The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 82, July 1978 - April, 1979 Page: 53
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"
Here I woke up the gentlemen. It was very dusty and as the wind
roared past it drove in under the tent, between the "pins" you see in
the sketch, real storms of dust. One youngster was on the floor. Puff
came the dust and it had been "puffing" all night. He was fairly pow-
dered with it. His bedclothes and his hair had gathered it until they
were grey, while his face was striped like an Indian's in his war paint.
How we did laugh, and calculate how long this tent would stand and
talked to each other, with compliments as to our personal appearances.
Finally, I found a corn sack which I spread on the floor-the ground. I
had my big Army coat-you remember its weight-so I rolled myself
up like a mummy-eclipsed my head with three or four turns of the
cape, stretched myself on my sack and was asleep in ten minutes. A man
gets used to taking things cooly [sic] after a little service with the Army.
4-
We had a wild start in the morning. It was four-o-clock and perfectly
dark. The wind blew a hurricane. It was cold and the dust flew as on a
fall day in Buffalo. It was very cold. The men had thrown some empty
barrels in the fire and the flames rose a dozen feet. By their light you
saw the men like Arabs, with their guns and their great coats, their caps
tied on with hand kerchiefs, blankets folded over their shoulders &c,
some shouting to mules and packing the tents 8&c. into the waggons, some
loading their arms by the fire side, some standing as if they kept watch.
It was as strange a scene as I have ever witnessed. My tent would not
have fallen if it had been put up purposely to endure such a gale. But
they are not of frequent occurrence and on the march you are apt to
become careless.
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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/m1/73/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.