On reporting to the medical director at St. Louis I was ordered to Fort
Sill, Indian Territory, (now Oklahoma) by way of railroad to Fort Scott,
Kans., and thence by stage to my destination. We arrived at Fort Scott,
Kans., late in the evening. This was the end of the Kansas City, Fort
Scott and Gulf Railroad at that time, and a booming town. The hotels
were crowded and we had great difficulty in finding a place to sleep,
but finally were located at what was called the Western Hotel where we
were fortunate enough to get a room for ourselves. Many were compelled
to sleep on cots or beds made down on the floor in sitting rooms, dining
rooms and parlors.
The next morning I waded through deep snow some distance southeast of
town to a soldiers' camp where Major Roy was in command and reported. He
informed me that it would be impossible for me to go by stage to Fort
Sill, that the stages had quit running on account of the deep snow, and
that he would order me back to St. Louis, which he did. We arrived in
St. Louis about the 20th of December, and stopped at the Lindell, one of
the good hotels in those days. The controversy between Doctor Mills, the
medical director and the department quartermaster was quite amusing. The
doctor ending up by saying, "You sent him the only road he couldn't go."
It was decided I should wait for a boat down the Mississippi and up the
Arkansas to Fort Smith, and stage across country from there to Fort
Sill.
On my first arrival at St. Louis from the West I had gone to see a
furrier about tanning my buffalo hide and he informed me it would
require several days to put it in prime condition. I went to see him
again on our return to St. Louis and was told it would probably be ready
by the time we would start to Fort Sill by boat and that he would make a
robe I would be proud of. He sent it to the boat the day before we left,
and as it seemed a little damp, I spread it out on the hurricane deck to
dry. As it dried it became hard around the edges and I kept trimming
away the hard parts, particularly those of the neck and legs until I
had my robe in the shape of a parallelogram. This was disappointing but
I still praised it as a souvenir of the chase. We found it a very great
help in keeping us warm while in the stage from Fort Smith to Fort Sill.
It disappeared one night while hanging outside of our tent at Fort Sill
which was only a camp at that time. It had cost me a most thrilling
experience when first getting possession of it and then ten dollars to
have it tanned, and now after a short service it was gone and I
concluded it was hardly worth the ammunition.
We were in St. Louis a week or more waiting for the boat to start and
while there we had the pleasure of seeing Joseph Jefferson in "Rip Van
Winkle." He was then in his prime and although I have seen and heard him
since in the same play it did not appeal to me in the same way it did at
the first performance.
I think it was the last day of December that we went on the boat and
started on our trip down the river the following evening. It was a light
craft, stern wheel boat, and I was amazed at the vast quantity of
freight that it carried. The trip down the Mississippi was without
incident but we had frequent delays on the Arkansas unloading freight
and crossing sandbars. From Little Rock to Fort Smith we tied up every
night. Most of the time up the Arkansas a man stood at the head of the
boat taking soundings.
We were cordially received and entertained on our arrival at Fort Smith
by the post surgeon, Doctor Theibaut and his family, where we remained
two or three days.
We started from Fort Smith very early in the morning, about four o'clock
if I remember rightly, and it was very cold. In the stage with us, was a
deputy United States marshal, who told us of the disastrous results
attending those who brought liquor into the country--confiscation of
property, jail sentences, etc. The trouble with us was that we had a
bottle of brandy with us. By the time we stopped for breakfast my wife
was thoroughly aroused to the importance of the occasion and whispering
to me expressed her fears. I tried to assure her that it would be all
right, and that no one would search an army officer's baggage, but it
was of no use, and when the marshal was out of sight I broke the bottle
over the fence corner and went into breakfast as though nothing had
happened. We learned afterwards that army officers were permitted to
bring it in for their own use and while at Fort Sill I had some sent me
with other medical supplies.
It was very cold for a day or two and we had the stage to ourselves
after the marshal left us. I think it was the following night when we
were in some very rough mountainous country that the driver stopped the
stage and asked if I would get up on the outside with him, explaining
that his team was hard to manage and that he might need assistance, to
which I readily consented. The team was spirited enough and we went
along at a spinning gait. I thought noticeably so for such rough roads
and I believe my wife thought it was the ride of her life. After two or
three hours the driver said he believed the team was settling down and
would probably not give any trouble and if I wished I could go back
inside the stage where it was warmer. I accepted this suggestion
promptly and found it much more comfortable. The driver explained to me
at the end of his division that in the rough country we had passed there
were frequent hold-ups and he thought someone ought to sit with him to
create the impression that the stage was loaded and highwaymen would be
less liable to attack it.
The second day out we had dinner at the house of the chief of the
Chickasaws, having had breakfast at a freedman's house, both of which
were worth describing. When we entered the house for breakfast there
were a few smoldering coals in the fireplace although it was quite cold.
There was some wood by the chimney and I stirred up the embers and put
on some wood and soon had a fire started. The table was set in the next
room, if so called, for it was only partly enclosed, so it was
practically as cold as out of doors. On the table was some headcheese
and cornbread, light rolls and sweet potatoes, all frozen so that the
frost stood out on them, and some black coffee and no cream or milk. I
managed to cut off a piece of the headcheese and cornbread and took my
coffee and went back to the fireplace to eat and my wife soon followed,
making her breakfast on some cookies we had brought with us. For this
treat we were charged the modest sum of fifty cents each. At dinner we
had some fried pork, fried eggs swimming in grease, and coffee similar
to that we had at breakfast, and cornbread and all at the same price.
The evening of the third day we arrived at Fort Arbuckle and were the
guests of Doctor Brewer and family for two or three days and were most
hospitably entertained. From Fort Arbuckle to Fort Sill we went in an
army ambulance, the distance being eighty to a hundred miles. We camped
one night along the road and I shot my first wild turkey at this camp.
Fort Sill at that time was only a camp, but there was a sawmill on Cache
creek a short distance below, where they were getting out material for
permanent quarters, barracks and storehouses. The plan was for a six
company post, and at that time there were two companies of infantry and
six troops of cavalry stationed there. I reported on my arrival as usual
and after being settled in our tent, was assigned to duty by Doctor
Forward, the post surgeon.
Doctor Forward was among the oldest assistant surgeons in the service
and I thought a little peculiar in some ways. He was dignified and
cordial but after assigning me to duty I thought he showed little
interest in the service. He would call at my quarters occasionally and
say that he wished to go over to the hospital and would look carefully
over everything and would go away simply remarking that everything was
all right. I remember going to his quarters one day and informing him
that a man by the name of Fields in the hospital had fistula and I
thought an operation necessary. He replied: "Can't you stick a knife in
it?" I told him I thought I could and he came a few days after the
operation and expressed his satisfaction at the results. He was promoted
to a full surgency while I was there and assigned to a different post.
It is proper here to say that the medical officers in the army are never
addressed by their military title or rank but always as doctor. Although
their military rank may be that of major (for full surgeon) or captain
or lieutenant (for assistant surgeon).
General Grierson of note as a cavalry commander during the Civil War
was in command of the camp. Our quarters consisted of one hospital tent,
fourteen by sixteen and two wall tents ten by twelve for bed room and
dining room, and still back of that was the kitchen which was used for
servants' quarters. All these tents were framed to hold them in shape
and as a protection against strong winds.
Our first experience with what was called a "Norther," was at this post.
These usually occurred in the change of the seasons from cold to hot
weather or the reverse. They are typical, resembling other storms only
in their intensity. They are always preceded by delightful weather. My
first experience was in the early spring of 1870. I was on the roof of
the new commissary building where the quartermaster's employes were
putting on shingles and one of them happened to look up and said,
"Hello; that looks like a Norther coming." The weather was quite warm
but ideally pleasant and he noticed my light clothing and said, "You had
better get down off here and hunt some heavier clothes." I followed his
suggestion at once and by the time I got to our quarters a half mile
away I noticed the difference in the temperature and in a few minutes it
came on us in all its fury. It is simply the coldest wind I have ever
experienced. It blows straight and with a mighty force and is so
penetrating that one is thoroughly chilled in a few minutes. I have
since learned that it often kills cattle and other live stock down in
Texas and occasionally people who are not properly clothed. It comes up
from the Northwest, a bank of clouds, not clearly outlined but hazy, I
suppose from dust that gathers on the way. Anyone who has once
experienced it looks at its coming with dread and apprehension. We had
two or three experiences with a "Norther" at Fort Sill while still in
camp. In one of these my wife and I both braced ourselves against the
tent frame to keep it from blowing down.
There were six companies of colored troops of the Tenth Cavalry of which
General Grierson was the colonel, stationed at Fort Sill. I did not see
that they were very different from other enlisted men. If anything they
seemed to take more interest in their personal appearance than the
white soldiers but were accused in the army as they are out of it, of
petit larceny. I had one experience in the hospital that may be worth
relating: A trooper by the name of Stanley had shot the index finger off
his right hand, he claimed accidentally, but it was thought by most of
the officers that it had been done for the purpose of getting a
discharge from the service. I kept him as nurse in the hospital as he
was capable and did his work promptly and carefully and we often had him
come to our quarters to stay with our little boy when we were spending
the evening with our fellow officers and their wives. I had frequently
missed small change and little things of no great value but he would
deny any knowledge of them with such apparent candor and honesty that my
suspicions were allayed. One morning, however, when attending sick calls
at the hospital the hospital steward informed me that Stanton was
discovered taking money from under the pillow of one of the sick men
during the night. I sent for him and explained the matter to him for I
was really disposed to let him off as easy as possible. He denied any
knowledge of it, so I said to him: "Now look here Stanton, the evidence
is too strong against you, you go and give Fields his money and behave
yourself hereafter and I will let the matter drop. You are a good man
and I would like to keep you." He looked me straight in the face and
said: "Fore God, Doctor, I never did take that money." I sent the
steward's assistant over to the guardhouse with orders to the sergeant
of the guard to send a man over to take charge of a prisoner. A corporal
came and I explained the matter to him and I directed him to take
Stanton to the guardhouse and to tell the sergeant of the guard that I
wanted him to get that money and for him to resort to any means
necessary to get it, even if he had to tie the prisoner up by the
thumbs. This is of course a very severe punishment, and consisted of
using a very strong cord, the ends of which are looped over each thumb
and then thrown over a crossbar a short distance above the prisoner's
head and drawing him up, if necessary, off the ground. When I got
through my hospital duties and was on my way to my quarters I heard the
howling of the prisoner at the guardhouse and stopped where I had a
good view and watched the results with interest. Stanton was protesting
his innocence, and the sergeant's orders were "pull him up a little
higher." It did not take long for Stanton to see his mistake, for he
said, "Let me down and I will tell you where it is." "No you don't. Tell
me first where it is, then I will let you down." Stanton said, "It's in
the lining of my cap." And sure enough there was the ten dollars. The
result was that a courtmartial gave him six months with "ball and
chain." I think this occurrence illustrates one of the characteristic
traits of the colored race, and to me it is remarkable that he would
have taken such a course when he was offered the chance of taking one
that in every way would have been so much better for himself.