Formerly Acting Assistant Surgeon United States Army Being Some Experiences of a United States Army Medical Officer on the Frontier Nearly A Half Century Ago   1918 PUBLISHED BY PITTSBURG HEADLIGHT PITTSBURG, KANSAS CONTENTS...

BY R. H. McKAY This little sketch of army life on the frontier was first written, merely for the pleasure it might bring to my children in looking it over in after years. It remained in the form of a manuscript for that purpose, until some of my friends urged its publication. The merit of the story itself, if it has any, lies in the fact of actual experience, but probably a matter of more importance is to call attention to the wonderful changes that have taken place in the fifty years just passe

My children have often asked me to write out some of my experience while a medical officer in the United States Army on the frontier, and I have often resolved to do so. But for many years after leaving the service my time was so thoroughly taken up in an effort to make a living and educate the children that my good resolutions received scant attention. Now in my 78th year the apathy of old age is such a handicap, that great effort is required to do things that at one time I could have done chee

Monday morning I started for Fort Selden on the Rio Grande, nearly three hundred miles away. We had a different type of stage coach, a small affair, more like a carriage, and drawn by two horses. Some eight or ten miles out of Santa Fe we almost literally dropped off into a canon that widened out into more of a valley as we continued our journey until we reached the Rio Grande some distance above Albuquerque. This town was at that time a straggling Mexican village of adobe houses along the east

Fort Wingate is a post about one hundred and fifty miles west and a little north of Albuquerque and in the mountains in what was then called the Navajo country. While there I saw one of the squaws making a Navajo blanket. I supposed it would be called weaving but was unlike any weaving I ever saw, yet when a lad I was quite familiar with the looms and spinning wheels of the times, and the making of cloth. The blanket making appeared to be a very tedious process, the warp being held taut by stake

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 wer

Fort Sill was the first post at which I had any experience with Indians. It was located on what was then called the Kiowa and Comanche reservation near the junction of Cache and Medicine Bluff creeks. Mount Scott, the highest point of the Wichita mountains was some nine miles to the northwest and both places had been geographically located and were used as a base for triangulation in locating other points. These tribes of Plains Indians were famous fighters and were finally subdued and brought t

During General Grant's first term as President, the Indian agencies were put in the hands of the representatives of the following churches, namely: Congregational, Presbyterian, Catholic, Dutch Reform, Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Unitarian, and the two branches of Friends. This was brought about by a resolution on January 13th, 1871 at a conference of the President, the board of Indian commissioners and the official representatives of the religious bodies above mentioned. This was considered

The first time I saw General Sherman was at Rome, Georgia, during the Civil war. I was in the field hospital there at that time and was in the dispensary one day when my attention was called to some military procession on the street. It turned out to be only General Sherman and his staff, the general riding alone in front, his orderly a few yards behind, and a few yards farther back the general staff officers. The procession, if it could be so called, impressed me; first the isolated position of

This experience with the little prospect of promotion in the service decided us on our desire to return to private life, and I wrote to the medical director of the department expressing my wishes in the matter, and my reasons for quitting the service, and received orders to report at the headquarters of the department, Leavenworth, Kansas. It may be well here to relate an experience of army life that occurred at Fort Sill after we had left the post. The feeling of apprehension regarding the Indi

Orders came the latter part of March to abandon the camp and I was ordered to accompany the command to Fort Gibson, Indian Territory, and then to report to the commanding officer at Fort Garland, Colorado, for assignment to duty. From Fort Gibson I returned to Camp Limestone for my wife and little girl baby, who was born the previous November. We were furnished tickets by the railroad as far as Kansas City, but when we came to use them we found they had been packed with our baggage and of course

A few days after returning to Fort Garland I was ordered to report to Major McClave who commanded a troop of cavalry and was camped near the top of Sangre De Cristo pass. The nights were cold and the camp was in every way an unpleasant one. We only remained there a few days when we broke camp and went down the Veta pass. The Sangre De Cristo and Veta passes joined just beyond the top of the range on the west side. We camped near La Veta, a Mexican village, the first night. In coming down La Veta

The trip from Santa Fe to Fort Stanton was not an attractive one. There was not much snow and no mountains to cross but the route was uninhabited and dreary, consisting of alternate stretches of timber and alkali lands, until we neared Fort Stanton when the timber improved in quality, and the country generally was more inviting. We reached Fort Stanton on the second of January and were at once assigned to comfortable quarters which we occupied the following day but stayed with a brother officer'

McRae was a one company post, and located on a little bench of land at the side of the canon that led down to the Rio Grande from the Frau Christobel mountains. There were no square for a parade ground but all buildings faced toward the canon, of which at this point was not abrupt but sloped gradually to the bottom. The officers' quarters were very comfortable, being built of heavy adobe walls, and covered with dirt, consequently were warm in winter and cool in summer. The rooms were large and h

Our quarters were just as we had left them but with the added feeling of desolation, and from that time we frequently discussed the question of leaving the service. It being then well toward winter we deferred it until spring, and we spent the time until then performing our duties in a perfunctory way, and planning and rejecting plans as we made them, being undecided where to locate. I spent a part of the time in hunting with more or less success, but more as a recreation than as a matter of int

(Social Life at the Military Posts.) The social life at the military posts on the frontier, nearly a half century ago, was necessarily very limited. Except at Fort Sill, I served at no post at which more than two companies of troops comprised the garrison, and even in these cases there was not always the full complement of officers, some probably being on detached service, or maybe on leave of absence. As before remarked, Fort McRae was only a one company post, and at no time were there more tha