From post #1 at the guardhouse came the
sentry's call: "Nine o'clock-all's well!" The call was repeated, post by
post, until it had circled Fort Abraham 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 four miles (6.5 km.) from Bismarck in the
Dakota Territory. Unlike earlier forts that had been built in the East
(and some in the West), Fort Abraham Lincoln had no log palisade surrounding
its buildings. Instead, its outer walls were formed by the backs of the
barracks, storehouses, stables, officers' quarters, and other structures
that stood on all four sides of a large parade ground that was at least
1,000 yards (950 m.) wide. Here, five companies of the U.S. 7th Cavalry
Regiment regularly passed in review for their commanding officer, Lieutenant
Commander George A. Custer.
Day in and day out, Custer's men favored
a fixed routine of drills, gaurd duty, patrols, and labor details. They
built roads, dug ditches, carried water, chopped wood, shoveled up to l2-foot
drifts of snow, and put in long hours of stable duty. For this a private
was paid only $ 13 a month, a corporal $15, and a first sergeant $22.
The monotony of his life was such that
a soldier welcomed action in the field, even though this might involve
a march in furnace-like heat or bone-chilling cold. Summer and winter the
men wore wool uniforms and flannel shirts that were too hot in the 120-degree
heat of Arizona and not warm enough in the 40-below-zero weather of the
northern plains. A steady diet of salt pork, stew, beans, hardtack crackers,
and coffee left many of the men with scurvy-a problem that was not resolved
until each army post was required to have a garden pwoviding fresh vegetables.
An army wife also endured many hardships
in order to make a home for her family. The wife of a second lieutenant
had only one room and a kitchen; and if, after ten years, her husband was
fortunate enough to be promoted to first lieutenant, she was given another
room. Often she had to spend months fixing up her tiny home, then suddenly
pick up and leave when her husband was transferred.
Life in a western fort wasn't all boredom
and hardship. The men played baseball, tossed horseshoes, drank, and played
cards; and almost everyone read whatever books they could find in the fort's
lending library. The officers' children-both boys and girls-became the
pets of the soldiers, who taught them how to ride and shoot.
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