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13 - Army Letters from an Officers Wife, 1871-1888 by Frances M. A. Roe · Army Letters from an Officers Wife, 1871-1888

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  Speaker 1: Section thirteen of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy one eighteen eighty eight. This is the LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
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  Speaker 1: by Sue Anderson. Army Letters from an Officer's Wife eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy one, eighteen eighty eight by Francis Rowe, Section thirteen
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  Speaker 1: Letters from eighteen eighty Part three. Fort mc ginnis, Montana Territory,
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  Speaker 1: September eighteen eighty There is a large village of Cree
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  Speaker 1: Indians in the valley below, and for several days they
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  Speaker 1: were a great nuisance in the garrison. One bright morning
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  Speaker 1: it was discovered that a long line of them had
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  Speaker 1: left their teepees and were coming in this direction. They
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  Speaker 1: were writing single file, of course, and were chanting and
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  Speaker 1: beating tom toms in a way that made once blood
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  Speaker 1: feel frozen. I was out on one of the little
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  Speaker 1: hills at the time, riding Betty, and happened to be
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  Speaker 1: about the first to see them. I started for the
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  Speaker 1: post at once at a fast gate, and told Fay
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  Speaker 1: and Colonel Palmer about them, but As soon as it
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  Speaker 1: was seen that they were actually coming to the post,
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  Speaker 1: I rode out again about as fast as I had
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  Speaker 1: come in, and went to a bit of high ground
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  Speaker 1: where I could command a view of the camp and
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  Speaker 1: at the same time be screened by bushes and rocks.
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  Speaker 1: And there I remained until those savages were well on
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  Speaker 1: their way back to their own village. Then I went
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  Speaker 1: in and was laughed at by everyone, and assured by
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  Speaker 1: some that I had missed a wonderful sight. The Crees
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  Speaker 1: are Canadian Indians and are here for a hunt by
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  Speaker 1: permission of both governments. They and the Sioux are very
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  Speaker 1: hostile to each other. Therefore, when four or five Sioux
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  Speaker 1: swooped down upon them a few days ago and drove
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  Speaker 1: off twenty of their ponies, the Crees were frantic. It
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  Speaker 1: was an insult not to be put up with, so
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  Speaker 1: some of their best young warriors were sent after them.
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  Speaker 1: They recaptured the ponies and killed one Sioux. Now an
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  Speaker 1: Indian is shrewd and wily. The Sioux had been a thief. Therefore,
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  Speaker 1: the Crees cut off his right hand, fastened it to
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  Speaker 1: a long pole with the fingers pointing up, and with
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  Speaker 1: much fussen feathers, particularly feathers, brought it to the white
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  Speaker 1: chief to show him that the good brave Crees had
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  Speaker 1: killed one of the white men's enemies. The leading Indian
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  Speaker 1: carried the pole with the hand, and almost every one
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  Speaker 1: of those that followed carried something else, pieces of flags,
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  Speaker 1: or old tin pans or buckets upon which they beat
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  Speaker 1: with sticks, making horrible noises. Each Indian was chanting in
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  Speaker 1: a sing song mournful way. They were dressed most fancifully,
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  Speaker 1: some with red coats, probably discarded by the Canadian police.
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  Speaker 1: And Fay said that almost every one had on quantities
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  Speaker 1: of beads and feathers. Bringing the hand of a dead
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  Speaker 1: sux was only an Indian's way of begging for something
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  Speaker 1: to eat, and this Colonel Palmer understood. So great tins
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  Speaker 1: of hot coffee and boxes of hard tack were served
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  Speaker 1: to them. Then they danced and danced, and to me
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  Speaker 1: it looked as though they intended to dance the rest
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  Speaker 1: of their lives right on that one spot. But when
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  Speaker 1: they saw that any amount of furious dancing would not
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  Speaker 1: boil more coffee, they stopped and finally started back to
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  Speaker 1: their village. They tells me that as he was going
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  Speaker 1: to his tent from the dancing, he noticed an Indian
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  Speaker 1: who seemed to be unusually well clad. His moccasins and
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  Speaker 1: leggings were embroidered with beads, and he was wrapped in
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  Speaker 1: a bright red blanket, head as well as body. As
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  Speaker 1: he passed him, a voice said in the purest English, Lieutenant,
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  Speaker 1: can you give me a seer spring for my rifle?
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  Speaker 1: The only human being near was that Indian, wrapped closely
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  Speaker 1: in a black blanket, with only his eyes showing precisely
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  Speaker 1: as one would expect to see a hostile dressed face.
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  Speaker 1: Said that it gave him the queerest kind of a sensation,
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  Speaker 1: as though the voice had come from another world. He
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  Speaker 1: asked the Indian where he had learned such good English
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  Speaker 1: and technical knowledge of guns, and he said at the
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  Speaker 1: Carlisle School. He said also that he was a pagan,
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  Speaker 1: and on a visit to some Cree friends. This was
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  Speaker 1: one of the many proofs that we have had that
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  Speaker 1: no matter how good an education the Indian may receive,
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  Speaker 1: he will return to his blanket and out of the
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  Speaker 1: pot way of living, just as soon as he returns
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  Speaker 1: to his people. It would be foolish to expect anything different.
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  Speaker 1: But those Cree Indians the coffee had been good, very good,
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  Speaker 1: and they wanted more. So the very next morning they
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  Speaker 1: brought to Colonel Palmer an old dried scalplock scalp of
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  Speaker 1: White Chief's enemy, with the same ceremony as they had
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  Speaker 1: brought the hand. Then they sat around his tent and
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  Speaker 1: watched him, giving little grunts now and then, until in desperation,
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  Speaker 1: he ordered coffee for them, after which they danced. The
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  Speaker 1: men gave them bits of tobacco too well. They kept
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  Speaker 1: this performance up three or four days, each day bringing
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  Speaker 1: something to Colonel Palmer to make him think they had
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  Speaker 1: killed a soux. This became very tiresome. Besides, the soldiers
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  Speaker 1: were being robbed of coffee, so Colonel Palmer shut himself
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  Speaker 1: in his tent and refused to see them one day,
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  Speaker 1: and and orderly told them to go away and make
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  Speaker 1: no noise. They finally left the post, looking very mournful.
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  Speaker 1: The men said, I told Colonel Palmer that he might
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  Speaker 1: better have gone out on the hills as I did,
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  Speaker 1: that it was ever so much nicer than being shut
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  Speaker 1: up in a tent. Betty is learning to rear higher
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  Speaker 1: and higher, And I ride Pete now the last time
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  Speaker 1: I wrote her, she went up so straight that I
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  Speaker 1: slipped back in my saddle, and some of the enlisted
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  Speaker 1: men out to my assistance. I let her have her
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  Speaker 1: own way and came back to the tent, and, jumping down,
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  Speaker 1: declared to Fey that I would never ride her again.
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  Speaker 1: She is very cute in her badness, and having once
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  Speaker 1: discovered that I didn't like a rearing horse, she has
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  Speaker 1: proceeded to rear whenever she wanted her own way. I
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  Speaker 1: have enjoyed riding her because she is so graceful and dainty.
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  Speaker 1: But I have been told so many times that the
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  Speaker 1: horse was dangerous and would throw me, that perhaps I
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  Speaker 1: have become a little nervous about her. A detail of
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  Speaker 1: soldiers goes up in the mountains twice every day for
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  Speaker 1: poles with which to make the roofs of the log quarters.
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  Speaker 1: They go along a trail on the other side of
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  Speaker 1: the creek, and on this side is a narrow deer
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  Speaker 1: path that runs around the rocky side of a small mountain.
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  Speaker 1: Ever since I have been here, I have wanted to
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  Speaker 1: go back up the mountain by that path, So when
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  Speaker 1: I happened to be out on Pete yesterday, afternoon at
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  Speaker 1: the time the men started, I at once decided to
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  Speaker 1: take advantage of their protection and ride around the little
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  Speaker 1: mountain about half a mile up. There were quantities of
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  Speaker 1: bushes eight and ten feet high down to the creek bed,
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  Speaker 1: and the narrow trail that Pete was on was about
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  Speaker 1: on a level with the tops of the bushes At
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  Speaker 1: my left. The hill was very steep and covered with stones.
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  Speaker 1: I was having a delightful time, feeling perfectly safe with
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  Speaker 1: so many soldiers within call. But suddenly things changed. Down
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  Speaker 1: in those bushes, there was a loud crashing and snapping,
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  Speaker 1: and then straight up into the air jumped a splendid deer.
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  Speaker 1: His head and most of his neck were above the bushes,
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  Speaker 1: and for just one instant he looked at us with
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  Speaker 1: big inquisitive eyes before he went down again. When the
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  Speaker 1: deer went up, Pete went up too on the steep hill,
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  Speaker 1: and as I was on his back, I had to
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  Speaker 1: go with him. The horse was badly frightened, snorted and
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  Speaker 1: raised his tail high, and when I tried to get
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  Speaker 1: him down on the trail, the higher up he went
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  Speaker 1: on the rolling stones. I could almost touch the side
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  Speaker 1: of the mountain with my whipping places. It was so
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  Speaker 1: steep it was a most dangerous position to be in,
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  Speaker 1: and just what elevation I might have been carried to
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  Speaker 1: eventually I do not know. Had not the deer stopped
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  Speaker 1: his crashing through the bushes and bounded up on the
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  Speaker 1: opposite bank, directly in front of the first team of mules,
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  Speaker 1: and then on he streaked it across a plateau and
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  Speaker 1: far up a mountain side, his short white tail showing
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  Speaker 1: distinctly as he ran with the deer. Pete seemed to
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  Speaker 1: think that the evil one had gone too and consented
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  Speaker 1: to return to the trail and to cross the stream
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  Speaker 1: over to the wagons. The corporal had stopped the wagons
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  Speaker 1: until he saw that I was safely down, and I
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  Speaker 1: asked him why he had not killed the deer. We
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  Speaker 1: are always in need of game, and he said that
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  Speaker 1: he had not seen him until he was in front
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  Speaker 1: of the mules, and that it was impossible then, as
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  Speaker 1: the deer did not wait for them to get the
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  Speaker 1: rifles out of their cases on the bottom of the wagons.
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  Speaker 1: That evening, at the whist table, I told Colonel Palmer
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  Speaker 1: about the deer and Pete, and saw at once that
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  Speaker 1: I had probably gotten the poor corporal in trouble. Colonel
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  Speaker 1: Palmer was very angry that the men should even think
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  Speaker 1: of going several miles from the post in an Indian
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  Speaker 1: country with their rifles cased and strapped, so they would
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  Speaker 1: have been practically useless in case of an attack. They
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  Speaker 1: says that the men were not thinking of Indians, but
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  Speaker 1: simply trying to keep their rifles from being marred and scratched,
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  Speaker 1: for if they did get so, they would be jumped.
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  Speaker 1: At the first inspection, Colonel Palmer gave most positive orders
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  Speaker 1: for the soldiers to hold their rifles in their hands
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  Speaker 1: on their way to and from the mountains, which perhaps
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  Speaker 1: is for the best, but I am afraid they will
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  Speaker 1: blame me me for such orders having been issued. End
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  Speaker 1: of letter, Fort mc ginnis, Montana Territory, October eighteen eighty.
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  Speaker 1: It is not surprising that politicians got a military post
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  Speaker 1: established here so this wonderful country could be opened and settled.
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  Speaker 1: For the country itself is not only beautiful, but it
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  Speaker 1: has an amount of game every place that is almost
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  Speaker 1: beyond belief. Deer are frequently seen to come down from
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  Speaker 1: the mountains to the creek for water, and prairie chicken
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  Speaker 1: would come to our very tense I fancy if left
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  Speaker 1: to follow their inclinations. Fay's officer of the day every
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  Speaker 1: third day, but the other two days there is not
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  Speaker 1: much for him to do as the company is now
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  Speaker 1: working on the new quarters under the supervision of the quartermaster.
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  Speaker 1: So we often go off on little hunts, usually for chicken,
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  Speaker 1: but sometimes we go up on one of the mountains
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  Speaker 1: where there are quantities of ruffed grouse. These are the delicious,
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  Speaker 1: with meat as tender and white as young chicken, and
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  Speaker 1: they are so pretty too when they spread the ruffs
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  Speaker 1: around their necks and make fans of their short tail feathers.
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  Speaker 1: Yesterday we went out for birds for both tables, the
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  Speaker 1: officers mess and our own. The other officers are not hunters,
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  Speaker 1: and Fay is the possessor of the only shotgun in
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  Speaker 1: the garrison. Therefore it has been a great pleasure to
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  Speaker 1: us to bring in game for all Fay rides Betty
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  Speaker 1: now all together. So I was on Pete yesterday. We
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  Speaker 1: had quite a number of chickens, but thought we would
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  Speaker 1: like to get two or three more. Therefore, when we
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  Speaker 1: saw a small covey fly over by some bushes, and
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  Speaker 1: that one bird went beyond and dropped on the other side.
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  Speaker 1: Fay told me to go on a little and watch
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  Speaker 1: the bird if it rose again when he shot at
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  Speaker 1: the others. It is our habit usually for me to
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  Speaker 1: hold Fay's horse when he dismounts to hunt, but that
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  Speaker 1: time he was some distance away and had slipped his
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  Speaker 1: hand through the bridle rein and leading Betty that way.
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  Speaker 1: Both horses are perfectly broken to firearms and do not
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  Speaker 1: in the least mind a gun. I have often seen
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  Speaker 1: Betty prick up her ears and watched the smoke come
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  Speaker 1: from the barrel with the greatest interest. Everything went on
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  Speaker 1: very well until I got where I might expect to
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  Speaker 1: see the chicken, and then I presume I gave more
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  Speaker 1: thought to the bird than to the ground the horse
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  Speaker 1: was on. At all events, it suddenly occurred to me
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  Speaker 1: that the grass about us was very tall, and looking
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  Speaker 1: down closely, I discovered that Pete was in an alkali
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  Speaker 1: bog and slowly going down. I at once tried to
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  Speaker 1: get him back to the ground we had just left,
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  Speaker 1: but in his frantic efforts to get his feet out
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  Speaker 1: of the sticky mud, he got further to one side
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  Speaker 1: and slipped down into an Alkali hole of nasty, black
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  Speaker 1: water and slime that I knew to be exceedingly dangerous,
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  Speaker 1: and I urged the horse by voice and whip to
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  Speaker 1: get him out before he sank down too deep. But
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  Speaker 1: with all his efforts he could do nothing, and was
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  Speaker 1: going down very fast and groaning in his terror. Seeing
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  Speaker 1: that I must have assistance without delay, I called to
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  Speaker 1: Fae to come at once, and sat very still until
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  Speaker 1: he got to us, fearing that if I changed my
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  Speaker 1: position the horse might fall over. Fay came running and,
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  Speaker 1: finding a tuft of grass and solid ground to stand upon,
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  Speaker 1: pulled Pete by the bridle and encouraged him until the
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  Speaker 1: poor beast finally struggled out, his legs and stomach covered
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  Speaker 1: with the black slime up to the flaps of my saddle.
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  Speaker 1: So one can see what danger we were in. There
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  Speaker 1: was no way of relieving the horse of my weight,
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  Speaker 1: as it was impossible for me to jump and not
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  Speaker 1: get stuck in the mud myself. This is the only
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  Speaker 1: Alkali hole we have discovered here. It is screened by
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  Speaker 1: bunches of tall grass, and I expect that many a
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  Speaker 1: time I have ridden within a few feet of it
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  Speaker 1: when alone and if my horse had happened to slip
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  Speaker 1: down on any one of these times, we probably would
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  Speaker 1: have been sucked from the face of the earth, and
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  Speaker 1: not one person to come to our assistance or to
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  Speaker 1: know what had happened to us. When Fay heard my
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  Speaker 1: call of distress, he threw the bridle back on Betty, and,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: slipping the shotgun through the sling on the saddle, hurried
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  Speaker 1: over to me, not giving Betty much thought. The horse
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: has always shown the greatest disinclination to leaving Pete, but
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: having her own free will, that time she did the
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  Speaker 1: unexpected and trotted to a herd of mules not far off,
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  Speaker 1: And as she went down a little hill, the precious
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  Speaker 1: shot gun slipped out of the sling to the ground,
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  Speaker 1: and the stalk broke. The gun is perfectly useless, and
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  Speaker 1: the loss of it is great to us and our friends.
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  Speaker 1: To be in this splendid game country without a shotgun
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  Speaker 1: is deplorable. Still, to have been buried in a hole
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  Speaker 1: of black water and muck would have been worse. Later,
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  Speaker 1: such an awful windstorm burst upon us while I was
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  Speaker 1: riding two days ago. I was obliged to stop. The
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  Speaker 1: day was cold, and our tents were close tight to
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  Speaker 1: keep the heat in, so we knew nothing of the
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: storm until it struck us, and with such fierceness it
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: seemed as if the tents must go down instantly. There
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  Speaker 1: was commotion in camp, some of the men tightening guy ropes,
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  Speaker 1: and others running after blankets and pieces of clothing that
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: had been out for an airing. But every man laughed
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  Speaker 1: and made fun of whatever he was doing. Soldiers are
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  Speaker 1: always so cheerful under such difficulties, and I dearly love
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  Speaker 1: to hear them laugh and yell too over in their tents.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: The snow fell thick and fast, and the wind came
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  Speaker 1: through the canyon back of us with the velocity of
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  Speaker 1: a hurricane. As night came on, it seemed to increase,
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  Speaker 1: and the tents began to show the strain, and one
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  Speaker 1: or two had gone down, so the officers families were
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  Speaker 1: moved moved into the unfinished log quarters for the night.
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  Speaker 1: Colonel Palmer sent for me to go over also, and
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: Major Bagley came twice for me, saying our tents would
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: certainly fall, and that it would be better to go
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: then than in the middle of the night. But I
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: had more faith in those tents, for they were new
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: and pitched remarkably well. Soon after we got here, long
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: poles had been put up on stakes all around each
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: side of and close to the tents, and to these
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: the guy ropes of both tents and fly covers had
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: been securely fastened, all of which had prevented much flopping
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: of canvas. Dirt had been banked all around the base
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: of the tents, so with a very little fire we
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: could be warm and fairly comfortable. The wind seemed to
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: get worse every minute, and once in a while there
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: would be a loud boom when a big sibly tent
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: would be ripped open, and then would come yells from
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: the men as they scrambled after their belongings. After it
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: became dark. It seemed dismal, but Fay would not go
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  Speaker 1: in a building, and I would not leave him alone
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  Speaker 1: to hold the stove down. This was our only care
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  Speaker 1: and annoyance. It was intensely cold, and in order to
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: have a fire, we were compelled to hold the pipe
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: down on the little conical camp stove, for with the
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: flopping of the tent and fly the pipe was in
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: constant motion. Fay would hold it for a while, then
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  Speaker 1: I would relieve him, and so on. The holding down
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: business was very funny for an hour or two, but
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: in time it became monotonous. We got through the night
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  Speaker 1: very well, but did not sleep much. The tearing and
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: snapping of tents, and the shouting of the men when
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: a tent would fall upon them was heard frequently, and
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: when we looked out in the morning, the camp had
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the appearance of having been struck by a cyclone. Two
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: thirds of the tents were flat on the ground, others
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: were badly torn, and the unfinished log quarters only added
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: to the desolation. You know, was over everything ten or
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  Speaker 1: twelve inches deep. But the wind had gone down, and
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: the atmosphere was wonderfully clear and sparkling and full of frost.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: Dinner the evening before had not been a success, so
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: we were very prompt to the nice hot breakfast. Charlie
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: gave us that Chinaman has certainly been a great comfort
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: on this trip. The doctor came overlooking cross and sick.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: He said at once that we had been wise in
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: remaining in our comfortable tents. That everybody in the log
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: houses was sneezing and complaining of stiff joints. The logs
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: have not been chinked yet, and as might have been expected,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: wind and snow swept through them. The stoves have not
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: been set up, so even one fire was impossible. Two
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: or three of their tents did go down, however, the
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  Speaker 1: doctors included, and perhaps they were safer in a breezy house.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: After all, the mail has been held back and will
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: start with us. The time of going was determed at
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: department headquarters, and we will have to leave here on
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: the first day after tomorrow. If such a thing is possible,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: we return by the way of Benton. It is perfectly
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: exasperating to see prairie chicken all around us on the snow.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: Early this morning, there was a large covey up in
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: a tree just across the creek from our tent, looking
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: over at us in a most insolent manner. They acted
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: as though they knew there was not a shotgun within
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: a hundred miles of them. They were perfectly safe, for
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: everyone was too nearly frozen to trouble them with a rifle.
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: Camping on the snow will not be pleasant, and we
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: regret very much that the storm came just at this time.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: Charlie is busy cooking all sorts of things for the trip,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: so he will not have much to do on the
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: little camp stove. He is a treasure, but says that
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: he wishes we could stay here, that he does not
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: want to return to Fort Shaw. This puzzles me very much,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: as there are so many chinamen at Shaw and not
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: one here. The doctor will not go back with us,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: as he has received orders to remain at this post
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: during the winter and of letter Fort Shaw, Montana Territory,
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: November eighteen eighty. The past few days have been busy ones.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: The house has received much needed attention, and camp things
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: have been looked over and put away, ready for the
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: next move. The trip back was a disappointment to me
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and not at all pleasant. The wagons were very lightly loaded,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: so the men rode in them all the way, and
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: we came about forty miles each day, the mules keeping
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: up a steady slow trot. Of course, I could not
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: ride those distances at that gate. Therefore I was compelled
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: to come in the old jerky ambulance. The snow was
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: still deep when we left mc ginnis, and at the
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: first camp snow had to be swept from the ground
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: where our tent was pitched. But after that the weather
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: was warm and sunny. We saw the greatest number of
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: feathered game, enormous flocks of geese, brandt and ducks. Our
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: camp one night was near a small lake just the
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: other side of Benton, and at dusk hundreds of geese
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: came and lit on the water, until it looked like
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: one big mass of live, restless things, and the noise
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: was deafening. Some of the men shot at them with rifles,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: but the geese did not seem to mind much. Charlie
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: told me at mc ginnis that he did not want
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to return to Shaw, and I wondered at that. So
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: many times I went in the kitchen two miserable mornings
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: back and found him sitting down, looking unhappy and disconsolate.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I do not remember to have ever seen a chinaman
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: sitting down that way before, and was afraid he might
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: be sick. But he said at once, and without preamble,
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: me go away. He saw my look of surprise and
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: said again, me go way, Miss Boks chiny man telling
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: me go way. I said, but Charlie Lee has no
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: right to tell you to go. I want you to stay.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: He hesitated one second and then said in the most
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: mournful of voices. Yes me, no, me feel very bad,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: but lie he telle me go. He no likee mason man.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: No amount of persuasion could induce him to stay. And
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: that evening after dinner he packed his bedding on his
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: back and went away to the crossing. I presume Charlie
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: called himself a mason and has a book that he
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: made himself, which he says was a mason man book.
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: But I learned yesterday that he is a high binder,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: no mason at all, and for that reason the chinaman
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: in the garrison would not permit him to remain here.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: They were afraid of him. Yet he seems so very
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: trustworthy in every way, but a high binder in one's
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: own house. There has been another departure from the family.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: Betty has been sold. Lieutenant Warren wanted her to match
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a horse he had recently bought. The two make a
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: beautiful little team, and Betty is already a great pet,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: and I am glad of that, of course, But I
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: do not see the necessity of Lieutenant Warren's giving her
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: sugar right in front of our windows. His quarters are
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: near ours. He says that Betty made no objections to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: the harness, but drove right off with her mate. There
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: was a distressing occurrence in the garrison yesterday that I
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: cannot forget. At all army posts, the prisoners do the
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: rough work, such as bringing the wood and water, keeping
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the yards tidy, bringing the ice, and so on. Yesterday morning,
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: one of the general prisoners here escaped from the sentry
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: guarding him. The long roll was beaten, and as this
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: always means that something is wrong and calls out all
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: the troops, officers and men, I ran out on the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: to see what was the matter, fearing there might be
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a fire someplace. It seemed a long time before the
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: companies got in line, and then I noticed that instead
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: of fire buckets, they were carrying rifles. Directly, every company
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: started off on double time and disappeared in between two
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: sets of barracks at one corner of the parade ground.
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: Then everything was unusually quiet, not a human being to
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: be seen except the sentry at the guard house who
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: was walking post. It was pleasant, so I sat down,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: still feeling curious about the trouble that was serious enough
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to call out all the troops. It was not so
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: very long before Lieutenant Todd, who was Officer of the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: day came from the direction the companies had gone, pistol
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: in hand, and in front of him was a man
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: with ball and chain. That means that his feet were
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: fastened together by a large chain, just long enough to
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: permit him to take short steps. And to that short
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: chain was riveted a long one, at the end of
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: which was a heavy iron ball hanging below his belt.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: When we see a prisoner carrying a ball and chain,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: we know that he is a deserter, or that he
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: has done something very bad which will probably send him
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: to the penitentiary. For these balls are never put on
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: a prisoner who has only a short time in the
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: guard house. The prisoner yesterday, who seemed to be a
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: young man, walked slowly to the guard house, the Officer
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: of the Day following closely, going up the steps and
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: on in the room to a cot. He unfastened the
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: ball from his belt and let it thunder down on
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the floor, and then, throwing himself down on the cot,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: buried his face in the blankets, an awful picture of
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: woe and despair on the walk by the door, and
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: looking at him with contempt, stood a splendid specimen of
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: manhood erect, broad chested, with clear, honest eyes and a
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: weather beaten face, a typical soldier of the United States Army,
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: and such as he the prisoner inside, might have become
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: in time. Our house is separated from the guard house
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: by a little park only, and I could plainly see
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: the whole thing, the strong man and the weakling. In
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: the meantime, Bugles had called the men back to quarters,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: and very soon I learned all about the wretched affair.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: The misguided young man had deserted once before, was found
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: guilty by a general court martial and sentenced to the
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: penitentiary at Leavenworth for the regulation time for such an offense,
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: and tomorrow morning he was to have started for the prison.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: Now he has to stand a second court martial and
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: serve a double sentence for desertion. He was so silly
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: about it too. The prisoners were at the large ice
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: house down by the river, getting ice out for the
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: daily delivery. There were sentinels over them, of course, but
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: in some way that man managed to sneak over the
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: ice through the long building to an open door through
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: which he dropped down to the ground, and then he ran.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: He was missed almost instantly and the alarm given. But
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the companies were sent to the lowland along the river
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: where there are bushes, for there seemed to be no
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: other place where he could possibly secrete himself. The officer
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: of the day is responsible in a way for the prisoners,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: so of course Lieutenant Todd went to the ice house
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: to find out the cause of the trouble, and on
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: his way back he accidentally passed an old barrel shaped
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: water wagon. Not a sound was heard, but something told
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: him to look inside. He had to climb up on
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: a wheel in order to get high enough to look
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: through the little square opening at the top, but he
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: is a tall man and could just see in, and
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: peering down he saw the wretched prisoner huddled at one end,
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: looking more like an animal than a human being. He
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: ordered him to come out and marched him to the
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: guard house. It was a strange coincidence, but the officer
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: of the day happened to have been promoted from the ranks,
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: had served his three years as an enlisted man, and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: then passed a stiff examination for a commission. One could
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: see by his walk that he had no sympathy for
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: the mother's baby. He knew from experience that a soldier's
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: life is not hard unless the soldier himself makes it so.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: The service and discipline develop all the good qualities of
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: the man, give him an assurance and manly courage he
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: might never possess otherwise, and best of all, he learns
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: to respect law and order. The army is not a
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: rough place, and neither are the men starved or abused,
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: as many mothers seem to think. Often the company commanders
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: received the most pitiful letters from mothers of enlisted men,
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: beseeching them to send their boys back to them, that
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: they are being treated like dogs, dying of starvation, and
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: so on, as though those company commanders did not know
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: all about those boys and the life they had to live.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: It is such a pity that these mothers cannot be
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: made to realize that army discipline, regular hours, and plain
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: army food is just what those boys need to make
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: men of them. Judging by several letters I have read
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: sent to officers by mothers of soldiers, I am inclined
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: to believe that weak mothers in many cases are responsible
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: for the desertion of their weak sons. They sap all
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: the manhood from them by coddling as they grow up,
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: and send them out in the world wholly unequal to
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: a vigorous life, a life without pie and cake at
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: every meal. Well, I had no intention of moralizing this way.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: But I have written only the plain truth and of
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: letter and of Section thirteen.