FORT LARAMIE — Fort Laramie National Historic Site received six handmade quilts this week, bringing a touch of warmth and authenticity to the historic cavalry barracks where soldiers once slept far from home.

The quilts, crafted in Civil War-era fabrics and patterns, will be displayed in the barrack’s squad bay to represent the comfort items that soldiers would have treasured during their service on the frontier.

The donation fulfills a long-held vision for the historic site’s barracks display.

“I had thought many a time about the lack of quilts inside the barracks-that humanistic link to family, home and loved ones that every soldier, both past and present, cherish. Quilts of today, as those of the past, tell intangible stories as defined and cherished as the fabric they are constructed from,” Chief of Interpretation & Visitor Services, Casey Osback said.

Vickie Lewis, a local quilter with 30 years of experience, created the quilt tops specifically for the Fort. She designed them to represent the utilitarian quilts that soldiers would have received from family members.

“When I picked up quilting, it just kind of consumed me,” Lewis said. “I love the Civil War era fabrics. These quilts themselves, I have four of them that were already like large lap quilts, but I extended them to more like a cot quilt size – about 40 by 80 or 42 by 80 inches.”

Lewis collaborated with fellow quilters Jackie Van Mark, who handled the quilting, and Jeanine Jones, who added the finishing touches. The work was completed at Sew Addicting, a local quilt store, with the quilters donating their time and expertise.

The quilts feature period-appropriate patterns including half-square triangles in chevron designs and simple five-inch squares that showcase a variety of Civil War-era fabric reproductions in colors like chrome yellow, madder red and poison green.

“There were some quilters back in that era that really did fancier stuff,” Lewis said. “Most of the soldiers might have been more from the farm or not such a privileged background – more of homespun or simpler quilt patterns. They weren’t going to make heirloom quilts. They were more utilitarian quilts.”

Jennifer Lanier, a quilt coordinator who assisted with the project, noted the personal nature of such items during the Civil War period.

“Vickie was thinking that each soldier would have been sent one by their wife or mother or sister, so they would all be different,” Lanier said. “There wouldn’t be any uniformity.”

The quilts will be strategically displayed to reflect how soldiers would have used them during their daily lives at the fort.

“During the week soldiers more than likely would have had the quilts on or near their wrought iron composite bunks inside the dormitory squad bays. However, toward latter week, soldiers policed the barracks preparing for the weekly inspections held on Sundays. They would have secured their cherished quilts and other personalized items from home in storage areas and placed issued wool U.S. Army blankets on the bunks.”

Site Superintendent Mark Davison confirmed the quilts would be installed immediately, adding what Osback called “that humanistic kind of emotional standpoint” to the barracks display.

Lewis, who was among several quilters who created nearly 200 quilts for Wyoming National Guard families in December, said the connection between past and present military service made the donation meaningful.

Fort Laramie National Historic Site, established in 1938, preserves the dynamic history of the American West near the confluence of the Laramie and North Platte Rivers. The site interprets the roles and significance of the diverse and vibrant cultures that interacted at this crossroads of the West between 1834 and 1890.