**Conflict on the Border**

Middle School Education Program

**A Dragoon's Tale**

# Pre-Visit Instructions

This program is designed to acquaint the students with the issues
related to westward expansion in the 1840s. The program also
familiarizes them with the types of people involved and with the role
that Fort Scott played in this expansion.

The program will include a map review and three different role playing
scenarios. The scenarios are based on a fictitious dragoon officer's
reminiscences of his adventures in the 1840s. The scenarios are based on
actual historical events.

-   The first scenario takes place on the Santa Fe Trail. Fourteen
    characters will be involved: a dragoon officer, a Santa Fe trader,
    Jacob Snively, a dragoon sergeant, five dragoon privates, and five
    Texas "freebooters", one of whom has a speaking role. The Santa Fe
    trader is talking to the dragoon soldier when he sees the Texas
    freebooters who have been harassing trade along the trail.

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-   In the second scenario, the same dragoon is now out on the Oregon
    Trail, escorting a group of pioneers who are headed west. His task
    is to patrol the trail and to meet with Indians along the route. In
    this scenario he will be talking to a group of pioneers when he sees
    a group of Indians in the distance. The scene then flashes to where
    the Indians are and tracks their discussion. In this scenario, the
    characters are: dragoon officer, the Oregon pioneers, and the Pawnee
    Indians.

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-   The third scenario is a fictitious encounter that takes place
    shortly after the Battle of Buena Vista between a dragoon officer
    and a Mexican lancer. The ensuing dialogue is a discussion of the
    issues involved in the Mexican War. The characters are: dragoon
    officer and Mexican lancer.

In summary, the student roles to be assigned are:

[Act]{.underline} [1]{.underline} -- 14 roles [Act]{.underline}
[2]{.underline} -- 11 roles [Act]{.underline} [3]{.underline} -- 2 roles

dragoon officer for Act 1 dragoon officer for Act 2 dragoon officer for
Act 3

Santa Fe trader Oregon pioneers -- Mexican lancer

Jacob Snively 2 men, 2 women

dragoon sergeant Pawnee chief

Texas freebooter-speaking role 5 Pawnee Indians

4 other freebooters

5 dragoon privates

**Please assign these roles to your students and inform them of their
assignments before your visit.** It may also be helpful to read through
the play once with the students.

Other speaking roles are the [narrator]{.underline} and the
[dragoon]{.underline} [officer]{.underline} [who]{.underline}
[is]{.underline} [reminiscing]{.underline}.

The presenter will be the narrator. A teacher will be assigned the
dragoon officer's role.

The following are vocabulary words from "A Dragoon's Tale" that you may
wish to review:

1.  demise -- the downfall or the end of something

2.  reminisce -- to think back or to reflect on something

3.  parasol -- a fancy umbrella

4.  caravan -- a group of wagons or other wheeled vehicles

5.  freebooter -- a person who raided the booty of wagons without paying
    for the items

6.  confiscate -- to take hold of someone else's possessions while
    claiming legal authority to do so

7.  Willamette -- the name of the most prosperous valley in Oregon

8.  Sioux -- an Indian tribe of the northern plains

9\. howitzer -- a small artillery piece designed for easy movement in
mountainous terrain

10\. senorita -- the Spanish-Mexican word for an unmarried woman