 3. of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871, 1888. 3. of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871, 1888, by Francis Rowe, Section 3, Letters from 1872, Part 2. Camp Supply Indian Territory, May 1872. This place is quite as dreadful as it has been represented to us. There are more troops here than at Fort Lyon, and of course the post is very much larger. There are two troops of colored cavalry, one of white cavalry, and three companies of infantry. The infantry companies that have been stationed here, and which our three companies have come to relieve, will start in the morning for their new station, and will use the transportation that brought us down. Consequently it was necessary to unload all the things from our wagons early this morning, so they could be turned over to the outgoing troops. I am a little curious to know if there is a second lieutenant, who will be so unfortunate as to be allowed only one half of a wagon in which to carry his household goods. Their going will leave vacant a number of Officer's Quarters, therefore there will be no selection of quarters by our officers until tomorrow. They is next to the junior, so there will be very little left to select from by the time his turn comes. The quarters are really nothing more than huts, built of vertical logs plastered in between with mud, and the roofs are of poles and mud. Many of the rooms have only sand floors. We dined last evening with Captain and Mrs. Vincent of the Cavalry, and were amazed to find that such wretched buildings could be made so attractive inside. But of course they have one of the very best houses on the line, and as Company Commander, Captain Vincent can have done about what he wants, and then again they are but recently married, and all their furnishings are new and handsome. There is one advantage in being with colored troops. One can always have good servants. Mrs. Vincent has an excellent colored soldier cook, and her butler was thoroughly trained as such before he enlisted. It did look so funny, however, to see a black man in a blue uniform. The march down from Fort Dodge was most uncomfortable the first two days. It poured and poured rain, and then poured more rain, until finally everybody and everything was soaked through. I felt so sorry for the men who had to march in the sticky mud. Their shoes filled fast with water, and they were compelled constantly to stop, take them off, and pour out the water. It cleared at last and the sun shone warm and bright. And then there was another exhibition in camp one afternoon of clothing and bedding, drawing on guy ropes. All the way down I was on the lookout for Indians, and was laughed at many a time for doing so, too. Every time something unusual was seen in the distance, some bright person would immediately exclaim, Oh, that is only one of Mrs. Ray's Indians. I said very little about what I saw during the last day or two, for I felt that the constant teasing must have become as wearison to the others as it had to me. But I am still positive that I saw the black heads of Indians on the top of ever so many hills we passed. When they wished to see and not be seen they crawl up a hill on the side farthest from you, but only far enough up to enable them to look over, and in this position they will remain for hours, perfectly motionless, watching your every movement. Unless you notice the hill very carefully you will never see the black dot on top, for only the eyes and upper part of the head are exposed. I had been told all this many times, also that when in an Indian country to be most watchful when Indians are not to be seen. Our supply is certainly in an Indian country, for it is surrounded by Comanches, Apaches, Kiwas, Cheyennes, and Arapahos, each a hostile tribe except the last. No one can go a rod from the garrison without an escort, and our weekly mail is brought down in a wagon and guarded by a corporal and several privates. Only last week two couriers, soldiers, who had been sent down with dispatches from Fort Dodge, were found dead on the road, both shot in the back, probably without having been given one chance to defend themselves. We are in camp on low land just outside the post, and last night we were almost washed away again by the downpouring rain, and this morning there is mud everywhere, and this is the country that is supposed never to have rain. Mrs. Vincent invited me most cordially to come to her house until we at least know what quarters we were to have, and Captain Vincent came early today to insist upon my going up at once, but I really could not go. We have been in rain and mud so long, I feel that I am in no way fit to go to anyone's house. Besides, it would seem selfish in me to desert Faye, and he of course would not leave the company as long as it is intense. We are delighted at finding such charming people as the Vincent's at this horrid place. End of letter. Camp Supply Indian Territory June 1872 We are in our own house now, and almost settled. When one has only a few pieces of furniture it does not take long to get them in place. It is impossible to make the rooms look home like, and I often find myself wondering where in this world I have wandered to. The house is of logs, of course, and has a pole and dirt roof, and was built originally for an officer's mess. The dining room is large and very long, a part of which we have partitioned off with a piece of canvas and converted into a storeroom. We had almost to get down on our knees to the quartermaster before he would give us the canvas. He is in the quartermaster's department and is most arrogant, seems to think that every nail and tack is his own personal property and for his exclusive use. Our dining room has a sand floor, and almost every night little white toadstools grow up all along the base of the log walls. All of the logs are of cottonwood and have the bark on, and the army of bugs that hide underneath the bark during the day and march upon us at night is to be dreaded about as much as a whole tribe of Indians. I wrote you how everyone laughed at me on the march down. Because I was positive I saw heads of Indians on the sand hills so many times. Well, all that has ceased, and the mention of Mrs. Ray's Indians is carefully avoided. There has been sad proof that the Indians were there, also that they were watching us closely and kept near us all the way down from Fort Dodge, hoping for a favorable opportunity to steal the animals. The battalion of the Dash Infantry had made only two days march from here and the herders had just turned the horses and mules out to graze when a band of Cheyenne Indians swooped down upon them and stampeded every animal, leaving the companies without even one mule. The poor things are still in camp on the prairie, waiting for something, anything, to move them on. General Phillips is mightily pleased that the Indians did not succeed in getting the animals from his command, and I am pleased that they cannot tease me any more. My ride with Lieutenant Golden, Faye's classmate this morning, was very exciting for a time. We started directly after stable call, which is at six o'clock. Lieutenant Golden rode dandy, his beautiful thoroughbred, that reminds me so much of Lieutenant Baldwin's tome, and I rode a troop horse that had never been ridden by a woman before. As soon as he was led up I noticed that there was much white to be seen in his eyes, and that he was restless and ever pawing the ground. But they orderly said he was not vicious, and he was sure I could ride him. He did not object in the least to my skirt, and we started off in fine style, but before we reached the end of the line he gave two or three pulls at the bit, and then bolted. My arms are remarkably strong, but they were like a child's against that hard mouth. He turned the corner sharply and carried me along, back of the Laundice's quarters, where there was a perfect network of clothes lines, and where I fully expected to be swept from the saddle. But I managed to avoid them by putting my head down close to the horse's neck Indian fashion. He was not a very large horse, and lowered himself, of course, by his terrific pace. He went like the wind, on and up the hill in front of the guard house. There a sentry was walking post, and on his big infantry rifle was a long bayonet. And the poor man, in his desire to do something for me, ran forward and held the gun horizontally, right in front of my horse, which caused him to give a fearful lunge to the right and down the hill. How I managed to keep my seat I do not know, and neither do I know how that mad horse kept right side up on that down jump. But it did not seem to disturb him in the least, for he never slackened his speed, and on we went toward the stables, where the cavalry horses were tied to long picket ropes, and close together getting their morning grooming. All this time Lieutenant Golden had not attempted to overtake me, fearing that by doing so he might make matters worse. But when he saw that the horse was running straight for his place on the line, he pushed forward and, grasping my bridle-rain, almost pulled the horse on his haunches. He said later that I might have been kicked to death by the two horses, if I had been rushed in among them. We went to the stables, Lieutenant Golden leading my horse, and you can fancy how mortified I was over that performance, and it was really unnecessary too. Lieutenant Golden, also the sergeant, advised me to dismount and try another horse. But I said no, I would ride that one if I could have a severe bit and my saddle girth tightened. Dismount before Lieutenant Golden, a cavalry officer and phased classmate, and all those staring troopers, I, the wife of an infantry officer, never. It was my first experience with a runaway horse, but I had kept a firm seat all the time. There was some consolation in that thought. Well, to my great relief and comfort, it was discovered that the chin-chain that is on all cavalry bits had been left off, and this had made the kerb simply a straight bit and wholly ineffective. The sergeant fastened the chain on, and it was made tight too, and he tightened the girths and saw that everything was right. And then Lieutenant Golden and I started on our ride the second time. I expected trouble as the horse was then leaving his stable and companions, but when he commenced to back and shake his head I let him know that I held a nice stinging whip, and that soon stopped the balking. We had to pass three long picket lines of horses and almost two hundred troopers, every one of whom stared at me with both eyes. It was embarrassing, of course, but I was glad to let the whole line of them see that I was capable of managing my own horse, which was still very frisky. I knew very well too that the sergeant's angry roar when he asked who bridled this horse had been heard by many of them. Our ride was very delightful after all its exciting beginning, and we are going again tomorrow morning. I want to let those troopers see that I am not afraid to ride the horse they selected for me. I shall be so glad when Hal is large enough to go with me. He is growing fast, but at present seems to be mostly legs. He is devoted to me, but I regret to say that he and our old soldier cook are not the dearest friends. Fiddly is so stupid he cannot appreciate the cunning things the little dog does. Hal is fed mush and milk only until he gets his second teeth, and consequently he is wild about meat. The odor of a broiling beef steak the other day was more than he could resist. So he managed to get his freedom by slipping his collar over his head, and rushing into the kitchen snatched the sizzling steak and was out again before Fiddly could collect his few wits and get across the room to stop him. The meat was so hot it burned his mouth and he howled from the pain, but drop it he did not until he was far from the cook. This I consider very plucky in so young a dog. Fiddly ran after the little hound yelling and swearing and I ran after Fiddly to keep him from beating my dog. Of course we did not have beef steak that day, but as I told Faye it was entirely Fiddly's fault. He should have kept watch of things and not made it possible for Hal to kill himself by eating a whole big steak. Yesterday Lieutenant Golden came into luncheon and when we went in the dining room I saw at once that things were wrong, very wrong. A polished table is an unknown luxury down here, but fresh table linen we do endeavor to have. But the cloth on the table yesterday was a sight to behold, with big spots of dirt all along one side and dirt on top. Fiddly came in the room just as I reached the table and I said, Fiddly, what has happened here? He gave one look at the cloth where I pointed and then striking his knuckles together almost sobbed out, . . . damn dog-mum. Faye and Lieutenant Golden quickly left the room to avoid hearing any more remarks of that kind for it was really very dreadful in Fiddly to use such language. This left me alone, of course, to pacify the cook, which I found no easy task. Old Fiddly had pickled a choice buffalo tongue with much care and secrecy and had served it for luncheon yesterday as a great surprise and treat. There was the platter on the table, but there could be no doubt of its having been licked clean. Not one tiny piece of tongue could be seen any place. The window was far up and in vain did I try to convince everyone that a strange dog had come in and stolen the meat, that Howe was quite too small to have reached so far. But Fiddly only looked cross and Faye looked hungry, so I gave that up. Before night, however, there was trouble and a very sick puppy in the house and once again I thought he would die. And every few minutes that disagreeable old cook would come in and ask about the dog and say he was afraid he could not get well, always with a grin on his face that was exasperating. Finally I told him that if he had served only part of the tongue as he should have done the dog would not have been so ill and we could have had some of it. That settled the matter. He did not come in again. Fiddly has served several enlistments and is regarded as an old soldier and once upon a time he was cooked for the Colonel of the Regiment. Therefore he sometimes forgets himself and becomes aggressive. I do not wonder that Howe dislikes him. And Howe dislikes Indians too and will often hear their low mumbling and give little growls before I dream that one is near. They have a disagreeable way of coming to the windows and staring in, sometimes before you have heard a sound you will be conscious of an uncomfortable feeling and looking around you will discover five or six Indians, large and small, peering at you through the windows. Each ugly nose pressed flat against the glass. It is enough to drive one mad. You never know when they are about. Their tread is so stealthy with their moccasin feet. They is officer of the guard every third day now. This sounds rather nice but it means that every third day and night, exactly twenty-four hours, he has to spend at the guard-house, accepting when making the rounds, that is, visiting sentries on post, and is permitted to come to the house just long enough to eat three hurried meals. This is doing duty, and would be all right if there were not a daily mingling of white and colored troops which often brings a colored sergeant over a white corporal and privates. But the most unpleasant part for the officer of the guard is that the partition in between the officer's room and guard room is of logs, unchinked and very open, and the weather is very hot, and the bugs which keep us all in perpetual warfare in our houses have full sway there, going from one room to the other. The officers say that the Negroes make good soldiers and fight like fiends. They certainly manage to stick on their horses like monkeys. The Indians call them buffalo soldiers, because their woolly heads are so much like the matted cushion that is between the horns of the buffalo. We had letters from dear old Fort Lyon yesterday, and the news about Lieutenant Baldwin is not encouraging. He is not improving, and Dr. Wilder is most anxious about him. But a man as big and strong as he was must certainly get well in time. End of Letter Camp Supply, Indian Territory, June 1872 It seems as if I had to write constantly of unpleasant occurrences. But what else can I do since unpleasant occurrences are ever coming along? This time I must tell you that Faye has been turned out of quarters, ranked out as it is spoken of in the army. But it all amounts to the same thing, and means that we have been driven out of our house and home, bag and baggage, because a captain wanted that one set of quarters. Call it what one chooses, the experience was not pleasant, and will be long remembered. Being turned out was bad enough in itself, but the manner in which it was done was humiliating in the extreme. We had been in the house only three weeks, and had worked so hard during that time to make it all comfortable. Finley wanted to tear down the canvas partition in the dining-room when we left the house, and I was sorry later on that I had not consented to his doing so. One morning at ten o'clock I received a note from Faye, written at the guard-house, saying that his set of quarters had been selected by a cavalry officer who had just arrived at the post, and that every article of ours must be out of the house that day by one o'clock. Also that as he was officer of the guard it would be impossible for him to assist me in the least, except to send some enlisted men to move the things. At first I was dazed and wholly incapable of comprehending the situation. It seemed so preposterous to expect anyone to move everything out of a house in three hours, but as soon as I recovered my senses I saw at once that not one second of the precious time must be wasted, and that the superintendents of the whole thing had fallen upon me. So I gathered my forces, and the four men started to work in a way that showed they would do everything in their power to help me. All that was possible for us to do, however, was almost to throw things out in a side-yard, for remember, please, we had only three short hours in which to move everything, and this without warning or preparation of any kind. All things big and small were out by one o'clock and just in time, too, to avoid a collision with the colored soldiers of the incoming cavalry officer who commenced taking furniture and boxes in the house at precisely that hour. Of course there was no hotel or even restaurant for me to go to, and I was too proud and too indignant to beg shelter in the house of a friend. In fact I felt as if I had no friend. So I sat down on a chair in the yard with the little dog by me, thinking I remember that the chair was our own property and no one had a right to object to my being there, and I also remember that the whole miserable affair brought to mind most vividly scenes of eviction that had been illustrated in the papers from time to time, when poor women had been evicted for non-payment of rent. Just as I had reached the very lowest depths of misery and woe Mrs. Vincent appeared, and Faye almost immediately after, we three went to Mrs. Vincent's house for luncheon, and in fact I remained there until we came to this house. She had just heard of what had happened and hastened down to me. Captain Vincent said it was entirely the fault of the commanding officer for permitting such a disgraceful order to leave his office, that Captain Park's family could have remained one night longer intense here as they had been in camp every night on the road from Fort Sill. There came a ludicrous turn to all this unpleasantness. Or, by the ranking out of one junior second lieutenant, six or more captains and first lieutenants had to move. It was great fun the next day to see the moving up and down the officer's line of all sorts of household goods, for it showed that a poor second lieutenant was of some importance after all. But I am getting on too fast. Faye, of course, was entitled to two rooms, some place in the post, but it seems that the only quarters he could take were those occupied by Lieutenant Cole. So Faye decided at once to go into tents himself, in preference to compelling Lieutenant Cole to do so. Now it so happened that the Inspector General of the Department was in the garrison, and as soon as he learned the condition of affairs he ordered the post-quartermaster to double two sets of quarters, that is, make four sets out of two, and designated the quartermaster's own house for one of the two. But Major Knox divided off two rooms that no one could possibly occupy, and in consequence has still all of his large house. But the other large set that was doubled was occupied by a senior captain, who when his quarters were reduced in size, claimed a new choice, and so turning another captain out, the ranking out went on down to a second lieutenant. But no one took our old house from Captain Park much to my disappointment, and he still has it. The house that we are in now is built of cedar logs, and was the commanding officer's house at one time. It has a long hall running through the center, and on the left side Major Hunt and his family have the four rooms, and we have the two on the right. Our kitchen is across the yard, and was a chicken house not so very long ago. It has no floor, of course, so we had loads of dirt dug out and all filled in again with clean white sand, and now, after the log walls have been scraped and whitened, and a number of new shelves put up, it is really quite nice. Our sleeping-room has no canvas on the walls inside, and much of the chinking has fallen out, leaving big holes, and I never have a light in that room after dark fearing that Indians might shoot me through those holes. They are skulking about the post all the time. We have another cook now, a soldier, of course, and one that is rather inexperienced. General Phillips ordered Finley back to the company, saying he was much needed there, but he was company-cooked just one day when he was transferred to the general's own kitchen. Comment is unnecessary. But it is all for the best, I am sure, for Farrar is very fond of Howe, and sees how intelligent he is just as I do. The little dog is chained to a kennel all the time now, and, like his mistress, is trying to become dignified. Ray was made post-agentant this morning, which we consider rather complementary, since the post-commander is in the cavalry, and there are a number of cavalry lieutenants here. General Dickinson is a polished old gentleman, and his wife a very handsome woman, who looks almost as young as her daughter. Miss Dickinson, the general's older daughter, is very pretty and a fearless writer. In a few days we, too, are to commence our morning rides. How funny that I should have forgotten to tell you that I have a horse! At least I hope he will look like a horse when he has gained some flesh and lost much long hair. He is an Indian pony of very good size, and has a well-shaped head and slender little legs. He has a fox trot, which is wonderfully easy, and which he apparently can keep up indefinitely, and, like all Indian horses, can run like a deer. So altogether he will do very well for this place, where rides are necessarily curtailed. I call him Cheyenne, because we bought him of Little Raven, a Cheyenne chief. I shall be so glad when I can ride again, as I have missed so much the rides and grand hunts at Fort Lyon. Later, the mail is just in, and letters have come from Fort Lyon telling us of the death of Lieutenant Baldwin. It is dreadful, and seems impossible. They write that he became more and more despondent, until finally it was impossible to rouse him sufficiently to take an interest in his own life. Faye and I have lost a friend, a real true friend. A brother could not have been kinder, more considerate than he was to both of us, always. How terribly he must have grieved over the ruin of the horse he was so proud of, and loved so well! End of letter Camp Supply, Indian Territory, September 1872 The heat here is still intense, and it never rains, so everything is parched to a crisp. The river is very low, and the water so full of alkali that we are obliged to boil every drop before it is used for drinking or cooking, and even then it is so distasteful that we flavor it with sugar of lemons so we can drink it at all. Fresh lemons are unknown here, of course. The ice is given out, but we manage to cool the water a little by keeping it in bottles and canteens down in the dugout cellar. Miss Dickinson and I continue our daily rides, but go out very early in the morning. We have an orderly now, as General Dickinson considers it unsafe for us to go without an escort since we were chased by an Indian the other day. That morning the little son of General Phillips was with us, and as it was not quite as warm as usual, we decided to canter down the sunflower road a little way, a road that runs to the crossing of Wolf Creek through an immense field of wild sunflowers. These sunflowers grow to a tremendous height in this country, so tall that sometimes you cannot see over them even when on horseback. Just across the creek there is a village of Apache Indians, and as these Indians are known to be hostile, this particular road is considered rather unsafe. But we rode on down a mile or more without seeing a thing, and had just turned our pony's head's homeward when little Groot, who is back of us, called out that an Indian was coming. That was startling, but upon looking back we saw that he was a long distance away and coming leisurely, so we did not pay much attention to him. But Groot was more watchful and very soon screamed, Mrs. Ray, Mrs. Ray, the Indian is coming fast, he's going to catch us! And then, without wasting time by looking back, we started our ponies with a bound that put them at their best pace, poor little Groot lashing his most unmercifully, and crying out every minute, he'll catch us, he'll catch us! That the Indian was on a fleet pony and was gaining upon us was very evident. And what might have happened had we not soon reached the settler's store no one can tell. But we did get there just as he caught up with us, and as we drew in our panting horses that hideous savage rode up in front of us and circled twice around us, his pony going like a whirlwind, and in order to keep his balance the Indian leaned far over on one side, his head close to the pony's neck. He said how, with a fiendish grin, that showed how thoroughly he was enjoying our frightened faces, and then turned his fast little beast back to the sunflower road. Of course, as long as the road to the post was clear, we were in no very great danger, as our ponies were fast. But if that savage could have passed us and gotten in between him and the Apache village, we would have lost our horses if not our lives, for turning off through the sunflowers would have been an impossibility. The very next morning I think it was, one of the government mules wandered away, and two of the drivers went in search of it, but not finding it in the post, one of the men suggested that they should go to the river where the post animals are watered. It is a fork of the Canadian river, and is just over a little sand hill, not one quarter of a mile back of the quarters, but not in the direction of the sunflower road. The other man, however, said he would not go, that it was not safe, and came back to the corral, so the one who proposed going went on alone. Time passed and the man did not return, and finally a detail was sent out to look him up. They went directly to the river, and there they found him, just on the other side of the hill, dead. He had been shot by some fiendish Indian soon after leaving his companion. The mule has never been found, and is probably in a faraway Indian village, where he braised in vain for the big rations of corn he used to get at the government corral. Last Monday, soon after luncheon, forty or fifty Indians came rushing down the drive in front of the officers' quarters, frightening some of us almost out of our senses. Where they came from no one could tell, for not one century had seen them until they were near the post. They rode past the houses like mad creatures and on out to the company gardens, where they made their ponies trample and destroy every growing thing. Only a few vegetables will mature in this soil and climate, but melons are often very good, and this season the gardeners had taken much pains with a crop of fine watermelons that were just beginning to ripen. But not one of these was spared, every one was broken and crushed by the little hoofs of the ponies, which seemed to enjoy viciousness of this kind as much as the Indians themselves. A company of infantry was sent at once to the gardens, but it was not quite possible for the men to outrun the ponies, the mischief had been done before they got there, and all they could do was to force them back at the point of the bayonet. Infantry was ordered out also to drive them away, but none of the troops were allowed to fire upon them, and that the Indians knew very well, it might have brought on an uprising. It seems that the Indians were almost all young bucks out for a frolic, but quite ready officers say for any kind of devilment. They rode around the post three or four times at breakneck speed, each circle being larger and taking them further away. By last they all started for the hills and gradually disappeared, all but one, a sentinel, who could be seen until dark, sitting his pony on the highest hill. I presume there were dozens of Indians on the sandhills around the post, peeking over to see how the fun went on. They seemed to be watching the post every second of the day, ready to pounce upon any unprotected thing that ventures forth, be it man or beast, at almost any time two or three black dots can be seen on the top of the white sandhills, and one wonders how they can lie for hours in the hot, scorching sand with the sun beating down on their heads and backs, and all the time their tough little ponies will stand near them down the hill, scarcely moving or making a sound. Some scouts declare that an Indian pony never winnies or sneezes, but that seems absurd, although some of those little beasts show wonderful intelligence and appear to have been apt pupils in treachery. End of Letter Camp Supply, Indian Territory, October, 1872 This place is becoming more dreadful each day, and every one of the awful things I feared might happen here seems to be coming to pass. Night before last the post was actually attacked by Indians. It was about one o'clock when the entire garrison was awakened by rifle shots and cries of Indians, Indians! There was pandemonium at once, the long roll was beaten on the infantry drums and boots and saddles sounded by the cavalry bugles, and these are the calls that startle all who hear them and strike terror in the heart of every army woman. They mean that something is wrong, very wrong, and demand the immediate report for duty at their respective companies of every officer and man in the garrison. They jumped into his uniform and, saying a hasty goodbye, ran to his company, as did all the other officers, and very soon we could hear the shouting of orders from every direction. Our house is at the extreme end of the officer's line and very isolated. Therefore Mrs. Hunt and I were left in a most deplorable condition, with three little children, one a mere baby, to take care of. We put them all in one bed and covered them as well as we could without a light, which we did not dare have, of course. Then we saw that all the doors and windows were fastened on both sides. We decided that it would be quite impossible for us to remain shut up inside the house, so we dressed our feet, put on long waterproof coats over our nightgowns as quickly and silently as possible, and then we sat down on the steps of the front door to await we knew not what. I had firm hold of a revolver and felt exceedingly grateful all the time that I had been taught so carefully how to use it, not that I had any hope of being able to do more with it than kill myself if I fell in the hands of a fiendish Indian. I believe that Mrs. Hunt, however, was almost as much afraid of the pistol as she was of the Indians. Ten minutes after the shots were fired there was perfect silence throughout the garrison, and we knew absolutely nothing of what was taking place around us. Not one word did we dare even whisper to each other, our only means of communication being through our hands. The night was intensely dark and the air was close, almost suffocating. In this way we sat for two terrible hours ever on the alert, ever listening for the stealthy tread of a moccasin foot at the corner of the house, and then just before dawn when we were almost exhausted by the great strain on our strength and nerves our husbands came. They told us that a company of infantry had been quite near us all the time, and that a troop of cavalry had been constantly patrolling around the post. I cannot understand how such perfect silence was maintained by the troops, particularly the cavalry, horses usually managed to sneeze at such times. There is always a sentry at our corner of the garrison, and it was this sentinel who was attacked, and it is the general belief among the officers that the Indians came to this corner hoping to get the troops concentrated at the beat furthest from the stables, and thus give them a chance to steal some, if not all, of the cavalry horses. But Mr. Redman's strategy is not quite equal to that of the great father's soldiers, or he would have known that troops would be sent at once to protect the horses. There were a great many pony tracks to be seen in the sand the next morning, and there was a mounted sentinel on a hill a mile or so away. It was amusing to watch him through a powerful field glass, and we wished that he could know just how his every movement could be seen. He sat there on his pony for hours, both Indian and horse apparently perfectly motionless. But with his face always turned toward the post, ready to signal to his people the slightest movement of the troops. Face says that the colored troops were real soldiers that night, alert and plucky. I can readily believe that some of them can be alert, and possibly good soldiers, and that they can be good thieves too. For last Saturday night they stole from us the commissary stores we had expected to last us one week. Everything, in fact, except coffee, sugar, and such things that we kept in the kitchen where it is dry. The commissary is open Saturday mornings only, at which time we are requested to purchase all supplies we will need from there for the following week, and as we have no fresh vegetables whatever, and no meat except beef, we are very dependent upon the canned goods and other things in the commissary. Last Saturday Mrs. Hunt and I sent over as usual, and most of the supplies were put in a little dugout cellar in the yard that we used together, she having one side, I the other. On Sunday morning Ferrar happened to be the first cook to go out for things for breakfast, and he found that the door had been broken open and the shelves as bare as mother hubbards. Everything had been carried off except a few candles on Mrs. Hunt's side and a few cakes of laundry soap on mine. The candles they had no use for, and the thieves were probably of a class that had no use for soap either. Our breakfast that morning was rather light, but as soon as word got abroad of our starving condition, true army hospitality and generosity manifested itself. We were invited out to luncheon, and to dinner, and to breakfast the next morning. You can see how like one big family a garrison can be, and how in times of trouble we go to each other's assistance. Of course now and then we have disagreeable persons with us, those who will give you only three hours to move out of your house, or who will order your cook from you. End of Letter. End of Section 3. Section 4 of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871, 1888. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Sue Anderson. Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871, 1888. By Francis Rowe. Section 4. Letters from 1873, Part 1. Camp Supply, Indian Territory, January, 1873. All that remained of Captain White was carried to the little cemetery yesterday. With all the military honors possible in such a faraway post, we have no chaplain. For one of the cavalry officers read the service for the dead at the house, just before the march to the cemetery. Almost all of the cavalry of the garrison was out, mounted, Captain White's own troop having the lead, of course, and the greater part of the infantry was out also, and there was a firing detail with guns reversed. The casket, covered with a large flag, was carried on a case on, and his horse, led by an orderly, was covered with a large blanket of black cloth. Over this was the saddle, and on top of the saddle rested his helmet, the yellow horsehair plume and gold trimmings looking soiled by long service. His saber was there, too, and strapped to the saddle on each side were his uniformed boots, toes in stirrups, all reversed. This riderless horse, with its paw of black, yellow helmet, and footless boots, was the saddest sight imaginable. I did not go to the cemetery, but we heard distinctly the firing of the three volleys over the grave, and the sounding of taps on the bugles. The garrison flag had been drawn to half-mast almost the moment of Captain White's death, but at the last sound of taps it was immediately pulled up to full-mast, and soon the troops came back to their quarters. The field music playing lively airs. This seemed so unnecessarily cruel, for Mrs. White must have heard every note, and she is still so wretchedly ill. The tiny baby has been taken from the house by the motherly wife of an officer, and the other tauts, four in all, are being cared for by others. We have all been taking turns and sitting up nights during the illness of husband and wife, and last night three of us were there. Captain Tillman and Faye in one room, and I with Mrs. White. It was a terrible night. Probably the one that has exacted or will exact the greatest self-control, as it was the one before the burial. In civil life a poor widow can often live right on in her old home, but in the army never. Mrs. White will have to give up the quarters just as soon as she and the little baby are strong enough to travel. She has been in a warm climate many years, and her friends are all in the north. So tomorrow a number of us are to commence making warm clothes for her and the children. She has absolutely nothing of the kind, and seems to be pitifully helpless and incapable of thinking for herself. Soon after I got home this morning and was trying to get a little sleep, I heard screams and an awful commotion across the hall in one of Mrs. Hunt's rooms, and running over to see what was the matter, I found Mrs. Hunt standing upon a chair and her cook running around like a madman with a stick of wood in his hand, upsetting furniture and whacking things generally. I naturally thought of a mouse, and not being afraid of them, I went on in and closed the door. I doubt if Mrs. Hunt saw me, she was so intently watching the man who kept on upsetting things. He stopped finally and then held up on the wood a snake, a dead rattlesnake. We measured it and it was over two feet long. You can see how the house is built by the photograph I sent you that there are no chimneys and that the stove pipes go straight up through the pole and sod roof. The children insist that the snake came down the pipe in the liveliest kind of way, so it must have crawled up the logs to the roof and finding the warmth of the pipe got too close to the opening and slipped through. However that may be he got into the room where the three little children were playing alone. Fortunately the oldest recognized the danger at once and ran screaming to her mother, the other two following. Mrs. Hunt was almost ill over the affair and Major Hunt kept a man on top and around the old house hunting for snakes until we began to fear it would be pulled down on our heads. This country itself is bad enough and the location of the post is most unfortunate, but to compel officers and men to live in these old huts of decaying, moldy wood which are reeking with malaria and alive with bugs and, perhaps, snakes is wicked. Officers' families are not obliged to remain here, of course. But at dreadful places like this is where the plucky army wife is most needed. Her very presence has often a refining and restraining influence over the entire garrison, from the commanding officer down to the last recruit. No one can as quickly grasp the possibilities of comfort in quarters like these or as bravely busy herself to fix them up. She knows that the stay is indefinite, that it may be for six months or possibly six years, but that matters not. It is her army home, Brass Button's home, and, however discouraging its condition may be, for his sake she pluckily and with wifely pride performs miracles, always making the house comfortable and attractive. End of Letter Fort Dodge, Kansas, January 1873 Our coming here was most unexpected and very unpleasant in every way. General Phillips and Major Barker quarreled over something, and Major Barker preferred charges against the general, who is his company commander, and now General Phillips is being tried here by General Court Marshall. They and I were summoned as witnesses by Major Barker, just because we heard a few words that were said in front of our window late one night. The Court has thoughtfully excused me from going into the courtroom, as I could only corroborate Faye's testimony. I am so relieved, for it would have been a terrible ordeal to have gone in that room, where all those offices are sitting in full dress uniform too, and General Phillips with them. I would have been too frightened to have remembered one thing, or to have known whether I was telling the truth or not. General Dickinson and Ben Dark, his interpreter, came up in the ambulance with us, and the poor general is now quite ill, the result of an ice bath in the Arkansas River. When we started to come across on the ice here at the Ford, the mule leaders broke through and fell down on the river bottom, and being mules not only refused to get up, but insisted upon keeping their noses under the water. The wheelers broke through too, but had the good sense to stand on their feet. But they gave the ambulance such a hard jerk that the front wheels broke off more ice and went down to the river bottom also. By the time all this had occurred I was the only one left inside, and found myself very busy trying to keep myself from slipping down under the front seat where water had already come in. General Dickinson and Fay were doing everything possible to assist them in. Just how it was accomplished would make too long a story to tell, but in a short time the leaders were dragged out and on their feet and the rear wheels of the ambulance let down on the river bottom, and then we were all pulled on the ice again and came on to the post in safety. All but General Dickinson, who undertook to hold out of the water the heads of the two leaders, who seemed determined to commit suicide by keeping their noses down, the general forgetting for once that he was commanding officer. But one of those government mules did not forget, and with a sudden jerk of his big head he pulled the general over and down from the ice into the water, and in such a way that he was wedged tight in between the two animals, one would have expected much objection on the part of the mules to the fishing out of the general, but those two mules kept perfectly still, apparently satisfied with the mischief that had already been done. I can fancy that there is one mule still chuckling over the fact of having gotten even with a commanding officer. It is quite warm now and the ice has gone out of the river, so there will be no trouble at the ford to-morrow when we start back. There is one company of FaZe Regiment stationed here, and the officer in command of the post is major of the Third, so we feel at home. We are staying with Lieutenant Harvey, who is making it very pleasant for us. Hall is with us, and is being petted by everybody, but most of all by the cavalry officers, some of whom have hunted with magic Hall's father. Last evening, while a number of us were sitting on the veranda after dinner, a large turkey gobbler came stalking down the drive in front of the officer's quarters. Hall was squatted down hound fashion at the top of the steps, and, of course, saw the gobbler at once. He never moved except to raise his ears a little, but I noticed that his eyes opened wider and wider, and could see that he was making an estimate of the speed of that turkey, and also making up his mind that it was his duty as a self-respecting hound to resent the ears that were being assumed by the queer thing with a red nose and only two legs. So as soon as the turkey passed, down he jumped after him and over him and around him, until really the poor thing looked about one half his former size. Then Hall got back of the turkey and waited for it to run, which it proceeded to do without loss of time, and then a funny race was on. I could have cried. I was so afraid Hall would injure the turkey, but everybody else laughed and watched as though it was the sporting event of the year, and they assured me that the dog would have to stop when he got to the very high gate at the end of the line, but they did not know that greyhound, for the gate gave him still another opportunity to show the thing that had wings to help its absurd legs along what a hound puppy could do. When they reached the gate the turkey went under, but the puppy went over, making a magnificent jump that landed him yards in advance of the turkey, thereby causing him the loss of the race, for before he could stop himself and turn the gobbler had very wisely hidden himself in a back yard. There was shouting and clapping of hands all along the line because of the beautiful jump of so young a dog, but I must confess that all I thought of just then was gratitude that my dog had not made an untimely plucking of somebody's turkey, for in this country a turkey is something rare and valuable. How came trotting back with his loftiest steps and tail high in the air evidently much pleased with his part in the entertainment? He is very tall now, and ran by the ambulance all the way up, and has been following me on my rides for some time. End of Letter Cimarron Redoubt, Kansas, January 1873 When Faye was ordered here I said at once that I would come to, and so I came. We are at a mail station, that is, where the relay mules are kept and where the mail wagon and escort remain overnight on their weekly trips from camp supply to Fort Dodge. A non-commissioned officer and ten privates are here all the time. The cause of Faye's being here is the contractor sending big trains of grain down to camp supply for the cavalry horses and other animals, and it was discovered that whisky was being smuggled to the Indians in the sacks of oats. So General Dickinson sent an officer to the Redoubt to inspect each sack as it is carried past by the ox-trains. Lieutenant Cole was the first officer to be ordered up, but the place did not agree with him, and at the end of three weeks he appeared at the post on a mail wagon, a very sick man, very sick indeed. In less than half an hour Faye was ordered to relieve him to finish Lieutenant Cole's tour in addition to his own detail of thirty days, which will give us a stay here of over five weeks. As soon as I heard of the order I announced that I was coming, but it was necessary to obtain the commanding officer's permission first. This seemed rather hopeless for a time, the General declaring that I would die in such a hole where I could have no comforts, but he did not say I should not come. Faye did not want to leave me alone at the post, but was afraid the life here would be too rough for me, so I decided the matter for myself and began to make preparations to come away, and that settled all discussion. We were obliged to start early the next morning, and there were only a few hours in which to get ready. Packing the mess-chest and getting commissary-stores occupied the most time, for after our clothing was put away the closing of the house was a farce, pew de bien, pew de soie. Farrar was permitted to come, and we brought Hau and the horse, so the family is still together. The redoubt is made of gunny sacks filled with sand, and is built on the principle of a permanent fortification in miniature, with bastions, flanks, curtains, and ditch, and has two pieces of artillery. The parapet is about ten feet high, upon the top of which a century walks all the time. This is technically correct, for Faye has just explained it all to me, so I could tell you about our castle on the plains. We have only two rooms for our own use, and these are partitioned off with vertical logs in one corner of the fortification, and our only roof is of canvas. When we first got here the dirt floor was very much like the side of a mountain, so sloping that we had difficulty in sitting upon the chairs. Faye had these made level at once, and fresh dry sand sprinkled everywhere. We are right in the heart of the Indian country, almost on the line between Kansas and the Indian territory, and are surrounded by any number of villages of hostile Indians. We are forty miles from camp supply, and about the same distance from Fort Dodge. The weather is delightful, sunny, and very warm. I was prevented from finishing this the other day by the coming of a dozen or more Rappahoe Indians, but as the mail does not go north until tomorrow morning, I can tell you of the more than busy time we have had since then. For two or three days the weather had been unseasonably warm, almost like summer, and one evening it was not only hot, but so sultry one wondered where all the air had gone. About midnight, however, a terrific wind came up, cold and piercing, and very soon snow began to fall, and then we knew we were having a Texas, norther, a storm that is feared by all old frontiersmen. Of course we were perfectly safe from the wind, for only a cyclone could tear down these thick walls of sand, but the snow sifted in every place between the logs of the inner wall, around the windows, and almost buried us, and the cold became intense. In the morning the logs of that entire wall from top to bottom were white inside with snow, and looked like a forest in the far north. The floor was covered with snow, and so was the foot of the bed. Our rooms were facing just right to catch the full force of the blizzard. The straightening out was exceedingly unpleasant, for a fire could not be started in either stove until after the snow had been swept out. But a few soldiers can work miracles at times, and this proved to be one of the times. I went over to the orderly room while they brushed and scraped everywhere and fixed us up nicely, and we were soon warm and dry. The norther continued twenty-four hours, and the cold is still freezing. All the wood inside was soon consumed, and the men were compelled to go outside the redoubt for it, and to split it too. The storm was so fierce and wholly blinding that it was necessary to fasten the end of a rope around the waist of each man as he went out, and tie the other end to the entrance gate, to prevent him from losing his direction and wandering out on the plains. Even with this precaution it was impossible for a man to remain out longer than ten minutes because of the terribly cold wind that at times was almost impossible to stand up against. He says that he cannot understand why the place has never been made habitable, or why Lieutenant Cole did not have the wood brought inside, where it would be convenient in case of a storm. Some of the men are working on the wood still, and others are making their quarters a little more decent. Every tiny opening in our own log-walls has been chinked with pieces of blanket or anything that could be found, and the entire dirt floor has been covered with clean grain sacks that are held down smooth and tight by little pegs of wood, and over this rough carpet we have three rugs we brought with us. At the small window are turkey-red curtains that make very good shades when let down at night. There are warm army blankets on the camp-bed, and a folded red squaw blanket on the trunk. The stove is as bright and shining as a strong arm of a soldier could make it, and on it is a little brass tea-kettle singing merrily. Altogether the little place looks clean and cheerful, quite unlike the hole we came to. Farrar has attended to his part in the kitchen also, and things look neat and orderly there. A wall-tent has been pitched just outside our door that gives us a large storeroom and at the same time screens us from the men's quarters that are along one side of the sandbag walls. On the side farthest from us the mules and horses are stable, but one would never know that an animal was near if those big-headed mules did not occasionally raise their voices in braze. That sound like old squeaky pumps. When it is pleasant they are all picketed out. At the first coming of the blizzard the sentry was ordered from the parapet, and is still off, and I am positive that unless one goes on soon at night I shall be wholly deaf, as I strain my ears the whole night through listening for Indians. The men are supposed to be ever ready for an attack, but if they require drums and cannon to awaken them in a garrison, how can they possibly hear the stealthy step of an Indian here? It is foolish to expect anything so unreasonable. Out of Letter Cimmeron Redoubt, Kansas, January 1873 Fancy are having given a dinner party at this sandbag castle on the plains miles and miles from a white man or woman. The number of guests was small, but their rank was immense, for we entertained powder-face, chief of the Arapaho Nation, and walk, his young squaw, mother of his little chief. Two or three days ago powder-face came to make a formal call upon the white chief, and brought with him two other Indians, aides we would call them, I presume. A soldier offered to hold his horse, but he would not dismount and sat his horse with grave dignity until Faye went out and in person invited him to come in and have a smoke. He is an Indian of striking personality, is rather tall, with square broad shoulders, and the poise of his head tells one at once that he is not an ordinary savage. We must have found favor with him, for as he was going away he announced that he would come again the next day and bring his squaw with him. Then Faye in his hospitable way invited them to a midday dinner. I was almost speechless from horror at the very thought of sitting at a table with an Indian, no matter how great a chief he might be. But I could say nothing, of course, and he rode away with the understanding that he was to return the following day. Faye assured me that it would be amusing to watch them, and be a break in the monotony here. They appeared promptly, and I became interested in walk at once, though she was a remarkable squaw, tall and slender, with rather a thin girlish face, very unlike the short fat squaws one usually sees, and she had the appearance of being rather tidy, too. I could not tell if she was dressed specially for the occasion, as I had never seen her before, but everything she had on was beautifully embroidered with beads, mostly white, and small teeth of animals. She wore a sort of short skirt, high leggings, and, of course, moccasins, and around her shoulders and falling far below her waist was a queer-shaped garment, neither caped nor shawl, dotted closely all over with tiny teeth, which were fastened on at one end and left to dangle. High up around her neck was a dog collar of fine teeth that was really beautiful, and there were several necklaces of different lengths hanging below it, one of which was of polished elk teeth and very rare. The skins of all her clothing had been tanned until they were as soft as kid. Any number of bracelets were on her arms, many of them made of tin, I think. Her hair was parted and hung in loose ropes down each shoulder in front. Her feet and hands were very small, even for an Indian, and showed that life had been kind to her. I am confident that she must have been a princess by birth. She was so different from all squaws I have seen. She could not speak one word of English, but her Lord, whom she seemed to adore, could make himself understood very well by signs and a word or two now and then. Powder face wore a blanket, but underneath it was a shirt of fine skins, the front of which was almost covered with teeth, beads, and wampum. His hair was roped on each side and hung in front, and the scalp lock on top was made conspicuous by the usual long feathers stuck through it. The time came when dinner could no longer be put off, so we sat down. Our menu in this place is necessarily limited, but a friend at Fort Dodge had added to our stores by sending us some fresh potatoes and some lettuce by the mail wagon just the day before, and both of these powder face seemed to enjoy. In fact, he ate of everything. But walk was more particular, lettuce, potatoes, and ham she would not touch. Their table manners were not of the very best form, as might be expected, but they conducted themselves rather decently, far better than I had feared they would. All the time I was wondering what the squaw was thinking of things. Powder face was taken to Washington last year with chiefs of other nations to see the great father, so he knew much of the white man's ways. But walk was a wild creature of the plains. We kept them bountifully supplied with everything on the table, so our own proportion of the dinner would remain unmolested, although neither Faye nor I had much appetite just then. When Farrar came in to remove the plates for dessert and powder face saw that the remaining food was about to disappear, he pushed Farrar back and commenced to attend to the table himself. He pulled one dish after another to him and scraped each one clean, spreading all the butter on the bread and piled a buffalo steak, ham, potatoes, peas, in fact every crumb that had been left, making one disgusting mess, and then tapping it with his finger said, Papus, Papus! We had it all put in a paper and other things added, which made walk almost bob off her chair in her delight at having such a feast for her little chief. But the condition of my tablecloth made me want to bob up and down for other feelings than delight. After dinner they all sat by the stove and smoked, and powder face told funny things about his trip east that we could not always interpret, but which caused him and walk to laugh heartily, walks at very close to him with elbows on her knees, looking as though she would much prefer to be squatted down upon the floor. The teepee odor became stifling, so in order to get as far from the Indians as possible I went across the room and sat upon a small trunk by the window. I had not been there five minutes, however, before that wily chief who had apparently not noticed my existence got up from his chair, gathered his blanket around him, and with long strides came straight to me. Then with a grip of steel on my shoulder he jerked me from the trunk and fairly slung me over against the wall, and turning to Faye with his head thrown back he said, Whisk, Whisk, at the same time pointing to the trunk. The demand was imperious and the unstudied poise of the powerfully built Indian so full of savage dignity was magnificent. As I calmly think of it now the whole scene was grand, the rough room with its low walls of sandbags and logs, the Indian princess in her picturesque dress of skins and beads, the fair army officer in his uniform of blue, both looking in astonishment at the chief, whose square jaws and flashing eyes plainly told that he was accustomed to being obeyed and expected to be obeyed then. Faces that I miss part of the scene, that backed up against sandbags and clinging to them on either side for support, stood a slender young woman with pigtail hanging down one shoulder so terrified that her face, although brown from exposure to sun and wind, had become white and chalky. It is not surprising that my face turned white. The only wonder is that the pigtail did not turn white, too. It was not right for Faye to give liquor to an Indian, but what else could be done under the circumstances? There happened to be a flask of brandy in the trunk, but fortunately there was only a small quantity that we had brought up for medicinal purposes, and it was precious, too, for we were far from a doctor. But Faye had to get it out for the chief, who had sat there smoking in such an innocent way, but who had all the time been studying out where there might be hidden some whisk. Walk drank almost all of it. Powder Faye seemed to derive more pleasure in seeing her drink his portion than in drinking it himself. Consequently, when she went out to mount her horse, her steps were a little unsteady over which the chief laughed heartily. It was with the greatest relief I saw them right away. They certainly had furnished entertainment, but it was of a kind that would satisfy one for a long time. I was afraid they might come for dinner again the following day, but they did not. Powder Faye thought that the pony Cheyenne was not a good enough horse for me, so the morning after he was here an Indian, called Dog, appeared with a very good animal, large and well-gated that the chief had sent over, not as a present but for a trade. We let poor Cheyenne go back to the Indians, a quantity of sugar, coffee, and such things going with him, and now I have a strawberry-roan horse named Powder Faye. Chief Powder Faye, who is really not old, is respected by everyone, and has been instrumental in causing the Arapaho Nation to cease hostilities toward white people. Some of the chiefs of Lesser Rank have much of the dignity of high-born savages, particularly Lone Wolf and his son Big Mouth, both of whom come to see us now and then. Lone Wolf is no longer a warrior, and, of course, no longer wears a scalp-lock and strings of wampum and beads, and would like you to believe that he has ever been the white man's friend. But I suspect that even now there might be brought forth an old war-belt with hanging scalps that could tell of massacre, torture, and murder. Big Mouth is a war chief, and has the same grand physique as Powder Faye, and a personality almost as striking. His hair is simply splendid, wonderfully heavy, and long and very glossy. His scalp-lock is most artistic, and undoubtedly kept in order by a squaw. The picture of the two generations of chiefs is unique and rare. It shows in detail the everyday dress of the genuine blanket Indians as we see them here. Just how it was obtained I do not know, for Indians do not like a camera. We have daily visits from dozens of so-called friendly Indians, but I would not trust one of them. Many white people who have lived among Indians and know them well, declare that an Indian is always an Indian, that no matter how fine the Venerian civilization may have given him, there ever lies dormant the traits of the savage ready to spring forth without warning in acts of treachery and fiendish cruelty. End of letter. Cimarron Redoubt, January 1873 It was such a pleasant surprise yesterday when General Bork drove up to the Redoubt on his way to Camp Supply from Deerol Fort Lyon. He has been ordered to relieve General Dickinson and was taking down furniture, his dogs, and handsome team. Of course there was an escort and ever so many wagons, some loaded with tents and camp outfits. We are rejoicing over the prospect of having an infantry officer in command when we return to the post. The general remained for luncheon and seemed to enjoy the broiled buffalo steak very much. He said that there are now very few buffalo in Colorado and Kansas because of their wholesale slaughter by white men during the past year. These men kill them for the skins only, and General Bork says that he saw hundreds of carcasses on the plains between Lyon and Dodge. They are boldly coming to the Indian territory now, and cavalry has been sent out several times to drive them from the reservation. If the Indians should attempt to protect their rights it would be called an uprising at once, so they have to lie around on the sand hills and watch their beloved buffalo gradually disappear, and all the time they know only too well that with them will go the skins that give them tepees and clothing and the meat that furnishes almost all of their sustenance. Between the blizzard two weeks ago ten or twelve of these buffalo hunters were caught out in the storm and, being unable to find their own camps, they wandered into Indian villages, each man about half dead from exposure to the cold and hunger, all were suffering more or less from frozen feet and hands. In every case the Indians fed and cared for them until the storm was over, and then they told them to go, and go fast and far, for it would not be well with them. Faye says it was truly noble in the Indians to keep alive those men when they knew they had been stealing so much from them. But Faye can always see more good in Indians than I can. Even a savage could scarcely kill a man when he appeals to him for protection. There is some excitement here every day, some pleasant, some otherwise, usually otherwise. The male escort and wagon are here two nights during the week, one on the way to Fort Dodge, the other on the return trip. So we hear little bits of gossip from each garrison. The long trains of army wagons, drawn by mules that carry stores to the post, always camp near us one night because of the water. But the most exciting times are when the big ox trains come through that are taking oats and corn to the quartermaster for the cavalry horses and mules, for in these sacks of grain there is ever a possibility of liquor being found. The sergeant carefully punches the sacks, from one end to the other, with a long steel very much like a rifle rammer. But so far not a thing has been found. But this is undoubtedly because they know what to expect at this place now. Faye is always present at the inspection, and once I watched it a short distance away. When there are camps outside I always feel a little more protected from the Indians. I am kept awake hours every night by my uncontrollable fear of their getting on top of the parapet and cutting holes in the canvas over our very heads and getting into the room that way. A sentry is supposed to walk around the top every few minutes. But I have very little confidence in his protection. I really rely upon Hal more than the sentry to give warning. For that dog can hear the stealthy step of an Indian when a long distance from him, and I believe he can smell them too. We bought a beautiful buffalo calf robe for a bed for him, and that night I folded it down nicely and called him to it, thinking he would be delighted with so soft and warm a bed. But no! He went to it because I called him and patted it, but put one foot on it he would not. He gave a little growl, and putting his tail up walked away with great dignity and a look of having been insulted. Of course the skin smelled strong of the tipi and Indians. We sunned and aired it for days, and Farrar rubbed the fur with campfire and other things to destroy the Indian odor. And after much persuading and any amount of patience on our part, Hal finally condescended to use the robe. He now considers it the finest thing on earth and keeps close watch of it at all times. We have visits from Indians every day, and this variation from the monotony is not agreeable to me. But Faye goes out and has long powwows with him. They did not hesitate to ask for things, and the more you give, the more you may. The other morning Faye saw a buffalo calf not far from the redoubt and decided to go for it as we, also the men, were in need of fresh meat. So he started off on powder face, taking only a revolver with him. I went outside to watch him ride off, and just as the calf disappeared over a little hill, and he after it, an Indian rode down the bluff at the right and about the same distance away as I thought Faye might be, and started in a canter straight across in the direction Faye had gone. Very soon he also was back of the little hill and out of sight. I ran inside and called the sergeant and was trying to explain the situation to him as briefly as possible, when he, without waiting for me to finish, got his rifle and cartridge belt and ordering a couple of men to follow, started off on a hard run in the direction I had designated. As soon as they reached the top of the hill they saw Faye and saw also that the Indian was with him. The men went on over slowly, but stopped as soon as they got within rifle range of Faye, for of course the Indian would never have attempted mischief when he knew that the next instant he would be riddled with bullets. The Indian was facing the soldiers and saw them at once, but they were at Faye's back, so he did not know they were there until he turned to come home. Faye says that the Indian was quite near before he saw him at all, as he had not been thinking of Indians in his race after the little buffalo. He came up and said, Howe, of course, and then by signs asked to see Faye's revolver, which has an ivory handle with nickel barrel and trimmings, all of which the Indian saw at once, and decided to make his own without loss of time, and then by disarming Faye he would be master of things generally. Faye pulled the pistol from his holster and held it out for the Indian to look at, but with a tight grip on the handle and finger on trigger the muzzle pointed straight to his treacherous heart. This did not disturb the Indian in the least, for he grasped the barrel and with a twist of the wrist tried to jerk it down and out of Faye's hand, but this he failed to do, so with a sarcastic laugh he settled himself back on his pony to await a more favorable time when he could catch Faye off guard. He wanted that glistening pistol, and he probably wanted the fat pony also, and thus they sat facing each other for several minutes. The Indian apparently quite indifferent to pistols and all things, and Faye on the alert to protect himself against the first move of treachery. It would have been most unsafe for Faye to have turned from the crafty savage, and just how long the heart-to-heart interview might have lasted, or what could have happened no one can tell, if the coming insight of the soldiers with their long guns had not caused him to change his tactics. After a while he grunted howl again, and assuming an air of great contempt for soldiers, guns, and shiny pistols rode away and soon disappeared over the bluff. There was only the one Indian in sight, but as the old sergeant said there might have been a dozen red devils just over the bluff. One never knows when the red devils are near, for they hide themselves back of a bunch of sagebrush, and their ponies whose hoofs are never shod, can get over the ground very swiftly and steal upon you almost as noiselessly as their owners. It is needless to say that we did not have fresh buffalo that day, and the buffalo calf ran on to the herd, wholly unconscious of his narrow escape. We expect to return to camp supply in a few days, and in many ways I shall be sorry to leave this place. It is terrible to be so isolated when one thinks about it, especially if one should be ill. I shall dismiss Dickinson in the garrison very much, and our daily rides together. General Dickinson and his family passed here last week on their way to his new station. CHAPTER V. 1873. Upon our return from the Simeran we found a dear clean house all ready for us to move into. It was a delightful surprise, and after the wretched huts we had been living in ever since we came to this post, the house, with its white walls and board floors, seems like a fairy land. It is made of vertical logs, of course, the same as the other quarters, but these have been freshly chinked and covered on the inside with canvas. General Bork ordered the quartermaster to fix the house for us, and I am glad that Major Knox was the one to receive the order, for I have not forgotten how disagreeable he was about the fixing up of our first house here. One can imagine how he must have fumed over the issuing of so much canvas, boards, and even the nails for the quarters of only a second lieutenant. Many changes have been made during the few weeks General Bork has been here, the most important having been the separating of the white troops from the colored one-on-guard duty. The officers and men of the colored cavalry have not liked this naturally, but it was outrageous to put white and black in the same little guard room, and colored sergeants over white corporals and privates. It was good cause for desertion. But all that is at an end now. General Dickinson is no longer commanding officer, and best of all, the colored troops have been ordered to another department, and the two troops of white cavalry that are to relieve them are here now and in camp not far from the post waiting for the barracks to be vacated. We have felt very brave since the camp has been established, and two days ago several of us drove over to the Cheyenne village that is a mile or so up the creek. But soon after we got there we did not feel a bit brave, for we had not been out of the ambulance more than five minutes, when one of their criers came racing in on a very wet pony, and rode like mad in and out among the teepees, all the time screaming something at the top of his voice. Suddenly there was a jabbering by all of them and great commotion. Each Indian talked, and there seemed to be no one to listen. Several teepees were taken down wonderfully quick, and a number of ponies were hurried in, saddled, and ridden away at race speed, a few squaws wailing as they watched them go, guns in their hands. Other squaws stood around looking at us, and showing intense hatred to their wicked eyes. It was soon discovered by all of us that the village was really not attractive, and four scared women came back to the garrison as fast as government mules could bring them. What was the cause of so much excitement we will probably never know, and of course we should not have gone there without an officer, and yet what could one man have done against all those savages? We were honored by a visit from a chief the other day. He was a Cheyenne from the village, presumably, and his name was White Horse. He must have been born a chief, for he was young, very dignified, and very good-looking, too, for an Indian. Of course his face was painted in a hideous way, but his leggings and clothing generally were far more tidy than those of most Indians. His chest was literally covered with polished teeth of animals, and wampum, arranged artistically in a sort of breastplate, and his scalp lock, which had evidently been plated with much care, was ornamented with a very beautiful long feather. Fortunately, Faye was at home when he came, for he walked right in unannounced, except the usual, Howe. Faye gave him a chair and this he placed in the middle of the room, in a position so he could watch both doors, and then his rifle was laid carefully upon the floor at his right side. He could speak his name, but not another word of English, so thinking to entertain him, Faye reached for a rifle that was standing in one corner of the room, to show him, as it was of a recent make. Although the rifle was almost at the Indian's back, the suspicious savage saw what Faye was doing, and, like a flash, he seized his own gun and laid it across his knees, all the time looking straight at Faye to see what he intended to do next, not a muscle of his face moved, but his eyes were wonderful, brilliant, and piercing, and plainly said, Go ahead, I'm ready. I saw the whole performance and was wondering if I had not better run for assistance when Faye laughed and motioned the Indian to put his rifle down again, at the same time pulling the trigger of his own to assure him that it was not loaded. This apparently satisfied him, but he did not put his gun back on the floor, but let it rest across his knees all the time he sat there, and that was for the longest time, and never once did he change his position, turn his head, or, as we could see, move and eyelid. But nevertheless he made one feel that it was not necessary for him to turn his head, that it was all eyes that he could see up and down and across, and could read one's very thoughts, too. The Indian from whom we bought powder-face, his name is Dog, you will remember, has found us out, and, like a dog, comes every day for something to eat. He always walks right into the kitchen, if the door is closed he opens it. If he has not given things he stands around with the greatest patience, giving little grunts now and then, and watches Farrar until the poor soldier becomes worn out, and in self-defense gives him something, knowing full well all the time that trouble is being stored up for the next day, the Indian never seems cross, but smiles at everything which is most unusual in a savage. With the white cavalry is a classmate of Faye's Lieutenant Isham, and yesterday I went out to camp with him and rode his horse, a large-spirited animal. It was the horse's first experience with a sidesaddle, and at first he objected to the habit, and jumped around and snorted quite a little, but he soon saw that I was really not a dangerous person and quieted down. As Lieutenant Isham and I were cantering along at a nice brisk gate we met Faye, who was returning from the camp on powder-face, and it could be plainly seen that he disapproved of my mount, but he would not turn back with us, however, and we went on to camp without him. There is something very fascinating about a military camp. It is always so precise and trim, the little tents for the men pitched in long, straight lines, each one looking as though it had been given special attention, and with all things in the same military precision and neatness. It was afternoon stables, and we rode around to the picket lines to watch the horses getting their grooming. When I got home, Faye was quick to tell me that I would certainly be killed if I continued to ride every untrained horse that came along. Not a very pleasant prospect for me, but I told him I did not want to mortify him and myself too by refusing to mount horses that his own classmates, particularly those in the cavalry, asked me to ride, and that I knew very well he would much prefer to see me on a spirited animal than on a gentle lady's horse that any inexperienced rider could manage. So we decided that the horse, after all, was not a vicious beast, and I am to ride him again to-morrow. Last evening we gave a delightful little dance in the hall in honor of the officers and their wives who are to go, and the officers who have come. We all were our most becoming gowns, and everyone unacquainted with army life on the frontier would have been surprised to see what handsome dresses can be brought forth even at this faraway post when occasion demands. There are two very pretty girls from the East visiting in the garrison, and several of the wives of officers are young and attractive, and the mingling of the pretty faces and bright colored dresses, with the dark blue and gold of the uniforms, made a beautiful scene. It is not in the least surprising that girls become so silly over brass buttons, even the wives get silly over them sometimes. End of letter. Camp Supply, Indian Territory, April, 1873 In the last mail Fay heard from his application for transfer to another company, and the order will be issued as soon as the lieutenant in that company has been promoted, which will be in a few weeks. This will take us back to Fort Lyon with old friends and Fay to a company whose captain is a gentleman. He was one of Fay's instructors at West Point. I have a new horse, and a lively one too, so lively that I have not ridden him yet. He was a present from Lieutenant Isham, and the way in which he happened to possess him makes a pretty little story. The troop had been sent out on a scout, and was on its way back to the post to be paid, when one evening this pony trotted into camp and at once tried to be friendly with the cavalry horses, but the poor thing was so frightfully hideous with its painted coat that the horses would not permit him to come near them for some time. But the men caught him and brought him on to the stables, where there was trouble at once, for almost every man in the troop claimed ownership. So it was finally decided by the captain that as soon as the troop had been paid the horse should be raffled, that each man in that one troop could have the privilege of buying a chance at one dollar and that the money should go in the troop fund. This arrangement delighted the men, as it promised something new in the way of a frolic. In due time the paymaster arrived, the men were paid, and then in a few minutes there was brisk business going on over at the quarters of the troop, every enlisted man in the troop, sergeants, corpals, and privates, eighty-four in all, bought a chance, thus making a fine sum for the fund. A private won the horse, of whom Lieutenant Isham immediately bought him and presented him to me. He is about fifteen hands high, and not in the least of a pony build, but is remarkably slender, with fine head and large intelligent eyes. Just what his color is we do not know, for he is stained in red brown stripes all over his body, around his legs and on his face. But we think he is a light gray. When he wandered to camp a small bell was tied around his neck with a piece of red flannel, and this, with his having been so carefully stained, indicates almost conclusively that he was a pet. Some of the soldiers insist that he was a race pony, because he is not only very swift, but has been taught to make three tremendous jumps at the very beginning of his run, which gives him an immense advantage, but which his rider may sometimes fail to appreciate. These jumps are often taught the Indian race ponies. The horse is gentle with fey, and is certainly graceful, but he is hard to hold and inclined to bold, so I will not try him until he becomes more civilized. The Indians are very bold again. A few days ago Lieutenant Golden was into luncheon, and while we were at the table we saw several kiosks rush across the creek and stampede five or six horses that belonged to our milkman, who has a ranch just outside the garrison. In a few minutes an orderly appeared with an order for Lieutenant Golden and ten men to go after them without delay and bring the horses back. Of course he started at once and chased those Indians all afternoon, and got so close to them once or twice that they saw the necessity of lightening the weight on their tired ponies and threw off their old saddles and all sorts of things, even little bags of shot, but all the time they held on to their guns and managed to keep the stolen horses ahead of them. They had extra ponies, too, that they swung themselves over on when the ridden beasts began to lag a little. When night came on Lieutenant Golden was compelled to give up the chase and had to return to the post without having recovered one of the stolen horses. One never knows here what dreadful things may come up any moment. Everything was quiet and peaceful when we sat down to luncheon, yet in less than ten minutes we saw the rush of the Indians and the stampede of the milkman's horses right from our dining room window. The horses were close to the post, too. Splendid cavalry horses were sent after them, but it requires a very swift horse to overtake those tough little Indian ponies at any time, and the Kiwas probably were on their best ponies when they stampeded the horses, for they knew, undoubtedly, that cavalry would soon be after them. END OF LETTER DOG CITY, CANZAS, JUNE, 1873 We reached this place yesterday, expecting to take the cars this morning for Granada, but the servant who was to have come from Kansas City on that train will not be here until tomorrow. When the time came to say good-bye, I was sorry to leave a number of friends at Camp Supply, particularly Mrs. Hunt, with whom we stayed the last few days while we were packing. Everyone was at the ambulance to see us off—except the Phillips family. We were three days coming up because of one or two delays the very first day. One of the wagons broke down soon after we left the post, and an hour or so was lost in repairing it, and at Buffalo Creek we were delayed a long time by an enormous herd of buffalo. It was a sight that probably we will never see again. The valley was almost black with the big animals, and there must have been hundreds and hundreds of them on either side of the road. They seemed very restless, and were constantly moving about instead of grazing upon the buffalo grass, which is unusually fine along that valley, and this made us suspect that they had been chased and hunted until the small bands had been driven together into one big herd. Possibly the hunters had done this themselves, so the slaughter could be the greater and the easier. It is remarkable that such grand-looking beasts should have so little sense as to invariably cross the road right in front of moving teams, and fairly challenge one to make targets of them. It was this crossing of large numbers that detained us so long yesterday. When we got out about fifteen miles on the road, an Apache Indian appeared, and so suddenly that it seemed as if he must have sprung up from the ground. He was in full war dress, that is, no dress at all except the breech clout and moccasins, and his face and whole naked body were stained in many colors in the most hideous manner. In his scalp-lock was fastened a number of eagle feathers, and of course he wore two or three necklaces of beads and wampum. There was nothing unusual about the pony he was riding, except that it was larger and in better condition than the average Indian horse. But the one he was leading, undoubtedly his war-horse, was a most beautiful animal, one of the most beautiful I ever saw. The Apache evidently appreciated the horse, for he had stained only his face, but this had been made quite as frightful as that of the Indian. The pony was of a bright cream color, slender and with a perfect head and small ears, and one could see that he was quick and agile in every movement. He was well groomed, too. The long, heavy mane had been parted from ears to withers, and then twisted and roped on either side with strips of some red stuff that ended in long streamers which were blown out in a most fantastic way when the pony was running. The long tail was roped only enough to fasten at the top a number of strips of the red that hung almost to the ground over the hair. Imagine all this savage hideousness rushing upon you on a yellow horse with a mane of waving red. His very presence on an ordinary trotting pony was enough to freeze the blood in one's veins. That he was a spy was plainly to be seen, and we knew also that his band was probably not far away. He seemed in very good spirits, asked for tobacco, and wrote along with us some distance, long enough to make a careful estimate of our value and our strength. Finally he left us and disappeared over the hills. Then the little escort of ten men received orders from Faye to be on the alert and hold themselves and their rifles ready for a sudden attack. She wrote on and on, hoping to reach the Simeron Redoubt before dark, but that had to be given up and camp was made at Snake Creek, ten miles the other side. Not one Indian had been seen on the road except the Apache, and this made us all the more uncomfortable. Snake Creek was where the two couriers were shot by Indians last summer, and that did not add to our feelings of security, at least not mine. We were in a little Cooley, too, where it would have been an easy matter for Indians to have sneaked upon us. No one in the camp slept much that night, and most of the men were walking posts to guard the animals. And those mules! I never heard mules and horses also sneeze and cough and make so much unnecessary noise as those animals made that night. And Hal acted like a crazy dog, barking and growling and rushing out of the tent every two minutes, terrifying me each time with the fear that he might have heard the stealthy step of a murderous savage. Everyone lived through the night, however, but we were all glad to make an early start. So before daylight we were on the road. The old sergeant agreed with Fayin thinking that we were in a trap at the camp, and should move on early. We did not stop at the Redoubt, but I saw as we passed that the Red Curtains were still at the little window. It seems that we were not much more safe in this place than we were in camp in an Indian country. The town is dreadful, and has the reputation of being one of the very worst in the West since the railroad has been built. They say that gamblers and all sorts of tufts follow a new road. After breakfast this morning we started for a walk to give Hal a little run. But when we got to the office the hotel proprietor told us that the dog must be led, otherwise he would undoubtedly be stolen right before our eyes. Fay said, no one would dare do such a thing. I would have him arrested. But the man said there was no one here who would make the arrest, as there certainly would be two or more revolvers to argue with first, and in any case the dog would be lost to us, or if the thief saw that he could not hold him the dog would undoubtedly be shot. Just imagine such a thing! So Hal was led by his chain, but he looked so abused and miserable, and I was so frightened and nervous our outing was short, and here we are shut up in our little room. We can see the car track from the window, and I wonder how it will seem to go over in a car the country that we came across in wagons only one year ago. From Ganada we will go to the post in an ambulance, a distance of forty or more miles. About a ride of fifty miles over these planes has no terrors for me now. The horses, furniture, and other things went on in a box car this morning. It is very annoying to be detained here so long, and I am a little worried about that girl. The telegram says she was too sick to start yesterday. End of letter. Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, June 1873 It has been impossible for me to write before, for I have been more than busy, both day and night, ever since we got here. The servant for whom we waited at Dodge City, and who I had hoped would be a great assistance to me in getting settled, came to us very ill, almost too ill to be brought over from Ganada. But we could not leave her there with no one to take care of her, and of course I could not remain with her, so there was nothing else to be done. We had to bring her along. We had accepted Mrs. Wilder's invitation to stay with them a few days, until we could get settled a little, but all that was changed when we got here, for we were obliged to come directly to our own house, unpack camp-bedding and the mess-chest, and do the best we could for ourselves and the sick girl. The post-surgeon told us, as soon as he had examined the girl, that she had tuberculosis in almost its last stage, and that she was threatened with double pneumonia, so you can imagine what I have been through in the way of nursing, for there was no one in the garrison who would come to assist me. The most unpleasant part of it all is, the girl is most ungrateful for all that is being done for her, and finds fault with many things. She is admitted to the doctor that she came to us for her health, that as there were only two in the family, she thought there would be so little for her to do, she could ride horseback and be out of doors most of the time. What a nice arrangement it would have been, this fine lady sitting out on our lawn or riding one of our horses, and I in the kitchen preparing the dinner and then at the end of the month humbly begging her to accept a little check for thirty dollars. We have an excellent soldier cook, but the care of that miserable girl falls upon me, and the terrible experience we pass through at Dodge City has wholly unfitted me for anything of the kind. The second night we were there about one o'clock, we were awakened by loud talking and the sounds of people running. Then shots were fired very near, and instantly there were screams of agony. I'm shot, I'm shot from some person who was apparently coming across the street, and who fell directly underneath our window. We were in a little room on the second floor, and its one window was raised far up, which made it possible for us to hear the slightest sound or movement outside. The shooting was kept up until the man was dead, many of the bullets hitting the side of the hotel. It was simply maddening to have to stay in that room and be compelled to listen to the moans and death gurgle of that murdered man, and hear him cry, oh, my lassie, my poor lassie, as he did over and over again until he could no longer speak. It seemed as though every time he tried to say one word there was the report of a pistol. After he was really dead we could hear the fiends running off, and then other people came and carried the body away. The shooting altogether did not last longer than five or ten minutes, and at almost the first shot we could hear calls all over the wretched little town of Vigilante, Vigilante, and knew that the Vigilantes were gathering, but before they could get together the murderous work had been finished. All the time there had been perfect silence throughout the hotel. The proprietor told us that he got up, but that it would have been certain death if he or anyone else had opened a door. How was on the floor in a corner of our room and began to growl after the very first scream, and I was terrified all the time for fear he would go to the open window and attract the attention of those murderers below who would undoubtedly have commenced firing at the window and perhaps have killed all of us. But the moans of the dying man frightened the dog awfully, and he crawled under the bed where he stayed during the rest of the horrible night. The cause of all the trouble seems to have been that a colored man undertook to carry in his wagon three or four men from Dodge City to Fort Dodge, a distance of five miles. But when he got out on the road a short distance he came to the conclusion, from their talk, that they were going to the post for evil purposes, and telling them that he would take them no further, he turned his team around to come back home. On the way back the men must have threatened him, for when he got in town he drove to the house of some colored people who live on a corner across from the hotel, and implored them to let him in. But they were afraid and refused to open the door, for by that time the men were shooting at him. The poor man ran across the street, leaving a trail of blood that streamed from his wounds, and was brutally killed under our window. Early the next morning, when we crossed the street to go to the cars, the darky's mule was lying on the ground, dead, near the corner of the hotel, and stuck on one long ear was the murdered man's hat. Soon after we reached Granada a telegram was received, giving an account of the affair, and saying also that in less than one half hour after the train had passed through Dodge City was surrounded by troops of United States cavalry from Fort Dodge, that the entire town was searched for the murderers, but that not even a trace of one had been discovered. When I got inside a car the morning after that awful, awful night, it was with a feeling that I was leaving behind me all such things, and that by evening I would be back once more at our old army home and away from hostile Indians and hostile Desperados too. But when I saw that servant girl with the pale, emaciated face and flushed cheeks so ill she could barely sit up, my heart went down like lead, and Indians seemed small trials in comparison to what I saw ahead of me. Well, she will go in a few days, and then I can give the house some attention. The new furniture and china are all here, but nothing has been done in the way of getting settled. The whole coming back has been cruelly disappointing, and I am so tired and nervous I am afraid of my own shadow. So after a while I think I will go east for a few weeks, which I know you will be glad to hear. End of Letter End of Section 5