: www.timesanddemocrat.com/articles/2007/09/10/features/lifestyles/12740469.txt

[bc]

The presently named Custer house at Fort Riley is not the original quaters where GAC and Libbie lived. However, I would not doubt that Libbie for sure and maybe GAC had visited at the present Custer house. The original Custer quarters burnt down. There was a row of officer quarters along the street that was parallel to the parade ground. After the Custer quarters burnt down, a street from the North was continued on to where it now intersects with the street along officers' row. These are basically duplex two story stone structures.

There are a number of ghost sitings around Fort Riley and I think there are about 3 booklets they have printed on it. They are down on a basement bookshelf somewhere. Each year, before Halloween, they have walking ghost tours of that area of the post where you go by each house where ghosts have been sited or ghostly happenings occured with a tour guide telling the stories. There are also ghost sitings at the presently named Custer house. If you are ever in the area when they do the ghost tours, it is worth it. I believe it is typically around a week before Halloween on a weekend.

I believe the cavalry museum is just across the parade ground from there.

[zekesgirl]

The mounted unit there is the Commanding General's Color Guard. They will be participating in the inagural parade coming up soon.

[conz]

I lived there for a couple years as a kid, but was too young to appreciate visiting the Custer House, if I ever did. <g> We did live on officer's row, though, in an old duplex.

There are at least a couple posts that still have archaic horse platoons (Ft. Hood and Ft. Riley), and Ft. Sill even has a couple horse-drawn 75's, circa 1916.

Ft. Myer has a small mounted ceremonial guard and caisson unit, and West Point has an official Cadet Riding Team.

Clair