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16 - 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: Part sixteen of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife eighteen
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  Speaker 1: seventy one eighteen eighty eight. This is a 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 volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by
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  Speaker 1: Sue Anderson. Army Letters from an Officer's Wife eighteen seventy
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  Speaker 1: one eighteen eighty eight by Francis Rowe, Section sixteen Letters
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  Speaker 1: from eighteen eighty three eighteen eighty four. Fort Ellis, Montana, Territory,
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  Speaker 1: March eighteen eighty three. The trip over was by far
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  Speaker 1: the most enjoyable of any we have taken between Fort
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  Speaker 1: Shaw and this post, and we were thankful enough that
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  Speaker 1: we could come before the snow began to melt on
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  Speaker 1: the mountains. Our experience with the high water two years
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  Speaker 1: ago was so dreadful that we do not wish to
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  Speaker 1: ever encounter anything of the kind again. The weather was delightful,
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  Speaker 1: with clear, crisp atmosphere such as can be found only
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  Speaker 1: in this magnificent territory. It was such a pleasure to
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  Speaker 1: have our own turn out too, and to be able
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  Speaker 1: to see the mountains and canyons as we came along
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  Speaker 1: without having our heads bruised by an old ambulance. Faye
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  Speaker 1: had to wait almost twelve years for a first lieutenancy,
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  Speaker 1: and now, when at last he has been promoted, it
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  Speaker 1: has been the cause of our leaving dear friends and
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  Speaker 1: a charming garrison, and losing dear yellow Hang. Also, the
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  Speaker 1: poor little man wept when he said good bye to
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  Speaker 1: me and Helena. We had just arrived and were still
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  Speaker 1: on the walk in front of the hotel, and of
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  Speaker 1: course all the small boys in the street gathered around us.
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  Speaker 1: I felt very much like weeping too, and am afraid
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  Speaker 1: I will feel even more so when I get in
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  Speaker 1: my own home. Hang is going right on to China
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  Speaker 1: to visit his mother one year, and I presume that
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  Speaker 1: his people will consider him a very rich man with
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  Speaker 1: the twelve hundred dollars he has saved. He has never
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  Speaker 1: cut his hair and has never worn American clothes. Even
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  Speaker 1: in the winter when it has been freezing cold, he
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  Speaker 1: would shuffle along on the snow with his Chinese shoes.
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  Speaker 1: I shall miss the pretty silk coats about the house,
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  Speaker 1: and his swift, almost noiseless going around. That chinamen are
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  Speaker 1: not more generally employed. I cannot understand, for they make
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  Speaker 1: such exceptional servants. They are wonderfully economical, and can easily
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  Speaker 1: do the work of two maids. And if once you
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  Speaker 1: win their confidence and their affection, they are your slaves.
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  Speaker 1: But they are very suspicious. Once, when Bishop Tuttle was
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  Speaker 1: with us, he wanted a pair of boots blackened, and
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  Speaker 1: set them in his room where Hang could see them,
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  Speaker 1: and on the toe of one he put a twenty
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  Speaker 1: five cent piece. Hang blackened the boots beautifully, and then
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  Speaker 1: put the money back precisely where it was in the
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  Speaker 1: first place. Then he came to me and expressed his
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  Speaker 1: opinion of the dear Bishop. He said, Chinaman, no steely
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  Speaker 1: you telling him me no steely? He see me no
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  Speaker 1: taking him, And then he insisted upon my going to
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  Speaker 1: see for myself that the money was on the boot.
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  Speaker 1: I was awfully distressed. The Bishop was to remain with
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  Speaker 1: us several days, and no one could tell how that
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  Speaker 1: Chinaman might treat him, for I saw that he was
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  Speaker 1: deeply hurt, but it was utterly impossible to make him
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  Speaker 1: believe otherwise than that the quarter had been put there
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  Speaker 1: to test his honesty. I finally concluded to tell the
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  Speaker 1: Bishop all about it, knowing that his experience with all
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  Speaker 1: kinds of human nature had been great in his travels
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  Speaker 1: about to his various missions, and his kindness antact with
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  Speaker 1: minor ranchmen and cowboy. He is now called by them
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  Speaker 1: lovingly the cowboy Bishop. He laughed heartily about Hang and said,
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  Speaker 1: I'll fix that which he must have done to Hang's
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  Speaker 1: entire satisfaction, for he fairly danced around the Bishop during
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  Speaker 1: the remainder of his stay with us. Faye was made
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  Speaker 1: post Quartermaster and Commissary as soon as he reported for
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  Speaker 1: duty here, and is already hard at work. The post
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  Speaker 1: is not large, but the office of quartermaster is no sinecure.
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  Speaker 1: An immense amount of transportation has to be kept in
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  Speaker 1: readiness for the field for which the quartermaster alone is
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  Speaker 1: held responsible. And this is the base of supplies for
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  Speaker 1: outfits for all parties large and small that go to
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  Speaker 1: the Yellowstone Park. And these are many. Now that Livingston
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  Speaker 1: can be reached from the north or the south by
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  Speaker 1: the Northern Pacific Railroad. Immense pack trains have to be
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  Speaker 1: fitted out for generals, congressmen, even the President himself. During
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  Speaker 1: the coming season. These people bring nothing whatever with them
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  Speaker 1: for camp, but depend entirely upon the quartermaster here to
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  Speaker 1: fit them out as luxuriously as possible, with tents and
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  Speaker 1: common even to experience camp cooks. The railroad has been
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  Speaker 1: laid straight through the post, and it looks very strange
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  Speaker 1: to see the cars running directly back of the company quarters.
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  Speaker 1: The long tunnel it is to be called the Bozeman Tunnel,
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  Speaker 1: that has been cut through a large mountain, is not
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  Speaker 1: quite finished, and the cars are still run up over
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  Speaker 1: the mountain upon a track that was laid only for
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  Speaker 1: temporary use. It requires two engines to pull even the
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  Speaker 1: passenger trains up, and when the divide is reached, the
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  Speaker 1: pilot is uncoupled and run down ahead, sometimes at terrific speed.
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  Speaker 1: One day since we came, the engineer lost control, and
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  Speaker 1: the big black thing seemed almost to drop down the grade,
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  Speaker 1: and the shrieking of the continuous whistle was awful to
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  Speaker 1: listen to. It seemed as if it was the wailing
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  Speaker 1: of the souls of the two men being rushed on,
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  Speaker 1: perhaps to their death. The thing came on and went
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  Speaker 1: screaming through the Post and on through Bozeman, and how
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  Speaker 1: much further we do not know. Some of the enlisted
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  Speaker 1: men got a glimpse of the engineer as he passed,
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  Speaker 1: and say that his face was like chalk. We will
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  Speaker 1: not be settled for some time, as Faye is to
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  Speaker 1: take a set of vacant quarters on the hill until
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  Speaker 1: one of the officers goes on leave, when we will
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  Speaker 1: move to that house, as it is nicer and nearer
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  Speaker 1: the offices. He could have taken it when we came,
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  Speaker 1: had he been willing to turn any one out. It
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  Speaker 1: seems to me that I am waiting for a house
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  Speaker 1: about half the time. Yet when anyone wants our house,
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  Speaker 1: it is taken at once. For a few days we
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  Speaker 1: are with Lieutenant and Missus Fiske. They gave us an
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  Speaker 1: elegant dinner last evening. Miss Burt and her brother came
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  Speaker 1: up from Bozeman. This evening we dine with Major and
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  Speaker 1: Missus Gillespie of the Cavalry. He is in command of
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  Speaker 1: the post. And tomorrow we will dine with Captain and
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  Speaker 1: Missus Spencer. And so it will go on, probably until
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  Speaker 1: everyone has entertained us in some delightful manner, as this
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  Speaker 1: is the custom in the army when there are newcomers
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  Speaker 1: in the garrison. I am so sorry that these courtesies
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  Speaker 1: cannot be returned for a long time until we get
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  Speaker 1: really settled. And then how I shall miss Hang, How
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  Speaker 1: I am to do without him? I do not quite see.
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  Speaker 1: End of letter fort Ellis, Montana Territory, July eighteen eighty four.
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  Speaker 1: This post is in a most dilapidated condition, and it
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  Speaker 1: also the country about looks as though it had been
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  Speaker 1: the scene of a fierce bombardment. And bombarded we certainly
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  Speaker 1: have been by a terrific hail storm that made us
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  Speaker 1: feel for a time that our very lives were in danger.
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  Speaker 1: The day had been excessively warm, with brilliant sunshine until
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  Speaker 1: about three o'clock, when dark clouds were seen to be
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  Speaker 1: coming up over the Bowsman Valley, and every one said
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  Speaker 1: that perhaps at last we would have the rain that
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  Speaker 1: was so much needed. I have been in so many
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  Speaker 1: frightful storms that came from innocent looking clouds that now
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  Speaker 1: I am suspicious of anything of the kind that looks
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  Speaker 1: at all threatening. Consequently, I was about the first person
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  Speaker 1: to notice the peculiar, unbroken gray that had replaced the
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  Speaker 1: black of a few minutes before, and the first two
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  Speaker 1: to hear the ominous roar that sounded like the fall
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  Speaker 1: of an immense body of water, and which could be
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  Speaker 1: distinctly heard fifteen minutes before the storm reached us. While
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  Speaker 1: I stood at the door, listening and watching, I saw
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  Speaker 1: several people walking about in the garrison, each one intent
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  Speaker 1: upon his own business and not giving the storm a thought. Still,
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  Speaker 1: it seemed to me that it would be just as
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  Speaker 1: well to have the house closed tight and calling holda.
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  Speaker 1: We soon had windows and doors closed, not one minute
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  Speaker 1: too soon, either, for the storm came across the mountains
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  Speaker 1: with hurricane speed and struck us with such force that
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  Speaker 1: the thick walled log houses fairly trembled with the wind.
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  Speaker 1: Came the hail at the very beginning, changing the hot,
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  Speaker 1: sultry air into the coldness of icebergs. Most of the
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  Speaker 1: hailstones were the size of a hen's egg and crashed
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  Speaker 1: through windows and pounded against the house, making a noise
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  Speaker 1: that was not only deafening but paralyzing. The sounds of
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  Speaker 1: breaking glass came from every direction, and Hulda and I
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  Speaker 1: rushed from one room to the other, not knowing what
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  Speaker 1: to do, for it was the same scene every place,
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  Speaker 1: floors covered with broken glass and hail pouring in through
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  Speaker 1: the openings. The ground upon which the officer's quarters are
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  Speaker 1: built is a little sloping. Therefore it had to be
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  Speaker 1: cut away back of the kitchen to make the floor
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  Speaker 1: level for a large shed where ice chest and such
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  Speaker 1: things are kept, and there are two or three steps
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  Speaker 1: at the door leading from the shed up to the
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  Speaker 1: ground outside. This gradual rise continues far back to the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: so by the time the hail and water reached us
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  Speaker 1: from above, they had become one broad, sweeping torrent, ever
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  Speaker 1: increasing in volume. In one of the boards of our shed,
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  Speaker 1: close to the steps and just above the ground, there
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  Speaker 1: happened to be a large knot, which the pressure of
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  Speaker 1: the water soon forced out, and the water and hailstones
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  Speaker 1: shot through and straight across the shed, as if from
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  Speaker 1: a fire hose, striking the wall of the main building.
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  Speaker 1: The site was most laughable, that is, at first it was,
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  Speaker 1: but we soon saw that the awful rush of water
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  Speaker 1: that was coming in through the broken sash and the
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  Speaker 1: remarkable hose arrangement back of the kitchen was rapidly flooding us.
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  Speaker 1: So I ran to the front door, and, seeing a
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  Speaker 1: soldier at one of the barrack window, I waved and
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  Speaker 1: waved my hand until he saw me, he understood at
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  Speaker 1: once and came running over, followed by three more men
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  Speaker 1: who brought spades and other things. In a short time,
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  Speaker 1: sods had been banked up at every door, and then
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  Speaker 1: the water ceased to come in. By that time, the
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  Speaker 1: heaviest of the storm had passed over, and the men
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  Speaker 1: who were most willing and kind began to shovel out
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  Speaker 1: the enormous quantity of hailstones from the shed. They found,
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  Speaker 1: by actual measurement that they were eight inches deep solid hail,
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  Speaker 1: and over the entire floor. Much of the water had
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  Speaker 1: run into the kitchen and on through to the butler's pantry,
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  Speaker 1: and was fast making its way to the dining room
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  Speaker 1: when it was cut off. The scenes around the little
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  Speaker 1: house were awful. More or less water was in each room,
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  Speaker 1: and there was not one unbroken pane of glass to
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  Speaker 1: be found. And that was not all. There was not
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  Speaker 1: one an unbroken pane of glass in the whole post.
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  Speaker 1: That night, Fay telegraphed to Saint Paul for glass to
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  Speaker 1: replace nine hundred panes that had been broken. Fay was
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  Speaker 1: at the Quartermaster's office when the storm came up, and
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  Speaker 1: while it was still hailing, I happened to look across
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  Speaker 1: the parade that way, and in the door I saw
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  Speaker 1: face standing. He had left the house not long before,
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  Speaker 1: dressed in a suit of immaculate white linen, and it
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  Speaker 1: was that suit that enabled me to recognize him through
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  Speaker 1: the veil of rain and hail. Sorry as I was,
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  Speaker 1: I had to laugh, for the picture was so ludicrous.
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  Speaker 1: Fay in those chilling white clothes, broken windows each side
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  Speaker 1: of him, and the ground covered with inches of hailstones
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  Speaker 1: and ice water. He ran over soon after the men
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  Speaker 1: got here, but as he had to come a greater distance,
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  Speaker 1: his pelting was in proportion. Many of the stones were
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  Speaker 1: so large it was really dangerous to be hit by them.
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  Speaker 1: When the storm was over, the ground was white, as
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  Speaker 1: if covered with snow, and the high board fences that
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  Speaker 1: are around the yards back of the officer's quarters looked
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  Speaker 1: as though they had been used for targets and peppered
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  Speaker 1: with big bullets. Mount Bridger is several miles distant, yet
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  Speaker 1: we can distinctly see from here the furrows that were
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  Speaker 1: made down its sides. It looks as if deep ravines
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  Speaker 1: had been cut straight down from peak to base. The
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  Speaker 1: gardens are wholly ruined. Not one thing was left in them.
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  Speaker 1: The poor little gophers were forced out of their holes
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  Speaker 1: by the water to be killed by the hail, and
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of them are lying around dead. I wondered and
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  Speaker 1: wondered why Dryas did not come to our assistance. But
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  Speaker 1: he told us afterward that when the storm first came,
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  Speaker 1: he went to the stable to fasten the horses up Snug,
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  Speaker 1: and was then afraid to come away, first because of
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  Speaker 1: the immense hailstones, and later because both horses were so
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  Speaker 1: terrified by the crashing in of their windows and the
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  Speaker 1: awful cannonade of hail on the roof. A new cook
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  Speaker 1: had come to us just the day before the storm,
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  Speaker 1: and I fully expected that she would start back to
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  Speaker 1: Bozeman that night. But she is still here and was
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  Speaker 1: most patient over the awful condition of things all over
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  Speaker 1: the house. She is a pole and a good cook,
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  Speaker 1: so there is a prospect of some enjoyment in life
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  Speaker 1: after the house gets straightened out. There was one thing
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  Speaker 1: peculiar about that storm. Bozeman is only three miles from here,
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  Speaker 1: yet not one hailstone, not one drop of rain did
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  Speaker 1: they get there. They saw the moving wall of gray
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  Speaker 1: and heard the roar and feared that something terrible was
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  Speaker 1: happening up here. The storm has probably ruined the mushrooms
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  Speaker 1: that we have found so delicious lately. At one time,
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  Speaker 1: just out of the post there was a long logs
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  Speaker 1: stable for cavalry horses, which was removed two or three
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  Speaker 1: years ago, and all around wherever the decayed logs had been,
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  Speaker 1: mushrooms have sprung up. When it rains is the time
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  Speaker 1: to get the freshest, and many a time Missus Fiske
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  Speaker 1: and I have put on long storm coats and gone
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  Speaker 1: out in the rain for them, each bringing in a
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  Speaker 1: large basket heaping full of the most delicate buttons. The
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  Speaker 1: quantity is no exaggeration whatever, and to be very exact,
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  Speaker 1: I would say that we invariably left about as many
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  Speaker 1: as we gathered. Usually we found the buttons massed together
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  Speaker 1: under the soft dirt, and when we came to an
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  Speaker 1: umbrella shaped mound with little cracks on top, we would
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  Speaker 1: carefully lift the dirt with a stick and uncover big
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  Speaker 1: clusters of buttons of all sizes. We always broke the
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  Speaker 1: large buttons off with the greatest care and settled the
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  Speaker 1: spawn back in the loose dirt for a future harvest,
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  Speaker 1: we often found large mushrooms above ground, and these were
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  Speaker 1: delicious baked with cream sauce. They would be about the
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  Speaker 1: size of an ordinary saucer, but tender and full of
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  Speaker 1: rich flavor, and the buttons would vary in size from
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  Speaker 1: a twenty five cent piece to a silver dollar, each
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  Speaker 1: one of a beautiful shell pink underneath. They were so
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  Speaker 1: very superior to mushrooms we had eaten before, with the
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  Speaker 1: deliciousness all their own. We are wondering if the storm
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  Speaker 1: passed over the Yellowstone Park, where just now are many
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  Speaker 1: tense and considerable transportation. The party consists of the General
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: of the Army, the Department Commander, members of their staffs,
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: and two Justices of the Supreme Court. From the park,
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  Speaker 1: they are to go across country to Fort Missoula, and
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  Speaker 1: as there is only a narrow trail over the mountains,
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  Speaker 1: they will have to depend entirely upon pack mules. These
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  Speaker 1: were sent up from Custer for Faye to fit out
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  Speaker 1: for the entire trip. I went down to the corral
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  Speaker 1: to see them start out, and it was a sight
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  Speaker 1: well worth going to see. It was wonderful and laughable too,
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  Speaker 1: to see what one mule could carry upon his back
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  Speaker 1: and two sides. The pack saddles are queer looking things
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  Speaker 1: that are strapped carefully and firmly to the mules, and
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  Speaker 1: then the tents, sacks, boxes, even stoves are roped to
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  Speaker 1: the saddle. One poor mule was carrying a cooking stove.
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  Speaker 1: There were forty pack mules and one bell horse and
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  Speaker 1: ten packers. For of course, it requires an expert packer
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  Speaker 1: to put the things on the saddle so they are
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  Speaker 1: perfectly balanced and will not injure the animal's back. The
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  Speaker 1: bell horse leads, and wherever it goes, the mules will follow.
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  Speaker 1: At present, Faye is busy with preparations for two more
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  Speaker 1: parties of exceedingly distinguished personnel. One of these will arrive
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  Speaker 1: in a day two and is called the Indian Commission
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  Speaker 1: and consists of Senator Dawes and fourteen Congressmen. The other party,
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  Speaker 1: for whom an elaborate camp outfit is being put in readiness,
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  Speaker 1: consists of the President of the United States, the Lieutenant
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: General of the Army, the Governor of Montana, and others
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: of lesser magnitude. A troop of cavalry will escort the
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: President through the park. Now that the park can be
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  Speaker 1: reached by railroad. All of the generals, congressmen, and judges
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  Speaker 1: are seized with a desire to inspect it. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: it gives them a fine excuse for an outing at
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  Speaker 1: Uncle Sam's expense. End of letter, end of Section sixteen.