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Skirmishers preceded troops traveling in areas where the enemy could be encountered at any time. Only riflemen with marksmanship skill were assigned to skirmish duty and they were ready to go into formation immediately upon seeing the enemy. In December 1890, Private William G. Wilkinson and seven other troopers were sent forward as skirmishers into Sitting Bull's village to assist the Indian police in arresting him. Wilkinson wrote, "That meant we were to draw fire first, it gave us a peculiar feeling, to go forward like that, in the dark not being able to see what is in front of you, not knowing what minute a bullet with your number on it is coming your way. It is not so bad if you can see where you are going." Stereograph On the U.S. Skirmish Line—Ready for the Enemy Underwood & Underwood, New York, New York, 1898 Photographic Study Collection, 2002.007.1 Spanish-American War era Infantryman writes to his loved one prior to moving on to Santiago de Cuba, the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province in eastern Cuba, probably in ground support of the naval battle that would occur on July 3, 1898. He sits with a canvas haversack, canteen and cup at his side and a knapsack and a Krag Jorgenson bolt action rifle nearby. Love letters, expressions of desire and longing, were typical between married couples. A wonderful example can be found in a September 1, 1861 letter from Alice Kirk Grierson to her husband of seven years General Benjamin Henry Grierson, "Wouldn't I like to kiss, hug, love and almost devour you if I could only have you to myself today but I suppose you are safe from any such demonstration at present." Stereograph Dearest Annie, To-morrow we move on toward Santiago where we expect a hard battle. Underwood & Underwood, New York, New York, 1898 Photographic Study Collection, 2002.007.3 Cabinet photograph Hattie & Bert Steel holding stereoscope Moore, Ottawa, Kansas, ca. 1890 Photographic Study Collection, 2002.135 Indicated by the two service stripes on the forearm part of his coat, Mr. Steel had served 10 years in the army at the time of this picture. He prepares to place a stereograph into the stereoscope that Mrs. Steel holds. Similar to the recreational function of today's DVD player, the stereoscope provided hours of vicarious fun for the viewer who could see three-dimensional images presented on stereographs. By 1859, stereo-mania was infectiously widespread in the United States. With the financial crash of 1873, the demand for stereoviews dropped and production ceased. During the 1880s, the stereoview business witnessed a resurgence with aggressive companies such as Underwood and Underwood. However, the principal barracks relaxation for those frontier regulars without families stationed at remote posts was visiting and talking among themselves. In 1893 Private B. C. Goodin wrote in his diary that he spent his off-duty time reading in quarters, "strolling, playing cribbage, singing and dancing in quarters, attending an "entertainment" in the post chapel, and playing jokes on his comrades in the barracks. Cabinet photograph Jessie A. Chance, Canton - Ohio Unknown photographer, Canton, Ohio, ca. 1872 Photographic Study Collection, 2002.142 Wearing a circa 1872 uniform coat, Mr. Chance poses with two children, possibly his daughters. When soldier families in garrisons were present, increased interest in community entertainments was evidenced and expressed through wives and children participation in singing, clog dancing, and variety shows. However, as historian Don Rickey, Jr. writes, "Isolation, boredom, and monotony characterized the life at the western posts. Because these frontier forts were intended to serve as focal points for offensive and defensive operations against unsettled hostile Indians, they were usually located in regions little touched by white civilization...The Regular Army had no rotation plans during the Indian campaigns, and troops frequently were assigned to the same stations for several years." Sanitation and hygiene were considerable issues for any commander of a frontier post. In 1874, General Luther P. Bradley reported that at Fort Laramie the policing of the Laramie River was bad "and the peaks of manure from the cavalry stables and the filth and rubbish from the post, all of which has been deposited for many years on the north side and immediately contiguous to the post, is offensive in every particular." Moreover, Post Surgeon Hartsnuff complained bitterly of intolerable conditions with respect to these issues in 1877 reporting, The hygienic condition of the post is objectionable. Water closets in the rear of the commanding officers' quarters, for four or five years reported as a nuisance, still stand, and continue to saturate the atmosphere with noxious odors....Putting of manure, offal, debris, dirt and filth into the pond above and immediately contiguous to the post is productive of the usual results...The stench is at times almost unendurable, especially to the officers who live in nearest proximity to this generative apparatus; besides, a considerable portion of the garrison and all of the stock drink the water of the Laramie that is contaminated from this source..." Tintype Portrait of soldier with rifle and bayonet Unknown, ca. 1875 Photographic Study Collection, 2004.081 The unidentified, forage-capped soldier, wearing an ill-fitting five-button fatigue coat and bayonet scabbard, holds a Springfield trapdoor rifle. In a letter from Fort Shaw, Montana Territory dated November 1880, Frances Marie Antoinette Mack Roe, an officer's wife, opines about the relationships between soldiers, soldiers' mothers, and the Army "...a soldier's life is not hard unless the soldier himself makes it so. The service and discipline develop all the good qualities of the man, give him an assurance and manly courage he might never possess otherwise, and best of all, he learns to respect law and order. The Army is not a rough place, and neither are the men starved or abused, as many mothers seem to think. Often the company commanders receive the most pitiful letters from mothers of enlisted men, beseeching them to send their boys back to them, that they are being treated like dogs, dying off starvation, and so on...It is such a pity that these mothers cannot be made to realize that army discipline, regular hours, and plain army food is just what those 'boys' need to make men of them." Tintype Two Indian Wars soldiers, 8th Regiment, Company A Unknown, ca. 1875 Photographic Study Collection, 2003.172   Cabinet photograph Three sisters read their soldier brother's letter Unknown photographer, ca. 1870 Photographic Study Collection, 2004.044.2 Letters provided a means to communicate thoughts, feelings, fears, challenges and difficulties to loved ones. Today these same letters provide an intimate view of people's lives during times past. In addition, such accounts lend a unique perspective when examined within the broader social and cultural context of the time. In a letter written in October 1872, Frances Marie Antoinette Mack Roe, an officer's wife, described an Indian attack on Camp Supply in Indian Territory. "Night before last the post was actually attacked by Indians! It was about one o'clock when the entire garrison was awakened by rifle shots and cries of 'Indians! Indians!' There was pandemonium at once. The 'long roll' was beaten on the infantry drums, and 'boots and saddles' sounded by the cavalry bugles, and these are calls that startle all who hear them, and strike terror to the heart of every army woman...I had firm hold of a revolver, and felt exceedingly grateful all the time that I had been taught so carefully how to use it, not that I had any hope of being able to do more with it than kill myself, if I fell in the hands of a fiendish Indian. I believe that Mrs. Hunt, however, was almost as much afraid of the pistol as she was of the Indians. Ten minutes after the shots were fired there was perfect silence throughout the garrison...Not one word did we dare even whisper to each other, our only means of communication being through our hands. The night was intensely dark and the air was close - almost suffocating." <—Previous Page   Next Page —>