Faye was at the hotel with an
ambulance when the stage drove up, and it was amusing to look at the
faces of those men when they saw Faye in his uniform, and the
government outfit.
We started for camp at once, and left them standing
on the hotel porch watching us as we drove down the street. It is a
pity that such men cannot be compelled to serve at least one
enlistment in the Army, and be drilled into something that resembles a
real man. But perhaps recruiting officers would not accept them.
FORT SHAW, MONTANA TERRITORY,
October, 1878.
MY stay at the little town of Sun River Crossing was short, for when I
arrived there the other day in the stage from Benton, I found a note
awaiting me from Mrs. Bourke, saying that I must come right on to Fort
Shaw, so I got back in the stage and came to the post, a distance of
five miles, where General Bourke was on the lookout for me. He is in
command of the regiment as well as the post, as Colonel Fitz-James is
still in Europe. Of course regimental headquarters and the band are
here, which makes the garrison seem very lively to me. The band is out
at guard mounting every pleasant morning, and each Friday evening
there is a fine concert in the hall by the orchestra, after which we
have a little dance. The sun shines every day, but the air is cool and
crisp and one feels that ice and snow are not very far off.
The order for the two companies on the Marias to return to the Milk
River country was most unexpected. That old villain Sitting Bull,
chief of the Sioux Indians, made an official complaint to the "Great
Father" that the half-breeds were on land that belonged to his people,
and were killing buffalo that were theirs also. So the companies have
been sent up to arrest the half-breeds and conduct them to Fort
Belknap, and to break up their villages and burn their cabins. The
officers disliked the prospect of doing all this very much, for there
must be many women and little children among them. Just how long it
will take no one can tell, but probably three or four weeks.
And while Faye is away I am staying with General and Mrs. Bourke. I
cannot have a house until he comes, for quarters cannot be assigned to
an officer until he has reported for duty at a post. There are two
companies of the old garrison here still, and this has caused much
doubling up among the lieutenants - that is, assigning one set of
quarters to two officers - but it has been arranged so we can be by
ourselves. Four rooms at one end of the hospital have been cut off
from the hospital proper by a heavy partition that has been put up at
the end of the long corridor, and these rooms are now being calcimined
and painted. They were originally intended for the contract surgeon.
We will have our own little porch and entrance hall and a nice yard
back of the kitchen. It will all be so much more private and
comfortable in every way than it could possibly have been in quarters
with another family.
It is delightful to be in a nicely furnished, well-regulated house
once more. The buildings are all made of adobe, and the officers'
quarters have low, broad porches in front, and remind me a little of
the houses at Fort Lyon, only of course these are larger and have more
rooms. There are nice front yards, and on either side of the officers'
walk is a row of beautiful cottonwood trees that form a complete arch.
They are watered by an acequia that brings water from Sun River
several miles above the post. The post is built along the banks of
that river but I do not see from what it derived its name, for the
water is muddy all the time. The country about here is rather rolling,
but there are two large buttes - one called Square Butte that is really
grand, and the other is Crown Butte. The drives up and down the river
are lovely, and I think that Bettie and I will soon have many pleasant
mornings together on these roads. After the slow dignified drives I am
taking almost every day, I wonder how her skittish, affected ways will
seem to me!
I am so glad to be with the regiment again - that is, with old friends,
although seeing them in a garrison up in the Rocky Mountains is very
different from the life in a large city in the far South! Four
companies are still at Fort Missoula, where the major of the regiment
is in command. Our commanding officer and his wife were there also
during the winter, therefore those of us who were at Helena and Camp
Baker, feel that we must entertain them in some way. Consequently, now
that everyone is settled, the dining and wining has begun. Almost
every day there is a dinner or card party given in their honor, and
several very delightful luncheons have been given. And then the
members of the old garrison, according to army etiquette, have to
entertain those that have just come, so altogether we are very gay.
The dinners are usually quite elegant, formal affairs, beautifully
served with dainty china and handsome silver. The officers appear at
these in full-dress uniform, and that adds much to the brilliancy of
things, but not much to the comfort of the officers, I imagine.
Everyone is happy in the fall, after the return of the companies from
their hard and often dangerous summer campaign, and settles down for
the winter. It is then that we feel we can feast and dance, and it is
then, too, that garrison life at a frontier post becomes so
delightful.
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