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Fort Union
Historic Resource Study |
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CHAPTER EIGHT:
ENDNOTES
1. For examples of daily schedules at Fort Union, see Appendix G. Private Eddie Matthews, 8th Cav., noted that much effort went into preparation for weekly inspections: "We were all very busy today, unusually so, cleaning up our Arms and belts, for tomorrows a 'Sunday's' inspection. Our Capt [Charles Hobart] has just returned to the Company. He has been absent on a Court Martial for sometime. When the Lieutenant inspected us we were not very particular how we turned out. It is quite different when the Captain is here. You have to turn out clean as a new pin." Matthews Letters, Dec. 10, 1870, FUNMA.
2. Some soldiers chanted protest songs, such as "a dollar a day is damn poor pay, but thirteen a month is less!" Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 96.
3. Las Vegas Optic, Feb. 25, 1885.
4. Lt. Theodore Talbot declared that some soldiers developed the art of "gracefully shirking work, pretending to do something and doing nothing." Quoted in Coffman, Old Army, 172.
5. "Beginning in 1866, soldiers detailed for more than ten consecutive days in the quartermaster, commissary, or some other department, were entitled to additional pay according to the work performed. Men who were employed as mechanics received an extra thirty-five cents a day, while laborers were paid twenty cents a day. In 1884 this sum was raised to fifty cents per day for mechanics, artisans, school teachers, and thirty-five cents per day for clerks, teamsters, laborers and others." Jack D. Foner, The United States Soldier Between Two Wars: Army Life and Reforms, 1865-1898 (New York: Humanities Press, 1970), 16-17.
6. Las Vegas Optic, Jan. 11, 1884.
7. Utley, Frontier Regulars, 84.
8. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 111-112. The son of Post Surgeon Henry Lippincott, who served at Fort Union from 1887 to 1891, recalled that strikers received five dollars per month during that time. Interview with Aubrey Lippincott, Oct. 17, 1968, by Dale F. Giese, tape recording, FUNMA (hereafter Lippincott Interview).
9. Matthews Letters, Oct. 3, 1869, FUNMA.
11. Ibid., June 1, 1870. It should be noted that Matthews was on duty in the kitchen at that time and did not have to stand guard duty. He concluded the above description with these words: "My ten days in the Cook House will be up tomorrow morning. But I can stay in longer if I wish to, under the present circumstances, I think will remain in it, till the duty gets lighter." Ibid. Later that same month, however, he reported that he was getting "plenty of Guard duty," being "on Guard every other day, & night." Ibid., June 17, 1870.
12. Las Vegas Optic, Feb. 17, 1885.
13. Matthews Letters, June 27, 1870, FUNMA.
16. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, viii. Rickey succinctly pointed out why it is so difficult to find information about the enlisted men of that era: "Few were educated, many were illiterates, and they have left little behind them in the way of memoirs and recollections." Ibid., 17. A rare exception was William Edward (Eddie) Matthews, who served at Fort Union during the early 1870s and penned scores of letters that were invaluable for this study. He enlisted in September 1869 and, after serving a few months in Arizona Territory, arrived at Fort Union in May 1870. Except for field duty, including some summers encamped at or near the site of Fort Bascom, Matthews spent the remainder of his military career at Fort Union. His last letter as a soldier was written from Fort Union the day before he departed for home in August 1874. Matthews Letters, 1869-1874, FUNMA.
17. Evans to AAAG DNM, June 16, 1868, LR, OIG, RG 159, NA.
18. Matthews Letters, Feb. 10, 1871, FUNMA.
19. He did not provide the name of the sergeant but reported that he was married and had a wife and child back home in Indiana.
21. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 18.
22. During the Civil War many black volunteer regiments were organized, and 3 companies of the 57th U.S. Colored Inf. served as part of the Fort Union garrison in 1866. During that time, when New Mexico volunteers were also part of the garrison, Fort Union may have been the most integrated post in the nation. In 1866 six regiments of black troops were organized as part of the regular army: 9th & 10th Cav. and 38th, 39th, 40th, & 41st Inf. In 1869 the four regiments of infantry were combined into two: 24th & 25th Inf. Black troopers of the 9th Cav. were stationed at Fort Union, 1876-1881. Heitman, Historical Register, I, 123-125, 134-136; and Post Returns, Fort Union, 1866, 1876-1881, AGO, RG 94, NA. The black regiments compiled honorable records in the American West, despite prevailing racial prejudice and discrimination, and they had the lowest rates of desertion and the highest rates of reenlistment in the army. For additional information on black troops, see William H. Leckie, The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of Negro Cavalry in the West (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1967).
23. Although Lt. Col. George A. Custer, 7th Cav., had no direct connection with Fort Union, he filed a report on black troops discharged at Fort Union that reflected unfavorably upon the post and district. A detachment of 37 soldiers of the 57th U.S. Colored Troops were mustered out of the service at Fort Union on Oct. 18, 1866. They applied for subsistence and transportation across the plains, which was denied, and they were refused the privilege to purchase rations from the commissary department with their own funds. These veterans had received 5 months' pay when they were discharged. They purchased 2 wagons, 3 yoke of oxen, and 2 horses, paying $1,100. They also spent $370 on subsistence items. The unit then crossed the plains under the leadership of Sgt. James Matthews, who was discharged at the same time. They managed to reach Fort Riley, Kansas, where Custer was post commander. He praised the black veterans and Sgt. Matthews for their successful trip and requested that they be reimbursed the $1,470 which they had expended of their own money, "to which they were entitled from the Government." An investigation was ordered, and Carleton directed Marshall to report. Custer to McKeever, Nov. 21, 1866, & endorsements, LR, DNM, USAC, RG 393, NA.
Post Commander Marshall reported that the 37 men could have gone across the plains with their regiment before being discharged, which would have provided their transportation and rations, but they had elected to muster out, take pay instead of any rations due them, and head for the states as quickly as possible. Marshall declared they had no right to transportation and rations after being so discharged. He could not consider them to be "destitute citizens," either, when they had just drawn five months' pay. Marshall to AAG DNM, Dec. 22, 1866, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
24. Matthews Letters, Nov. 14, 1869, FUNMA.
25. Utley, Frontier Regulars, 23-24. For annual statistics on desertions, see Foner, United States Soldier Between Two Wars, 222-224.
27. T. J. Sperry, Fort Union: A Photo History (Tucson: Southwest Parks and Monuments Assoc., 1991), 12.
28. Matthews Letters, Aug. 15, 1870.
34. Recruit Matthews was first stationed at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, where he met a friend enrolled at nearby Dickinson College who told the young soldier he was "a fool" for joining the army. Matthews, not yet 20 years old, confessed to his family that he was "home sick" and, after he received the first letter from home, that he "sat down in the room and read awhile and cried awhile." Ibid., Sept. 19, 1869.
36. Revised U.S. Army Regulations, 1863, 313.
37. Quoted in Utley, Frontier Regulars, 80.
38. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 41, 87.
39. Teresa Griffin Viele, Following the Drum: A Glimpse of Frontier Life, ed. by Sandra L. Myres (1858; reprint, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1984), 43.
40. Matthews Letters, Sept. 19, 1869, FUNMA.
42. The Soldier's Handbook (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1884).
43. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 49. Rickey noted that "a man's 'bunky' was his best friend." He explained what was known as the "bunky" system: "When a recruit joined an active-duty company, he usually paired off with another . . . soldier. On campaign, soldiers generally carried only one blanket apiece. In the high plains and mountain areas this was not sufficient cover, and two men commonly pooled their blankets and slept together for warmth. This practice of sharing usually extended to cooking rations and to fighting together on skirmish lines." Ibid., 57.
46. Duane Merritt Greene, American Aristocracy: A Sketch of the Social Life and Character of the Army (Chicago: Central Publishing Co., 1880), 101-103.
48. Matthews Letters, Nov. 17, 1870, FUNMA; and Heitman, Historical Register, I, 312.
49. Matthews Letters, April 8, 1871, FUNMA.
50. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 58-59.
52. Thomas Keeshan File, FUNM Collection, NMSRCA.
56. Ibid. Lucy Keeshan donated her father's uniforms, military papers, and family photographs to Fort Union National Monument in the late 1960s.
57. Rickey declared, "the officer-enlisted man caste system, irksome at best, permitted almost intolerable oppression when officers were petty and small-minded martinets." Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 70.
59. Greene, American Aristocracy, 3.
61. "The enlisted soldier's lack of protection from the capricious whims of a harsh officer was an important cause of the extremely high desertion rates." Ibid., 70. Eddie Matthews reported that many of his fellow recruits deserted along the way from Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, to join the Eighth Cavalry Regiment in Arizona, while traveling by rail to California, by ship along the Pacific Coast around the tip of the Baja Peninsula and through the Sea of Cortez to Fort Yuma on the Colorado River, and finally by wagon train to Camp Whipple. After a stop at Mazatlan on the west coast of Mexico, Matthews wrote: "Three of our men deserted last night. We have lost a great many men by desertion since left Carlisle." Matthews Letters, Nov. 14, 1869, FUNMA. Throughout his five-year enlistment, Matthews continually lamented the high losses to desertion. In Nov. 1870 he reported that he had spent Thanksgiving "riding around the Country after a Deserter." Ibid., Nov. 25, 1870.
62. Utley, Frontier Regulars, 16-17; and Foner, United States Soldier Between Two Wars, 1-2. Congress reduced the total number of authorized troops but did not reduce the number of regiments, thereby forcing smaller companies.
63. At Fort Union, in 1870, laundresses were paid at the following rates: Officers paid $5.00 per month plus $3.00 for each member of their family; enlisted men paid $1.00 per month, plus 25 cents extra for overcoats and trousers and 10 cents extra for white shirts and bed sacks. Orders No. 149, Nov. 8, 1870, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
64. Matthews informed his family about military pay: "We get sixteen dollars a month and board, and are allowed four hundred dollars for cloths during the five years. If we have any clothing money left, we can draw, but if you over draw your monthly allowance they take it out of your pay. . . . We will not get our pay till we get with the Regiment, and there is no telling when that will be. Rest assured that I will send as much of my money home as I possibly can spare and let you use it as you see propper." Matthews Letters, Sept. 27, 1869, FUNMA.
66. Ibid., July 10, 1870. Matthews did have his picture taken and sent prints to about a dozen people back home. Ibid., July 24, 1870.
67. Ibid., April 13, 1874. The monthly pay was reduced from $16 to $13 in 1871. Although Matthews defended the use of tobacco, he later chose to give it up before he returned home. At midnight, June 30, 1874, he pledged to abandon "the blessedness of a chewers and smokers life." He promised to "break my pipe, throw away my tobacco and burn what matches I have left, and if I have strength and resolution enough quit the use of an article which has afforded me many an hours comfort, although at the same time I knew it was an injury to self to continue its use. It seems hard to throw away a friend which I have stuck to so long. And were it not for my darling Mother and Sisters I would not do it. Although it were an injury to use it. But I know they will love me more for the sacrifice and I want to do any and every thing that will please them." Ibid., June 30, 1874.
68. Foner, United States Soldier Between Two Wars, 223.
69. Post Returns, Fort Union, 1871, AGO, RG 94, NA. By comparison the desertion rates at Fort Union during the two years preceding and following 1871 were as follows: 1869-45 desertions or 14%; 1870-35 desertions or 12%; 1872-52 desertions or 18%; and 1873-58 desertions or 21%. A table of desertions at Fort Union, 1851-1891, is found in Appendix D.
70. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 126-127; and Foner, United States Soldier Between Two Wars, 16.
72. Matthews Letters, July 23 & 30, 1873. As a sergeant he received $17 per month, and as a private and cleric he was paid $21.20. He later wrote: "I am doing finely in the Subsistence Department, and like it better than anything have been at since have been in the Army." Ibid., Aug. 20, 1873. He continued to clerk and to enjoy it: "I have made up my mind not to soldier anymore so long as can keep in an Office." Ibid., Oct. 19, 1873.
73. Utley explained the effects of sluggish promotions: "As officers aged without advancement, their initiative, energy, and impulse for self-improvement diminished. Their concerns narrowed. They fragmented into hostile factions. . . . They bickered incessantly over petty issues. . . . They preferred charges on the slightest provocation and consequently had to spend a preposterous share of their time on court-martial duty. They exploited every possible political connection in the quest for preferment." Frontier Regulars, 21.
74. George B. Duncan, "Reminiscences: 1882-1905," MS, Margaret I. King Library, Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington. Duncan explained that Mizner "was a man kindly disposed, but the granting of requests became too much of a personal favor and he was querulous over what he considered the lack of appreciation shown. He prided himself upon his oratorical powers and his game of billiards. He liked to stop in office and repeat some speech he had made in years gone by. He fell out with the surgeon and bitter enmity resulted as to whether the latter should be addressed as Doctor or Major. The acrid correspondence was finally submitted to the War Department for decision."
75. Utley, Frontier Regulars, 22.
76. Matthews Letters, Aug. 13, 1872, FUNMA.
77. Ibid. A few days later, when the troops concluded their scout and headed back to Fort Union, Matthews proclaimed, "But as uninviting a place as 'Union' is, we all rejoiced at the prospects of soon returning to it." Ibid., Sept. 3, 1872.
79. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 122-123.
80. Matthews Letters, Dec. 28, 1873, FUNMA.
82. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 109-110, 124.
83. Matthews Letters, April 13, 1874, FUNMA.
85. Matthews Letters, Dec. 10, 1870, FUNMA.
86. Matthews provided a detailed account of his experiences in doing his own laundry while stationed at the summer camp near old Fort Bascom and concluded, "as a washerwoman I am not a success." Ibid. Sept. 5, 1873.
87. Matthews Letters, Aug. 9, 1872, FUNMA.
89. Bread was a major portion of the daily ration, and the quality varied with the talents of the post baker who was, like the company cooks, assigned to duty without much regard to competence. Eddie Matthews noted that the post baker at Fort Union in 1870 was "not as smart as he might be, he cannot read, write or figure any, and it was necessary that some person should be there to look out for things. Keep count of what Flour comes in, and what Bread went out." Although he was interested in that position and was recommended for it by an officer of his regiment, Matthews did not become the baker's assistant. Ibid., June 1, 1870, FUNMA.
90. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 116-118.
91. Matthews Letters, Nov. 29, 1873.
93. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 117-119.
94. Matthews Letters, April 13, 1874, FUNMA.
99. Giese, Soldiers at Play, 61.
100 Matthews Letters, April 13, 1874, FUNMA.
101. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 185.
103. Orders No. 95, Act. 14, 1886, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
105. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 185-187.
106. Duncan, "Reminiscences," recalled that in 1886 "the officers and ladies generally gathered at the tennis court about 10 A.M. for a game or for gossip of the latest military rumor, a phenomenon of daily occurrence."
107. Adolph Griesinger received permission to establish a restaurant and bowling alley at the post in 1868, upon completion of his enlistment at the post, "in the vicinity of the two trader stores." Griesinger to Grier, ept. 15, 1868, and endorsements, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
109. Matthews Letters, Feb. 4, 1874, FUNMA.
110. The Arrow-Pioneer (Wagon Mound), May 2, 1888.
111. Post Surgeon Carlos Carvallo, testifying before the court-martial trial of Lt. Col. N. A. M. Dudley in 1877, stated that he and his wife were playing croquet on May 9, 1877, when a citizen sought admission to the post hospital. C-M QQ-448, Lt. Col. N. A. M. Dudley, JAG, RG 153, NA.
112. Matthews Letters, Feb. 13, 1873, FUNMA.
115. Ibid., June 27 & Aug. 23, 1870. Matthews also explained that the enlarged band was carried on rolls separate from the companies, and his company received soldiers who could be assigned to post duties to replace the bandsmen that had previously been carried on company rolls. This lightened the duties of the remainder of the troopers in his company, a welcome relief according to the young soldier. Ibid., Aug. 23, 1870.
116. For a brief history of army bands on the frontier, including information on instruments and music played, see Thomas C. Railsback and John P. Langellier, The Drums Would Roll: A Pictorial History of U.S. Army Bands on the American Frontier, 1866-1890 (England: Arms & Armour Press, 1967).
117. Matthews Letters, Aug. 5 & 23, 1870, FUNMA.
118. Las Vegas Optic, Oct. 16-19, 1883; April 17, 1884; Oct. 30, 1885.
119. The Arrow-Pioneer (Wagon Mound), Mar. 14 & 21, 1888.
120. Las Vegas Daily Gazette, Jan. 17, 1883; and Las Vegas Optic, April 2 & Oct. 23, 1885.
121. Las Vegas Daily Gazette, Jan. 25, 1883; and Las Vegas Optic, Jan. 28, 1885.
122. The Arrow-Pioneer (Wagon Mound), May 16, 1888.
123. Las Vegas Daily Gazette, Oct. 5, 1885.
124. Las Vegas News, April 29, 1887.
125. Eddie Matthews reported in 1874 that Post Chaplain David W. Eakins had organized a vocal and instrumental group to gather at the chapel each Tuesday evening to sing and play. Some of the soldiers, such as Matthews, went to listen. "Several of the boys," he wrote, "brought instruments such as Violins, Banjos, Guitars and Brass Horns." An officer's wife "presided at the Organ." These weekly "concerts" became popular at the post. After attending one evening, Matthews noted that "the Chapel was crowded. More than it ever is when the Chaplain preaches. The Chaplain seems to enjoy it more than any person. And the more noise the better he is pleased." Matthews Letters, April 28, 1874, FUNMA.
126. Lippincott Interview. Lt. Robert C. Van Vilet, 10th Inf., served as catcher for the Fort Union Nine, as the team was known, when he was at the post in the 1880s.
127. Hollister, Boldly They Rode, 86.
128. Greene, American Aristocracy, 187-188.
129. Ibid., 188, 199, 203. Greene reported an investigation, of which he was a part, of a post trader's profits in liquor at a two-company post on the frontier. In one year's time the sutler had sold 23 barrels of whiskey to the troops, with "gross receipts" of $17,388 and a profit of over $15,000. When the trader was asked if his store would be profitable without the sale of liquor, he replied it would not: "I would not be here—it would not pay." Ibid. 200-201. Greene also declared that "the Tradership at Fort Union, New Mexico, is worth twenty-five thousand dollars a year, but it is no better than many others." Ibid., 203.
130. Ibid., 204-205. It is interesting to note that Greene's call for an end to the sale of liquor to troops by post traders in 1880, ibid., 217-222, was followed by just such an order in 1881. There was probably no connection.
131. On June 29, 1865, the war department ordered the subsistence department to no longer supply the whiskey ration to enlisted men nor sell whiskey to officers. Circular, Aug. 5, 1865, HQ DNM, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA. This prohibition was partly a result of a growing temperance reform movement in the nation, partly an attempt to deal with the problems of drunkenness among enlisted men, and partly an economy measure designed to save money.
132. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 204.
133. Morrow to AG USA, May 23, 1890, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
134. Orders No. 129, Oct. 9, 1890, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA; and Whittemore to AG USA, Jan. 5, 1891, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
135. Las Vegas Optic, Feb. 7, 1891.
136. Lane to Moore, July 4, 1867, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA. Marion Sloan Russell experienced difficulties with intoxicated soldiers on that same day; see below.
137. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 200.
138. Orders No. 75, July 5, 1890, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA. Given the date of this order, one day after Independence Day, it may have been issued in response to drunkenness at the post during the celebration of the nation's independence.
139. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 200.
140. Matthews Letters, Oct. 15, 1869, FUNMA.
142. Duncan, "Reminiscences." Duncan remained in the army and led troops in Europe during World War I.
143. For information about attempts at liquor control at Fort Union in the 1850s, see chapter 2.
144. Deane Monahan to Barrow, Sept. 25, 1868, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
145. Denver Rocky Mountain News, July 7, 1869.
146. Weeks to Jager, Oct. 18, 1881, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
147. Post Adjt. to Post Trader, Nov. 1, 1881, ibid.
149. Nelson to Post Adjt., Aug. 27, 1886, & Conger endorsement, Aug. 27, 1886, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA; and Van Vliet to Conger, Aug. 28, 1886, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
150. Van Vliet to Kirkman, April 11, 1887, ibid.
151. Jones to Nichols, May 6, 1857, ibid.
152. Santa Fe Weekly Gazette, Dec. 31, 1864.
155. Matthews Letters, Feb. 13, 1873, FUNMA.
163. The most complete story of Loma Parda, located on the north side of the Mora River, and its relationship to Fort Union was David P. Keener, A Town Maligned: Loma Parda, New Mexico (MA Thesis, Flagstaff, Northern Arizona University, 1988). See, also, Harry C. Myers, "The Founding of Loma Parda, New Mexico," Wagon Tracks, VII (Aug. 1993): 11-12.
164. Keener, A Town Maligned, 65.
166. Hollister, Boldly They Rode, 88-89.
170. Carleton to Rossell, July 30, 1863, LS, DNM, USAC, RG 393, NA.
171. Carleton to Thomas, Aug. 9, 1863, ibid.
172. Wallen to Chapin, Aug. 16, 1862, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
173. Bonded Agreement, Mar. 9, 1863, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
174. Davis to Cutler, Jan. 29, 1865, IG DNM, LS, v. 47, USAC, RG 393, NA.
175. Carleton to Enos, Mar. 31, 1865, LS, DNM, USAC, RG 393, NA.
176. General Orders No. 20, May 11, 1865, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 38, np, USAC, RG 393, NA.
177. Olsmith had accompanied the Doolittle Commission from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Union. There, he recalled with disappointment, "a new escort of Cailfornia troops was provided and we were assigned to quarters and garrison duty at Fort Union." Later in the summer of 1865, Olsmith was part of the escort assigned to Brig. Gen. Kit Carson on his special mission to plains Indians and participation in the peace negotiations at the site of present Wichita, KS, where the treaties of the Little Arkansas were signed in Oct. 1865. Olsmith, like almost everyone else who met Carson, had some interesting recollections about the legendary officer. One of his favorites was a conversation while the party was encamped near present Ellinwood, KS, near the Arkansas River. When Carson's adjutant predicted that the plains would soon "be occupied by white settlers, and the Indians and the buffalo will be a thing of the past," Carson disagreed. As Olsmith remembered, "Carson stood up, took his pipe from his mouth, and, casting a look of bewilderment at his adjutant, said: 'Settled! Hell! I have been coming through this country for forty years and I've never seen any change in it yet. Young man, this is goin' to be buffalo country always.'" Olsmith Memoirs, quoted in Sam Woolford, "The Pretty Girls of Old Fort Union," New Mexico Magazine (Oct. 1961): 11.
181. See Keener, A Town Maligned, 86-87.
182. Post Returns, Fort Union, April 1866, AGO, RG 94, NA.
183. Thompson to DeForrest, July 3, 1866, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
185. Special Orders No. 56, May 25, 1866, & Special Orders No. 57, May 28, 1866, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 43, p. 239, USAC, RG 393, NA.
186. Clancy to Thompson, July 16, 1866, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
188. Thompson endorsement, July 16, 1866, and DeForrest endorsement, July 22, 1866, ibid.
189. Special Orders No. 52, Sept. 26, 1866, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA; Heitman, Historical Register, I, 910; and Marshall to AAG DNM, Mar. 5, 1867, LR, DNM, USAC, RG 393, NA.
191. Ibid.; and Speed to Lane, Feb. 28, 1867, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
192. Lane to DeForrest, June 5, 1867, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
194. Vroom to Whitman, Jan. 8, 1869, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
195. Matthews Letters, Sept. 1870, FUNMA.
198. Orders No. 11, Sept. 13, 1870, and Circular, Sept. 13, 1870, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 44, pp. 221-223, USAC, RG 393, NA.
201. General Orders No. 3, Jan. 16, 1871, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 150a, pp. 140-143, USAC, RG 393, NA.
202. Matthews Letters, Jan. 12, 1871, FUNMA.
203. The Daily New Mexican, Oct. 16, 1871.
204. Las Vegas Optic, Nov. 10, 1882.
205. Ibid., Nov. 24, 1882; and Interview with Roman C de Baca, Mar. 18, 1963, tape recording, FUNMA (hereafter Baca Interview).
206. Medical History, Fort Union, Mar. 1887, AGO, RG 94, NA.
207. Keener, A Town Maligned, 95-96; and Giese, Soldiers at Play, 142-144.
208. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 131.
209. Medical History, Fort Union, Dec. 1877, AGO, RG 94, NA.
210. Special Orders No. 5, Jan. 19, 1878, HQ FU, DNM Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA; and Medical History, Fort Union, Jan. 1878, AGO, RG 94, NA.
211. Giese, Soldiers at Play, 134; and Baca Interview.
213. Orders No. 75, Nov. 6, 1881, HQ FU, FU Orders, v. 46, pp. 133-136, USAC, RG 393, NA.
215. Giese, Soldiers at Play, 136.
216. Orders No. 20, Feb. 9, 1888, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA. Private Nolan was punished by being required to forfeit $7.50 of his pay. That was not sufficient to deter Nolan, who was again convicted of being absent without leave "from about 10:15 P.M. on the 3d day of April 1888 until about Reveille on the 4th day of April 1888." This time it only cost him $3.00 of his pay. Orders No. 52, April 9, 1888, ibid. A few days later Nolan forfeited an additional $2.00 of his pay for failure to salute a lieutenant as required by regulations. Orders No. 58, April 20, 1888, ibid.
217. Las Vegas Optic, Oct. 12, 1885.
218. Keener, A Town Maligned, 136. Roman C de Baca, recalling what his father and grandfather told him about Loma Parda during the 1870s and 1880s, confirmed that view. He knew of only two soldiers who were killed at Loma Parda, and he had been told that the citizens of the town did not think the soldiers were a rough lot. Haca Interview.
219. Even the main dance hail at Loma Parda operated into the 1930s, indicating that it was an important source of entertainment for the natives and not just something set up to cater to soldiers. Ibid., 193.
220. Brooke to AAAG, Oct 16, 1867, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
221. Peters endorsement, June 20, 1870, to Griesinger to CO FU, June 19, 1871, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
222. Orders No. 66, June 20, 1870, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 44, p. 188, USAC, RG 393, NA.
223. Orders No. 150, Nov. 28, 1870, ibid., 265-266. The blank space for the last name was in the original order.
224. Ibid., 137-138, 154, 179. Keener offered an excellent evaluation of the treatment of Loma Parda in literature, and discredited the outlandish claims to its wickedness. He concluded that, "if the town occasionally experienced violence, it was not because of the supposed violent nature of the town or its people. Rather, the violent activities were brought in by outsiders, or they were carried out in response to violent invasions by outsiders.
"Had it not been for the presence of the fort, Loma Parda would likely have continued as a quiet farming community. Indeed, had it not been for the fort, hardly anyone would ever have heard about this unassuming little hamlet on the Mora river." Ibid., 181.
225. George L. Machen, "Brief History of Union Lodge No. 4, Wagon Mound, New Mexico," The New Mexico Freemason, 2 (Sept. 1937); Ray V. Denslow et al., Transactions of the Missouri Lodge of Research, 6 (1948): 86-90; and Russell, Land of Enchantment, 96.
227. Denslow et al., Transactions of the Missouri Lodge of Research, 88.
228. ibid. The lodge hall at Wagon Mound was destroyed by fire in 1934, see below, and the altar cloth (if it were there) and other items dating from the time the lodge was located at Fort Union were apparently consumed by the blaze.
230. Machen, "Brief History of Union Lodge No. 4."
232. Denslow et al., Transactions of the Missouri Lodge of Research, 88.
234. ibid., 89-90; W. Peter McAtee, "The Military History of Masonry in New Mexico," Lodge of Research of New Mexico (1977), Masonic Lodges in the Southwest, NMSRCA; and Machen, "Brief History of Union Lodge No. 4."
235. Ibid.; Denslow et al., Transactions of the Missouri Lodge of Research, 90; and Russell, Land of Enchantment, 97.
236. Machen, "Brief History of Union Lodge No. 4."
237. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 193.
238. Matthews Letters, June 4, 1870, FUNMA.
240. Las Vegas Optic, Feb. 7, 1891.
241. Post schools were first authorized by Congress in 1838, when the council of administration at each military installation was empowered to employ a chaplain who would also serve as the schoolmaster. United States Statutes at Large, V, 259. After the Civil War, in 1866, Congress strengthened the law by requiring post schools to instruct "in the common English branches of education," including the history of the United States. Also, post commanders were charged with providing a suitable room for the school. Ibid., XIV, 336. These laws were not generally enforced. See Bruce White, "ABC's for the American Enlisted Man: The Army Post School System, 1866-1898," History of Education Quarterly, 8 (Winter 1968): 479-496.
242. Townsend to Lane, July 23, 1867, & Woart's endorsement, Aug. 29, 1867, LR, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
243. Special Orders No. 114, Oct. 4, 1868, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 44, p. 20, USAC, RG 393, NA.
244. Orders No. 115, Sept. 19, 1870, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 44, pp. 225-226, USAC, RG 393, NA.
245. Alexander to AG USA, Feb. 13, 1874, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA; and Revised U.S. Army Regulations, 1863, 37.
246. For example, in Nov. 1878 a private of the 15th Inf. was given the extra-duty assignment of teaching the post school, for which he received extra-duty pay. Special Orders No. 32, Nov. 1878, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 46, p. 48, USAC, RG 393, NA. In February 1879 a woman was employed to teach the officers' children at the post. Whittemore to Annie Wood, Feb. 28, 1879, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA. Her duties were undoubtedly separate from the post school, where enlisted men could study.
247. General Orders No. 24, May 18, 1878, AGO, RG 94, NA.
248. Special Orders No. 114, Sept. 1, 1884, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
249. White, "ABC's for the American Enlisted Man," 484-485.
250. Ibid., 482. White found that few enlisted men were qualified to serve as teachers and, of those who were capable, many were considered to be more valuable as clerks. When "soldiers were forced to teach despite their protest, the results were often disastrous." In some cases schools had to be closed because the teachers deserted, or classes were canceled because the teacher was intoxicated. Occasionally an officer was assigned the task of teaching. The best solution, in many cases, was to hire a competent civilian teacher, but the war department decided in 1878 that such employees be terminated. Ibid., 484-486.
251. Whittemore to AG USA, May 1 & 31, 1879, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
252. W. T. May to LaTourrette, April 13, 1880, ibid.
253. May to Hunt, April 15, 1880, ibid.
254. General Orders No. 15, April 15, 1880, & Special Orders No. 32, April 15, 1880, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
256. Orders No. 92, Dec. 3, 1881, HQ FU, DNM Orders, v. 46, pp. 150-151, USAC, RG 393, NA.
257. Smith to AG USA, May 18, 1882, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
258. Mizner to AG USA, Nov. 5, 1886, ibid. At the end of Oct. 1886 the aggregate garrison comprised 292 officers and men. Post Returns, Fort Union, Oct. 1886, AGO, RG 94, NA.
259. Circular, Dec. 13, 1886, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
260. White, "ABC's for the American Enlisted Man," 488.
261. Shollenberger to Supt. of Post Schools, Mar. 1, 1889, FU, LS, USAC, RG 393, NA.
262. Orders No. 144, Dec. 11, 1889, Orders No. 2, Jan. 4, 1890, Orders No. 77, July 10, 1890, Orders No. 78, July 11, 1890, & Orders No. 144, Nov. 2, 1890, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA. Buckles was court-martialled for drunkenness and found guilty. He forfeited five dollars of his pay and was confined at hard labor for ten days. Orders No. 80, July 13, 1890, ibid. Buckles was appointed to serve as post telegraph operator two months later. Orders No. 112, Sept. 12, 1890, ibid.
263. Report of Inspection by Lt. Col. Robert H. Hall, March 8-11, 1890, LR, OIG, RG 159, NA.
264. Orders No. 13, Feb. 20, 1891, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
265. White, "ABC's for the American Enlisted Man," 489.
267. According to White, "ABC's for the American Enlisted Man," 489, "a great many enlisted men also benefited from the libraries and reading rooms that were established in almost every post or garrison."
268. Matthews Letters, Feb. 5, 1871, FUNMA.
269. In 1888 there were 326 volumes, plus periodicals and newspapers, in the post library. Douglass to AAG Dept. of Arizona, April 18, 1888, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
270. Orders No. 31, Feb. 14, 1873, & Orders No. 65, April 15, 1873, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
271. Rickey, Forty Miles a Day on Beans and Hay, 196.
272. Black to QMG, April 9, 1883, ibid.
273. Duncan, "Reminiscences." He recalled that "no one knew whence the report, but it was undoubtedly true, and I was discreetly silent. Fort Union people wrote to friends in other posts and letters of protest began to appear in the army papers over the great injustice of taking a regiment of such long service west of the Missouri River and sending it to Alaska."
274. Russell, Land of Enchantment, 14-27. "Our wagon," she recalled, "was packed with boxes and bales of merchandise for Fort Union." Ibid., 17.
276. Ibid., 2-11; Bonita and Leo Oliva, "A Few Things Marian Sloan Russell Never Told or Never Knew about Her Mother and Father," Wagon Tracks, VII (February 1993): 1, 6-8; and Noreen S. Riffe, "More on Eliza St. Clair Sloan Mahoney," Wagon Tracks, VII (May 1993): 10.
277. Heitman, Historical Register, I, 891; General Orders No. 5, Nov. 2, 1859, HQ DNM, DNM Orders, v. 38B, USAC, RG 393, NA; and Russell, Land of Enchantment, 11-13.
280. Ibid., 98. Richard Russell was killed at Stonewall, Colorado, while carrying a flag of truce during the conflicts over the Maxwell Land Grant in 1888. Ibid., 138-139.
289. Ibid., 108-109, 116, 121.
290. Ibid., 121-122, 128-130, 139-140.
291. Myres, Cavalry Wife (1977).
296. See chapter 4. Alexander also owned a ranch near Fort Union.
298. Ibid., 97, 108, 111, 113-114.
299. Ibid., 108-109; and L. Lane, I Married a Soldier, 187-188.
300. Myres, Cavalry Wife, 110.
308. Ibid., 16-17; Post Returns, Fort Union, Sept. 1873-Dec. 1874, AGO, RG 94, NA.
309. It was unfortunate that one of the most perceptive officers' wives in the post-Civil War era and, perhaps, the best writer of them all, Martha Summerhayes, author of Vanished Arizona (1908), never made it to Fort Union. Her excellent book is recommended for anyone wanting a better understanding of life in the frontier army.
311. L. Lane, I Married a Soldier, 139, 142.
313. Ibid., 141. Finding and retaining domestic servants was an enduring problem for officers' families. Later, when the Lanes were at Fort Selden, New Mexico, Lydia declared she had good cause to dismiss a female servant "but there was not another woman to be hired, so I was obliged to keep her. She was amiable, if she did break more than one of the commandments. We were obliged to overlook many vagaries and eccentricities of deportment, if we hoped to keep a maid on the frontier at that time. A woman of any kind was thought better than none." Interestingly, that maid was soon replaced by an Englishman, who made a most satisfactory house servant and cook. Ibid., 173-174.
314. Matthews Letters, Mar. 30, 1874, FUNMA.
315. L. Lane, I Married a Soldier, 143.
318. Ibid. Just prior to moving to Fort Union in 1867, Capt. Lane had commanded Fort Marcy at Santa Fe. Lydia's brief description of conditions there would indicate that Fort Union was for her an improvement. Fort Marcy, she wrote, "was very small, and just on the outskirts of the town. The quarters, built of adobe, were miserable, leaky, and in a tumble-down condition generally." Ibid., 141.
327. Ibid., 143, 145-146, 149. Mrs. Lane did not mention chickens while she was at Fort Union, but when the Lanes were stationed at Fort Selden, New Mexico, a couple of years later she made "butter and raised chickens." Ibid., 171. She also recalled, "one of my pastimes on the frontier was the care of chickens, gathering the eggs, setting hens, etc. I went many times a day into the coop to look at and talk to my favorites." Ibid., 174. Another reference to chickens, included these remarks: "Our table was well supplied with eggs and the chickens I raised, but it was always a difficult matter to kill them, the children begging that the life of this pretty white hen or that beautiful red rooster might be spared; the only way was to have it done without their knowledge." Ibid., 175.
333. Ibid., 185, 190. One of their visits to New Mexico occurred in 1886. Ibid., 184.
336. Long Memoirs, typescript copy at FUNMA.
340. Matthews Letters, June 27, 1870, FUNMA.
343. Captain Wilson apparently replaced Lt. Joseph J. Ennis, 3rd Cav., who had been assigned to supervise the distribution of rations at Cimarron, where he died on August 12, 1869, from injuries received when thrown from his horse. Post Returns, Fort Union, Aug. 1869, AGO, RG 94, NA.
344. Wilson Memoirs, FUNMA. Mrs. Wilson, first name unknown, dictated her brief memoirs to her niece, Ellen Dixon Wilson. A typescript copy is located at FUNMA. Captain William Wilson traveled from Fort Union to Cimarron every 10 days to oversee the distribution of rations and then returned to the post.
347. Heitman, Historical Register, I, 478; and Post Returns, Fort Union, April 1870, AGO, RG 94, NA.
349. Post Returns, Fort Union, May-June 1870, AGO, RG 94, NA.
357. Boyd, Cavalry Life in Tent and Field, xii-xiii, 176.
359. Greene, American Aristocracy, 17-18.
361. Boyd, Cavalry Life in Tent and Field, 140-141.
367. Ibid., 194-195, 199, 200-201.
368. Ibid., 198; and Post Returns, Fort Union, June-Dec. 1872, AGO, RG 94, NA.
369. Boyd, Cavalry Life in Tent and Field, 198.
371. Carvallo to Post Adjt., July 11, 1877, C-M QQ-448, Lt. Col. N. A. M. Dudley, JAG, RG 153, NA.
372. Genevieve LaTourrette, Fort Union Memories (Globe, AZ: Southwest Parks and Monuments Association, n.d.). This pamphlet has no page numbers.
376. Ibid. Private Matthews, 8th Cav., gave a different perspective to an officer's wedding at Fort Union in 1871. Captain Albert B. Kauffman, 8th Cav., married a Miss Hoffman, described by Matthews as weighing 200 pounds and being nearly six feet tall. Miss Hoffman, he claimed, had been visiting in the home of Captain and Mrs. Samuel Young of the same regiment for some time, seeking an officer husband, "expecting of course to catch some unsuspecting officer by her sweet smiles and winning ways." Matthews declared that Kauffman "took her for better or worse. And I guess he got the worst of it." He concluded, "the wedding was large, but the Drunk after was much larger." Matthews Letters, Feb. 2, 1871, FUNMA. Matthews was prejudiced against large women and commented about them at different times. His strongest statements were written following a dance at Fort Union in 1874: "This beats all the places in the world for fat women. I have attended several Dances this winter, and the array of heavy weights of the female persuasion was astonishing. One might as well try to encircle a sugar hogshead with his arm, as to try to put his arm around one of their waists. . . . My arm is still sore from the strain on it at our last Ball, trying to hold up on her No 14-teens, 'two thousand weight of female loveliness.'" Ibid., Mar. 30, 1874.
377. Genevieve LaTourrette, Fort Union Memories.
381. Orders No. 72, May 12, 1888, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA. McCormick was sentenced to forfeit $2.00 of his pay as punishment.
382. Genevieve LaTourrette, Fort Union Memories.
384. Circular, May 31, 1887, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
385. Perhaps that race, or something similar, prompted Colonel Douglass to issue the following order: "Hereafter horses shall not be ridden at a faster gait than a trot within the limits of the Garrison. Parents are required to instruct their children to this effect." Circular, Feb. 15, 1887, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
388. Eddie Matthews noted that the post commander "had a few fire works set off" on Christmas night in 1873, and that there had been "No other excitement at the Post" on that holiday. Matthews Letters, Dec. 28, 1873, FUNMA.
389. Post records indicate that duties were suspended for the annual celebration of several holidays, including George Washington's birthday (Feb. 22), Decoration Day (May 30), Independence Day (July 4), Thanksgiving (usually last Thursday in Nov.), and Christmas (Dec. 25).
390. Lippincott Interview. There were references to Christmas trees in the post records. For example, in 1886 Post Commander Mizner declared, "There will be a Christmas tree for the Children of the enlisted men in the Post Library at 5:30 P.M. today." Circular, Dec. 24, 1886, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
391. Las Vegas Optic, April 2 & 23, 1884.
392. List of Marriages, Fort Union, 1872-1889, compiled by Rev. John S. Seibold, filed with Medical History, Fort Union, AGO, RG 94, NA.
394. The post commander filed a report on guard duty in the spring of 1890, noting that soldiers were assigned to be on such duty every fifth day and night. He thought that was satisfactory, declaring that "in my judgement 4 nights in bed is not too severe." Morrow to AG USA, May 29, 1890, LS, FU, USAC, RG 393, NA.
395. The Arrow-Pioneer (Wagon Mound), Feb. 11 & 25, 1888.
396. The Fort Windy stories, some of them somewhat sophomoric, appeared in at least 12 installments in the Arrow-Pioneer from Feb. 25 to June 6, 1888.
397. Richard F. King Letters, MS, FUNMA. After hearing that several of his old friends were getting married, Richard King stated he hoped to do the same "if I can find any one that will have me, that is the only truble I will have." He had asked another relative, Maud, to "find a real nice girl that would have me and I think she will make me a good agent." Richard F. King to Gabriella King, Nov. 21, 1888, ibid.
398. Ibid., Dec. 20, 1888, & Jan. 11 & Feb. 6, 1889.
401. The Arrow-Pioneer (Wagon Mound), Feb. 11, 1888.
402. Richard F. King to Gabriella King, Oct. 23, 1889, King Letters.
404. Army and Navy Journal, Dec. 14, 1889.
405. Richard F. King to Gabriella King, Jan. 5, 1890, King Letters.
406. Ibid., Dec. 20, 1888, & Jan. 24, 1889.
408. Medical History, Fort Union, Oct. 1887, AGO, RG 94, NA.
409. Richard F. King to Gabriella King, Oct. 23, 1889, King Letters.
414. Ibid., Jan. 24, 1889, & Feb. 6, 1889.
415. Orders No. 17, Mar. 9, 1890, HQ FU, FU Orders, USAC, RG 393, NA.
416. Richard F. King to Gabriella King, April 25, 1890, King Letters.
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