The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 33
496 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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"I Am Already Quite a Texan"
dividual. So much for moralizing. The sentry is calling "Half past nine
o.clock, and all is well!" I must be up at daylight so Good night!
Wednesday, Dec 6th. 1854.
The mail came up to day. There were no orders for me so I am on
duty at this post. I had hoped it would be otherwise but there are many
who would think themselves fortunate in my situation. There is a great
scarcity of quarters here. Orders were issued from the Department long
ago that this Post be broken up so soon as another location could be
found. Meanwhile no buildings of a permanent nature were to be
erected. Since then some months have elapsed. Detatchment [sic] after
detatchment has been ordered here until we are living in some of the
most singularly styled houses you can imagine. It is amusing to see how
ingenious one becomes in the matter of comforts. Some of the most un-
comfortable looking houses you will find fitted up snugly and so cozy
that you almost envy their possessors.
My long letter draws toward its close. You can gain a tolerably good
idea of my trip from its pages. When I tell you that the whole journey
from the sea coast has been made over a prairie over whose surface the
eye ranges unattracted by any thing of natural beauty; when you know
that these hundred square leagues of land produce nothing but grass-
now all withered--and bushes whose entire structure seems to be of
thorns, when in addition to this you have heard that even water fails
you and that unless you would drink that fluid from the same mud hole
which mules and men have defiled you must carry your supply in your
keg, when lastly you remember that the march is made in an [I]ndian
country and that you ride every day and sleep every night ready to be
called into action at a moment's notice, You have all the data necessary
for the keen perception of the beauties of the trip. Yet I liked the ex-
citement and have grown strong by the exercise. I am already quite a
Texan and carry my "revolver" with an air which would astonish you.
I will tell you more of my situation[,] my plans and prospects in my
next. Remember me to your mother. Goodby. Yrs Ever Truly Albert
J[.] Myer
Fort Duncan, Texas, Jany. 3, 185[5]
My dear James:
I think that you have never seen such houses as those in which the
officers of the Army stationed at this post are living. The present posi-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979, periodical, 1978/1979; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101206/m1/53/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.