3 the us cavalry was sent in to maintain some

3. The U.S. Cavalry was sent in to maintain some semblance of order. By the 1890’s this temporary
arrangement had become permanent.
4. According to Schullery, if the Army hadn’t been sent in, Yellowstone wouldn’t have made it. How
did soldiers deal with people who left their names and other graffiti on the landmarks? Made
them scrub their names off
5. The army was hampered by the fact that the federal park existed in something of a legal no-
man‘s-land; usually their only recourse was a warning, or in the most serious cases, expulsion
from the park.
6. The cavalry was also in charge of the nation’s three other national parks. Each spring, troops
stationed at the Presidio in San Francisco would make the two-week, 250-mile ride to the Sierras
and patrol the three parks during the summer season. Some of them were African-Americans—
the celebrated Buffalo Soldiers who had made a name for themselves in the Indian wars.

7. Their commander was Captain Charles Young, born into slavery in Kentucky, whose father had
escaped bondage during the Civil War to enlist in the Union army. Young followed his father’s
example of military service. What was noteworthy about his achievements? 3
rd
black man to
gradate from West Point and the 1
st
to be in charge of a National Park
8. As Superintendent of Sequoia, what did Captain Young have his men do during the summer
months that encouraged access to the park and also helped to protect it? Complete first wagon
road into the forest, built trail to Whitney, erected fences around trees, etc.
9. Like their counterparts at Yellowstone, the troops in California had to operate without clear legal
authority and therefore invented techniques to protect their parks. Explain what they did. Held
visitor’s rifles during their visits, move sheep to east and herders to west for illegal grazing
10. No one was more thankful for the Army’s presence than John Muir .
11. John Muir wrote, “Through all the wonderful, eventful centuries since Christ’s time—and long
before that—God has cared for these trees, saved them from drought, disease, avalanches, and
a thousand straining, leveling tempests and floods; but he cannot save them from fools—only
Uncle Sam can do that.”
12. In 1892, to help promote Yosemite’s protection, Muir and a small group of prominent
Californians formed a new organization. What did they call it? The Sierra Club
13. Who served as its president? John Muir
Episode 2, Chapter 5
“For Ourselves and Our Children”
1. By the 1890s, few Americans understood as keenly as George Bird Grinnell how fearful the price
had been for the nation’s relentless expansion across the continent. He was raised on the estate
of the famous painter and naturalist John James Audubon. Travelling across Kansas, he had once
encountered a buffalo herd so vast that his train was forced to stop for three hours while the
beasts crossed the tracks.