The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 34
496 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
tion of Fort Duncan is reported by the Engineers as untenable, conse-
quently sooner or later it must be given up. Under these circumstances
the War Dept[.] refuses to build quarters while at the same time they
order here a whole regiment. It is amusing.
Many of the officers have with them their wives. These are well pro-
vided for. Government furnishes a canvas house. They cover the whole
outer side of this with a kind of thatch. It never rains here: of course
the houses are dry. The thatch guards against the rays of the sun, so
they are tolerably cool. Individual taste dictates the interior arrange-
ments. Some of the ladies drape their canvas walls with red and white.
The floors are carpeted. The furniture is convenient. There are books,
musical instruments &c. The time of the inmates is almost entirely at
their own disposal and thus here, on the far frontier of Texas, in what
are merely tents are gathered around us most of the conveniences, many
of the luxuries of civilized life. We are a community by ourselves. We
are shut out from the world but the command numbers its hundreds.
We have our own "old men and maidens[,] our young men and lovers."
If we suffer from inconveniences we see others bearing them; from their
patience we learn our own.
I am favored As I belong to no regiment or company but claim my
rank on the General Staff. There a[re] many little points in which I
have the advantage. Company officers are building their own houses.
The whole command are interested to build one for me. They are
working on it now and wonderful for a post like this, it is to be of stone!
I may send you a sketch of it. It will be very nice I dare say but I shall
be lonely. All the better perhaps at this time of my life for I have much
to learn and much to do. I arrived at this place on the 4th of December.
It will be tomorrow the 4th of January. I am still unsettled. I write this
letter as I wrote the last from the quarters of the senior medical officer
at the Post, until my house is finished I have none of my own.- 7.
p.m. We have just taken Tea in the mess-tent and as I write this a
dozen young officers are sitting around the room, smoking, lounging,
joking about the dance which is to take place on the other side of the
Rio Grande-in Mexico-tonight, for they are on quite intimate terms
with the Sefioritas and one can cross the river in a few minutes, trying to
get up all kinds of arrangements for amusements &c.9
9Across the river was what Olmsted described as "the wretched-looking Mexican town of
Piedras Negras," the scene of certain of his own adventures and a haven for runaway
slaves. A Journey through Texas, 314 (quotation), 315, 319-336. Despite its appearance,
Piedras Negras won a measure of fondness from Olmsted.
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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/m1/54/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.