When courage to look around had at last been mustered, I found
that my new home was formed of two wall tents pitched together so
the inner one could be used as a sleeping and the outer one as a
sitting room. A calico curtain divided them, and a carpet made of
barley sacks covered the floor. In my weary state of mind and body
the effect produced was far from pleasant. The wall tents were only
eight feet square, and when windowless and doorless except for one
entrance, as were those, they seemed from the inside much like a
prison.
As I lay in bed that night, feeling decidedly homesick, familiar
airs, played upon a very good piano, suddenly sounded in my ears.
It seemed impossible that there could be a fine musical instrument
such a distance from civilization, particularly when I remembered
the roads over which we had come, and the cluster of tents that
alone represented human habitation. The piano, which I soon learned
belonged to our captain’s wife, added greatly to her happiness,
and also to the pleasure of us all, though its first strains only
intensified my homesick longings.
This lady and myself were the only women at the post, which
also included, besides our respective husbands, the doctor and
an unmarried first lieutenant. The latter, as quartermaster and
commissary, controlled all supplies, and could make us either
comfortable or the reverse, as he chose.
Shortly afterward another company of soldiers, embracing one married
officer and two unmarried ones, joined us; but at first our troop of
cavalry was all. The men, instead of living in tents, were quartered
in dugouts, which, as their name implies, were holes dug in the
ground, warm enough, but to my unaccustomed eyes places in which only
animals should have been sheltered, so forbidding and dingy did they
seem. The soldiers were not, however, destined to spend the summer in
such accommodations, for by that time very comfortable barracks had
been erected.
As everything in the life I then led was new and strange, and
surroundings have always powerfully influenced me, I took note
of many things which it seemed should have been remedied. One
which greatly troubled me was the power extremely young officers
exercised over enlisted men. If the latter were in the least unruly,
most fearful punishment awaited them, which in my opinion was not
commensurate with the offense, but depended entirely upon the mercy
and justice of the offender’s superior officer, who usually but a boy
himself had most rigid ideas of discipline.
I have always noticed how years temper judgment with any one in
authority, and thus have come to believe that no very young man
is capable of wielding it. Situated as we were in tents, so the
slightest sound could be heard, we were made aware of all that
transpired outside. When an enlisted man transgressed some rule and
was severely punished, I always became frantic, for his outcries
reached my ears, and I recognized the injustice and impropriety of
some mere boy exercising cruel authority over any man old enough to
be his father.
Methods have completely changed in the army since that time, and I am
glad to state that for many years past such scenes as then wrung my
heart have been unknown; but in those days our military organization
was so crude many things were permitted which are now scarcely
remembered by any one. Our soldiers, recruited from the Pacific
coast, then famous for the demoralized state of its poorer classes,
were indeed in need of firm discipline; but it required men with more
experience than those young officers possessed to wield it.
I always have had, and always shall have, a tender, sympathetic
feeling for American soldiers. In fact, most of the kindly help which
made life on the frontier endurable to me came from those men. We
were never able to procure domestic help; it was simply out of the
question, and for years it would have been necessary for me either to
have cooked or starved but for their ever-ready service.
To cook in a modern kitchen, or even in an ancient one, is not so
dreadful; but to cook amid the discomforts and inconveniences which
surrounded me for many years would have been impossible to any
delicately nurtured woman. I recall the delight with which an offer
of help from a soldier in that, my first effort at housekeeping,
was welcomed. Although I soon became the slave of my cook’s whims,
because of my utter inexperience and ignorance, yet his forethought
when the floor was soaked with rain in always having a large adobe
brick heated ready to be placed under my feet when dining, will never
be forgotten.
The greatest proof of devotion I ever received was when that man,
learning that the laundress declined longer employing her services in
our behalf, saw me preparing to essay the task myself. To prevent
that he rose sufficiently early to do the work, and continued the
practice so long as we remained there, despite the fact that it
subjected him to ridicule from other soldiers; and so sensitive
was he in regard to the subject that I never unexpectedly entered
the kitchen while he was ironing without noticing his endeavors to
hastily remove all trace of such occupation.
As the season was severe—the thermometer during that and the
succeeding winter frequently fell to thirty-three degrees below
zero—a large stove had been placed in the outer tent, and a huge
fireplace built in the inner one. A large pine bunk, forming a
double bed, occupied nearly all the spare space, and left only just
room enough in front of the fire to seat one’s self, and also to
accommodate the tiniest shelf for toilet purposes. It therefore
required constant watchfulness to avoid setting one’s clothing on
fire; and among other ludicrous occurrences was the following:
In our inability to find suitable places for necessary articles, we
were apt to use most inappropriate ones. On the occasion referred
to, a lighted candle had been placed on the bed, where my husband
seated himself without noticing the candle. Soon arose the accustomed
smell of burning, and I executed my usual maneuver of turning about
in front of the fire to see if my draperies had caught. The odor of
burning continued to increase, yet I could find no occasion for it.
The cause, however, was discovered when I leaned over the bed, and
saw that a large hole had been burned in the center of Mr. Boyd’s
only uniform coat. He had been too intent on shielding me to be
conscious of his own peril. It was an accident much to be regretted,
for our isolation was so complete that any loss, however trifling,
seemed irreparable by reason of our remoteness from supplies. A
lengthened account of our difficulties in procuring needed articles
during this and many subsequent years would seem incredible.
I had been delighted to purchase, at the stage station where we
stopped previous to our one hundred miles’ ambulance trip, and for
exactly the amount of one month’s pay, a modest supply of dishes and
cooking utensils. Prior to their arrival we were happy to obtain our
meals at the house of the quartermaster’s clerk; yet I looked eagerly
forward to my first attempt at housekeeping, and daily sought to
induce our quartermaster to send for the goods. At last he informed
us that they were on the way, and then began tiresome efforts to have
some sort of kitchen and dining-room prepared.
All my entreaties resulted only in a number of willows being stuck
in the ground and covered with barley sacking. Even the door was
composed of two upright and two cross pieces of willow covered with
sacking; a simple piece of leather, which when caught on a nail
served as fastening and handle, was deemed sufficient guard. The
floor was primitive ground, and in time, as it became hardened by
our feet, was smooth except where the water from above wore it into
hollows. No efforts of mine could ever induce the powers that were
to cover the roof so as to exclude rain. At first some old canvas
was simply stretched over it; but as the roof was nearly flat this
soon had to be replaced. By degrees, as cattle were killed for the
soldiers, we used the skins which were otherwise valueless, lapping
them as much as possible. However, they formed no effectual barrier
to melting snow or falling rain, as later experience proved, when it
became only an ordinary occurrence for me to change my seat half a
dozen times during one meal.
Young people are not easily discouraged, and I was very happy when
informed that our housekeeping goods had arrived and been placed
in the quarters prepared for them. An ominous sound which greeted
our ears as we opened the boxes rather dismayed us; but we were not
prepared for the utter ruin that met our eyes. What had not been
so brittle as to break, had been rendered useless and unsightly by
having been chipped or cracked; and as we took out the last piece
of broken ware I concluded that what was left might be sold in New
York for a dollar. On comparing the residue with the inventory, we
discovered that half the goods were missing.
The articles had been bought from an army officer who was changing
stations, and were not strictly what I should have chosen.
Everything, however, was useful there, and I was rather pleased that
we had duplicates of nearly every article, although results showed
that this had tempted the freighters’ cupidity, and they had fitted
themselves out with the primary supply; so when by breakages the
secondary disappeared, we had really nothing of any consequence left.
Bitterness was added to sorrow, when of a dozen tumblers only the
_débris_ of six were found. The common kitchen ware was too solid to
be shattered, but everything at all fragile was in fragments.
The triumph with which we evolved from the chaos a large wash-bowl
and pitcher, which though in close proximity to a pair of flat-irons
had escaped injury, was equaled only by our chagrin when we found
our little toilet shelf too small to hold them, and were therefore
obliged to return to a primitive tin basin, though hoping in time for
enough lumber to build accommodations which would allow us the luxury
of white ware.
I regret to state that the climate proved too much for our large
pitcher. One morning we found it cracked from the cold to which it
had been exposed in the out-door kitchen, in which we were obliged
to keep it. Our basin was cherished; but on the anniversary of our
wedding-day I nearly sank from mortification when Mr. Boyd came
into our tent, which was filled with friends who had gathered to
celebrate the occasion, carrying the wash-bowl full of very strong
punch which he had concocted. No thought of apologizing for our lack
of delicacies occurred to me, but I felt compelled to explain, in the
most vehement fashion, that the wash-bowl had never been utilized
for its obvious purpose; in fact, this was the first period of its
usefulness.
My housekeeping was simplified by absolute lack of materials. I had,
as a basis of supplies, during that and the succeeding two years,
nothing but soldiers’ rations, which consisted entirely of bacon,
flour, beans, coffee, tea, rice, sugar, soap, and condiments. Our
only luxury was dried apples, and with these I experimented in every
imaginable way until toward the last my efforts to disguise them
utterly failed, and we returned to our simple rations. I was unable
to ring any changes on rice, for after Mr. Boyd’s experience with
General Burnside’s expedition off Cape Hatteras, the very sight of it
had become disagreeable to him.
We had at that time no trader’s store within two miles, which was a
matter of congratulation, for when we indulged our desire for any
change of fare, however slight, we felt as if eating gold. Nothing
on the Pacific coast could be paid for in greenbacks; only gold and
silver were used; and when an officer’s pay, received in greenbacks,
was converted into gold, a premium of fifty per cent always had to be
paid. That, added to frontier prices, kept us poor and hungry for
years. If we indulged in a dozen eggs the price was two dollars in
gold. If we wanted the simplest kind of canned goods to relieve the
monotony of our diet, the equivalent was a dollar in gold.
I had always disliked to offend any one; but remarking one day that
the flavor of wild onions which permeated the only butter we could
procure, and for which we paid two dollars and a half a pound, was
not exactly to our taste, seriously offended the person who made it.
I quite rejoiced thereat when she refused to supply us with any more,
feeling that a lasting economy had been achieved without any great
self-denial. The taint of numerous kinds of wild herbs of all sorts,
during the many years of my frontier life, always made both beef and
milk as well as butter unpalatable, especially in the early spring
season, and in Texas, where the flavor was abominable.
There were so many motives for economy that we rejoiced continually
at our inability to procure supplies. First should be named the
fact that a lieutenant’s pay, exceedingly small at best, was, when
converted into gold, just eighty dollars per month. That reality was
augmented by an utter inequality in the cost of actual necessaries.
We found, for instance, that we must have at least two stoves—one
for cooking and the other for heating purposes. Their combined
cost was one hundred and seventy-five dollars, although both could
have been bought in New York for about twenty dollars. If we ever
rebelled against such seeming impositions, the cost of freight would
be alluded to; and remembering what the expenses of my poor solitary
trip had been we were effectually silenced.
Among the many amusing stories told on that subject, none was
more frequently quoted in every frontier station than the retort
of a Hebrew trader, who, when expostulated with on account of the
exorbitant charge of a dollar for a paper of needles, vehemently
replied:
“Oh, it is not de cost of de needles! It is de freight, de freight!”
So when obliged to purchase any article we counted its cost as
compared with the freight as one to one hundred.
Shortly after we reached Camp Halleck, a team was sent to Austin for
supplies; and being sadly in need of chairs it was decided that if we
ordered the very strongest and ugliest kitchen ones they would escape
injury, and be cheap. The bill was received before the team returned,
and to our dismay we found that the six chairs cost just six dollars
each in gold, or fifty dollars in greenbacks. We tried to hope they
would be so nice that the price would prove of slight consequence.
But lo! the teamster brought but one chair, and that a common, black,
old-fashioned kitchen one.
When asked about the other five, the man replied that the roads were
so bad, our chairs, having been placed on top of the load, were
continually falling under the wheels, and finally, broken in pieces,
had been left to their fate. We, however, suspected that they had
served as firewood. We frequently joked, after the first pangs had
worn away, over our fifty-dollar chair, claiming a great favor was
bestowed upon any one allowed to occupy it.
Reading matter was our only luxury, and the weekly mail, always an
uncertainty, was just as apt to have been lightened of its contents
in transit, if the roads were at all heavy, as any other package. We
were never sure, therefore, that we should be able to understand the
next chapters in serial stories, which were our delight.
I remember being very much engrossed in one of Charles Reade’s
novels, the heroine of which was cast on a desert island, where I
thought only her lover’s presence could reconcile her to the absence
of supplies. The story was published in _Every Saturday_, and at
first came weekly; but after we had become most deeply interested
five weeks passed during which not a single number was received, and
we were left to imagine the sequel.
Several periodicals of a more solid nature always came regularly,
which fact constrained us to believe that we were furnishing light
literature to the poor inhabitants of some lonely stage station on
the road; and in that belief we tried to find consolation for our
own losses. Rumors of the outside world grow dim in such an isolated
life: we were unwilling to become rusty, and hence read with avidity
all printed matter that reached us.
There were, however, other diversions. I learned to play cribbage
admirably; and as my husband was able to give me a good deal of his
time we found it a pleasant pastime. The winter seemed well-nigh
interminable, and we longed for snow to disappear, intending then to
explore the whole country. I was such a novice in the saddle that
the steadiest old horse, called “Honest John,” was chosen for me;
and by the time pleasant weather had come I was ready to ride in any
direction, having learned that my steed was all his name implied.
We found the streams, so small and insignificant during the dry
season, enlarged by melting snows from the mountains; and they were
not only beautiful, as clear running water ever is, but were filled
with the most delicious spotted trout, which on our fishing-trips we
caught and cooked on the spot, and whose excellence as food simply
beggars description.
Though the country remained almost as dreary as in mid-winter, grass
made some improvement. The lovely wild-flowers, in endless beauty
and variety, were a ceaseless delight; while our camp, situated on
a lovely little stream in a grove of cottonwood-trees, was far more
beautiful than I had ever imagined it could be.
Unfortunately there were no trees to cast their shade over our tents;
and as in mid-winter we had suffered from intense cold, so in summer
we suffered from intense heat. The sun penetrated the thin canvas
overhead to such an extent that my face was burned as if I had been
continually out-of-doors, or even more so, as its reflected glare
was most excessive. Then we were almost devoured by gnats so small
that netting was no protection against them. I had never before, nor
have I ever since, seen any insect in such quantities, nor any so
troublesome and annoying.
In after-years I became accustomed to the most venomous creatures
of all sorts, and in time learned not to mind any of them; but
while in Nevada I endured tortures from a colony of wasps that took
possession of the canvas over the ridge-poles which connected the
uprights of our tents. At first we scarcely noticed them; but they
must either have multiplied incredibly, or else gathered recruits
from all directions, for soon they swarmed in countless numbers above
our heads, going in and out through the knot-holes in our rough pine
door, buzzing about angrily whenever we entered hastily—in fact,
disputing possession with us to such a degree that I dared not open
the door quickly. Whenever I did, one of the angry insects was sure
to meet and sting me. They remained with us during the summer, and
when we finally left were masters of the field by reason of their
superior numbers.
I have often since wondered why we did not dispossess them by some
means, as they were the terror of my life. One day while in the inner
tent, where I felt safe, dressing for breakfast, I experienced the
most intense sting on my ankle. The pain was so great I screamed,
doubly frightened because confident a rattlesnake had bitten me, and
too terrified to exercise any self-control. My cries soon brought
a dozen or more persons to the scene, who found a wretched wasp,
and calmed my fears; but my nerves had been terribly shaken. Since
then I have met army ladies who live in constant terror of snakes,
tarantulas, and scorpions; though no longer sharing their fears, I
always sympathize with them.
I soon became an expert fisher; and the dainty food thus procured was
a great addition to our supplies. With all its drawbacks, life in the
open air then began to have many charms for me.
We made friends with the neighboring ranchmen, particularly those who
were married, as their wives interested us greatly, they were such
perfect specimens of frontier women. At first the rancheros were a
little shy, but soon made us welcome to their homes and festivities,
where we were always urged to remain as long as possible. Gradually
new arrivals—always called “sister” or “cousin”—appeared at several
of the ranches, and soon a rumor gained ground that though not
exactly in Utah, the Mormon religion prevailed to some extent in our
locality.
Another source of great interest was the Piute and Shoshone Indians,
who were so numerous that I soon regarded red men as fearlessly
as if I had been accustomed to them all my life. They were deeply
interested in us, at times inconveniently so; for they never timed
their visits, but always came to stay, and would frequently spend the
entire day watching our movements.
In one of their camps, several miles away, I found a beautiful
dark-eyed baby boy, to whom I paid frequent visits, which were at
first well received. But one day I carried the child a neat little
dress—my own handiwork—and before arraying baby in it gave him a
bath, which evidently caused his mother to decide that I had sinister
designs upon her prize, for on my subsequent visits no trace of the
baby could ever be found. Had his sex been different I probably could
have obtained complete possession; but boys are highly prized among
the Indians.
We considered ourselves well repaid for a ride of twenty miles by
an Indian dance. It was, of course, only picturesque at night, when
seen by the light of huge fires; then, indeed, the sight was weird
and strange! On such an occasion, when depicting so perfectly their
warfare, the Indians seemed to return to their original savage
natures. Had it not been for our fully armed escort we might have
feared for safety.
It was startling to see the Indians slowly circle around their
camp-fire, at first keeping time to a very slow, monotonous chant,
which by degrees increased in volume and rapidity, until finally
their movements became fast and furious, when savagery would be
written in every line of their implacable countenances. I could
then realize in some degree how little mercy would be shown us
should they once become inimical; but seeing them at all times so
thoroughly friendly made it difficult to think of them as otherwise;
and therefore, when we afterwards lived among the most savage tribes,
I never experienced that dread which has made life so hard for many
army ladies.
With the advent of early spring active preparations were made to
build houses for the officers before the ensuing winter. We watched
their slow progress, hoping against hope that we might occupy one
of the cozy little dwellings. All sorts of difficulties, however,
seemed to delay their construction, for good workmen were as scarce
as good food, and we found that while anticipation and expectation
were pleasing fancies, realization was but a dream. All our hopes
were doomed to disappointment, for we finally left the post on the
following January, just one year after my arrival, with the house
we had longed to occupy still unfinished; thus I passed half of the
second winter in our two small tents.