Supporting Question 2: Life in a Military Fort

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The second supporting question, “What was life like for the people living in a military fort?” helps students use sources to unwrap the context of the time and topic being examined. Complete the following task using the sources provided and additional library and internet resources to build a context of the time period and topic being examined.

Formative Performance Task 2

Use the information from Featured Sources A-B, and additional sources from library and internet research, to write a summary of what daily life was like for the people living in a military fort. How do we know? What else can you find?

Featured Sources 2

Read featured sources A-B. In a group or as a class, answer the following questions: What type of sources are they (letters, photos, maps, diaries, etc.)? What kind of information do they contain? Who created each of these sources? Who was the intended audience for each source? Why were these sources created? When were the sources created? What do the sources tell us about Dakota Territory during that time? How do we know? What else can you find?

Source A

Wales, Martha Gray. “When I Was a Little Girl: Things I Remember from Living at Frontier Military Posts.” North Dakota History Vol. 50.2:12-22 (1983).
Source B

Kelly, Carla. “’The Buffalo Carcass on the Company Sink’: Sanitation at a Frontier Army Fort.” North Dakota History Vol. 69.2-4:50-59 (2002).