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Dull Routine and Hard Work
From post #1 at the guardhouse came the
sentry’s call: "9 o’clock - all’s well!". The call was repeated, post by
post, until it had circled Ft. Lincoln. This U.S. Army fort, which was
one of the larger ones in the west in 1875, stood on a bluff overlooking
the muddy Missouri River, some 4 miles from Bismarck in the Dakota
Territory. Unlike earlier forts that had been built in the east (and
some in the west), Fr. Lincoln had no log palisade surrounding its
buildings. Instead, its outer walls were formed by the back of the
barracks, storehouses, stables, officers’ quarters, and other structures
that stood on all four sides of a lard parade ground that was at least
1,000 yds wide. Here 5, companies of the U.S. 7th Cavalry
Regiment regularly passed in review for their commanding officer, Lt.
Col. George A. Custer.
However on the hill overlooking the for
was Ft. McKean. It had a 3 sided stockade wall and 3 blockhouses. It
gives a good view of the land for many miles all around. This was mainly
an infantry post. Also the Gatling Gun battery was posted at this fort.
Day in and day out, Custer’s men followed
a fixed routine of drills, guard duty, patrols, and labor details. They
built roads, dug ditches, carried water, chopped wood, shoveled up to
12’ drifts of snow, and put in long hours of stable duty. A typical day
would be as follows:
5:15 Assembly of Trumpeters
5:30 Reveille
6:00 Stable & Watering Call
7:00 Mess Call
8:00 Assembly, Roll Call
8:10 Sick Call
8:20 Assembly of Guard Details
8:30 Fatigue Call
9:00 Drill Call (dismounted)
11:30 Recall - End of Morning
Drill
11:45 1st Sergeants
Call
12:00 Mess Call
1:00 Drill Call (mounted)
4:00 Recall - End of Evening Drill
4:30 Stable Call
5:00 Mess Call
6:00 Assembly for Evening Parade
5 mins prior to sunset: Assembly
of Trumpeters
Sunset Retreat, Evening Gun, Roll
Call, to the colors
8:55 Assembly of Trumpeters
9:00 Tattoo and Final Roll Call
9:30 Extinguish Lights
This Schedule would be followed
Monday through Saturday. Sunday was sort of a day off. Special events
might be held, such as, picnics, baseball games, dances, etc.
For all this work, the enlisted men were
paid per month:
Sgt. Major, Quartermaster Sgt. $23
Saddler Sgt., 1st Sgt.
$22
Chief Trumpeter, Principle
Musician $20
Line Sgt., $17
Cpl., Blacksmith, Farrier, Saddler
$15
Pvt., Trumpeter $13
Most of this pay went to pay off debts
incurred since the last payday (usually 2 or more months before). Most
of what was left would be spent at the Post Sutler’s, or lost gambling.
The monotony of his life was such that a
soldier welcomed action in the field, even though this might involve a
march in furnace lie heat or bone chilling cold. Summer and winter the
men wore wool uniforms and flannel shirts that were too hot in the 120
degrees heat of Arizona and not warm enough in the 40 degrees below
weather of the Northern Plains. A steady diet of salt pork, stew, beans,
hardtack crackers, and coffee left many men with scurvy. This problem
was not resolved until each army post was required to have a garden
providing fresh vegetables.
An army wife also endured many of the same
hardships that her husband suffered, in order to make a home for her
family. The wife of a 2nd Lt. Had only one room and a
kitchen: and if after 10 yrs., her husband was fortunate enough to be
promoted to 1st Lt., she was given another room.. Often she
had to spend months fixing up her tiny home, then suddenly pick and
leave when her husband was transferred, or a higher ranking officer’s
family bumped her from her house.
Life in a western fort wasn’t all boredom
and hardship. The men played baseball, tossed horseshoes, drank, and
played cards; almost everyone read whatever books they could fine (many
forts had a lending library. The officer’s children - both boys and
girls - became pets of the soldiers, who taught them how to ride and
shoot.
Enlistment’s ran for 5 years at a time,
and it could be the toughest and most brutal 5 years of a soldier’s
life.
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