Assorted facts and photos

Normally fortified by a Civil War diet of wormy hard bread and salt junk, the garrison is keen on fresh meat of any kind. Consequently, Supersize Fort Apache boasts one of the largest herds of swine west of the Mississippi. (Kepis off to the commissary!) Civilians tend to the oblivious brutes, several of which are humanely dispatched, spitted and slow-roasted over a bed of hardwood coals every month. Fort sutler Jean Toquard - background, in yellow hunting shirt (a.k.a. "rifle dress") - watches as his common law wife, Rachel, slops the hogs. Toquard's small, log shop is slightly behind, to the viewer's left. Troops buy assorted sundries there, such as canned milk, tinned lobster and dried fruits - but positively no spirits of any kind can be sold inside the fort itself.

A garden supplies additional variety to the troops' diet. During a recent morale-boosting visit, President Lincoln kept fort gardener Hortense Schleibler company as she tended to the corn, turnips and cabbage.