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This etext was prepared by a team of Arizona women.

Much of the colloquial grammar and spelling is retained,
only minimal corrections have been made in obvious cases.





Vanished Arizona,
Recollections of the Army Life by a New England Woman


by Martha Summerhayes




TO MY SON HARRY SUMMERHAYES
WHO SHARED THE VICISSITUDES OF MY LIFE IN ARIZONA,
THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED






Preface

I have written this story of my army life at the urgent and
ceaseless request of my children.

For whenever I allude to those early days, and tell to them the
tales they have so often heard, they always say: "Now, mother,
will you write these stories for us? Please, mother, do; we must
never forget them."

Then, after an interval, "Mother, have you written those stories
of Arizona yet?" until finally, with the aid of some old letters
written from those very places (the letters having been
preserved, with other papers of mine, by an uncle in New England
long since dead), I have been able to give a fairly connected
story.

I have not attempted to commemorate my husband's brave career in
the Civil War, as I was not married until some years after the
close of that war, nor to describe the many Indian campaigns in
which he took part, nor to write about the achievements of the
old Eighth Infantry. I leave all that to the historian. I have
given simply the impressions made upon the mind of a young New
England woman who left her comfortable home in the early
seventies, to follow a second lieutenant into the wildest
encampments of the American army.

Hoping the story may possess some interest for the younger women
of the army, and possibly for some of our old friends, both in
the army and in civil life, I venture to send it forth.

POSTCRIPT (second edition).

The appendix to this, the second edition of my book, will tell
something of the kind manner in which the first edition was
received by my friends and the public at large.

But as several people had expressed a wish that I should tell
more of my army experiences I have gone carefully over the entire
book, adding some detail and a few incidents which had come to my
mind later.

I have also been able, with some difficulty and much patient
effort, to secure several photographs of exceptional interest,
which have been added to the illustrations.

January, 1911.



CONTENTS

PREFACE

CHAPTER
I. GERMANY AND THE ARMY
II. I JOINED THE ARMY
III. ARMY HOUSE-KEEPING
IV. DOWN THE PACIFIC COAST
V. THE SLUE
VI. UP THE RIO COLORADO
VII. THE MOJAVE DESERT
VIII. LEARNING HOW TO SOLDIER
IX. ACROSS THE MOGOLLONS
X. A PERILOUS ADVENTURE
XI. CAMP APACHE
XII. LIFE AMONGST THE APACHES
XIII. A NEW RECRUIT
XIV. A MEMORABLE JOURNEY
XV. FORDING THE LITTLE COLORADO
XVI. STONEMAN'S LAKE
XVII. THE COLORADO DESERT
XVIII. EHRENBERG ON THE COLORADO
XIX. SUMMER AT EHRENBERG
XX. MY DELIVERER
XXI. WINTER IN EHRENBERG
XXII. RETURN TO THE STATES
XXIII. BACK TO ARIZONA
XXIV. UP THE VALLEY OF THE GILA
XXV. OLD CAMP MACDOWELL
XXVI. A SUDDEN ORDER
XXVII. THE EIGHTH FOOT LEAVES ARIZONA
XXVIII. CALIFORNIA AND NEVADA
XXIX. CHANGING STATION
XXX. FORT NIOBRARA
XXXI. SANTA FE
XXXII. TEXAS
XXXIII. DAVID'S ISLAND

APPENDIX




Vanished Arizona

CHAPTER I

GERMANY AND THE ARMY

The stalwart men of the Prussian army, the Lancers, the Dragoons,
the Hussars, the clank of their sabres on the pavements, their
brilliant uniforms, all made an impression upon my romantic mind,
and I listened eagerly, in the quiet evenings, to tales of
Hanover under King George, to stories of battles lost, and the
entry of the Prussians into the old Residenz-stadt; the flight of
the King, and the sorrow and chagrin which prevailed.

For I was living in the family of General Weste, the former
stadt-commandant of Hanover, who had served fifty years in the
army and had accompanied King George on his exit from the city.
He was a gallant veteran, with the rank of General-Lieutenant,
ausser Dienst. A charming and dignified man, accepting
philosophically the fact that Hanover had become Prussian, but
loyal in his heart to his King and to old Hanover; pretending
great wrath when, on the King's birthday, he found yellow and
white sand strewn before his door, but unable to conceal the
joyful gleam in his eye when he spoke of it.

The General's wife was the daughter of a burgomaster and had been
brought up in a neighboring town. She was a dear, kind soul.

The house-keeping was simple, but stately and precise, as
befitted the rank of this officer. The General was addressed by
the servants as Excellenz and his wife as Frau Excellenz. A
charming unmarried daughter lived at home, making, with myself, a
family of four.

Life was spent quietly, and every evening, after our coffee
(served in the living-room in winter, and in the garden in
summer), Frau Generalin would amuse me with descriptions of life
in her old home, and of how girls were brought up in her day; how
industry was esteemed by her mother the greatest virtue, and
idleness was punished as the most beguiling sin. She was never
allowed, she said, to read, even on Sunday, without her
knitting-work in her hands; and she would often sigh, and say to
me, in German (for dear Frau Generalin spoke no other tongue),
"Ach, Martha, you American girls are so differently brought up";
and I would say, "But, Frau Generalin, which way do you think is
the better?" She would then look puzzled, shrug her shoulders,
and often say, "Ach! times are different I suppose, but my ideas
can never change."

Now the dear Frau Generalin did not speak a word of English, and
as I had had only a few lessons in German before I left America,
I had the utmost difficulty at first in comprehending what she
said. She spoke rapidly and I would listen with the closest
attention, only to give up in despair, and to say, "Gute Nacht,"
evening after evening, with my head buzzing and my mind a blank.

After a few weeks, however, I began to understand everything she
said, altho' I could not yet write or read the language, and I
listened with the greatest interest to the story of her marriage
with young Lieutenant Weste, of the bringing up of her four
children, and of the old days in Hanover, before the Prussians
took possession.

She described to me the brilliant Hanoverian Court, the endless
festivities and balls, the stately elegance of the old city, and
the cruel misfortunes of the King. And how, a few days after the
King's flight, the end of all things came to her; for she was
politely informed one evening, by a big Prussian major, that she
must seek other lodgings--he needed her quarters. At this point
she always wept, and I sympathized.

Thus I came to know military life in Germany, and I fell in love
with the army, with its brilliancy and its glitter, with its
struggles and its romance, with its sharp contrasts, its
deprivations, and its chivalry.

I came to know, as their guest, the best of old military society.
They were very old-fashioned and precise, and Frau Generalin
often told me that American girls were too ausgelassen in their
manners. She often reproved me for seating myself upon the sofa
(which was only for old people) and also for looking about too
much when walking on the streets. Young girls must keep their
eyes more cast down, looking up only occasionally. (I thought
this dreadfully prim, as I was eager to see everything). I was
expected to stop and drop a little courtesy on meeting an older
woman, and then to inquire after the health of each member of the
family. It seemed to take a lot of time, but all the other girls
did it, and there seemed to be no hurry about anything, ever, in
that elegant old Residenz-stadt. Surely a contrast to our
bustling American towns.

A sentiment seemed to underlie everything they did. The Emperor
meant so much to them, and they adored the Empress. A personal
feeling, an affection, such as I had never heard of in a
republic, caused me to stop and wonder if an empire were not the
best, after all. And one day, when the Emperor, passing through
Hanover en route, drove down the Georgen-strasse in an open
barouche and raised his hat as he glanced at the sidewalk where I
happened to be standing, my heart seemed to stop beating, and I
was overcome by a most wonderful feeling--a feeling that in a man
would have meant chivalry and loyalty unto death.

In this beautiful old city, life could not be taken any other
than leisurely. Theatres with early hours, the maid coming for me
with a lantern at nine o'clock, the frequent Kaffee-klatsch, the
delightful afternoon coffee at the Georgen-garten, the visits to
the Zoological gardens, where we always took our fresh rolls
along with our knitting-work in a basket, and then sat at a
little table in the open, and were served with coffee, sweet
cream, and butter, by a strapping Hessian peasant woman--all so
simple, yet so elegant, so peaceful.

We heard the best music at the theatre, which was managed with
the same precision, and maintained by the Government with the
same generosity, as in the days of King George. No one was
allowed to enter after the overture had begun, and an absolute
hush prevailed.

The orchestra consisted of sixty or more pieces, and the audience
was critical. The parquet was filled with officers in the gayest
uniforms; there were few ladies amongst them; the latter sat
mostly in the boxes, of which there were several tiers, and as
soon as the curtain fell, between the acts, the officers would
rise, turn around, and level their glasses at the boxes.
Sometimes they came and visited in the boxes.

As I had been brought up in a town half Quaker, half Puritan, the
custom of going to the theatre Sunday evenings was rather a
questionable one in my mind. But I soon fell in with their ways,
and found that on Sunday evenings there was always the most
brilliant audience and the best plays were selected. With this
break-down of the wall of narrow prejudice, I gave up others
equally as narrow, and adopted the German customs with my whole
heart.

I studied the language with unflinching perseverance, for this
was the opportunity I had dreamed about and longed for in the
barren winter evenings at Nantucket when I sat poring over
Coleridge's translations of Schiller's plays and Bayard Taylor's
version of Goethe's Faust.

Should I ever read these intelligently in the original ?

And when my father consented for me to go over and spend a year
and live in General Weste's family, there never was a happier or
more grateful young woman. Appreciative and eager, I did not
waste a moment, and my keen enjoyment of the German classics
repaid me a hundred fold for all my industry.

Neither time nor misfortune, nor illness can take from me the
memory of that year of privileges such as is given few American
girls to enjoy, when they are at an age to fully appreciate them.

And so completely separated was I from the American and English
colony that I rarely heard my own language spoken, and thus I
lived, ate, listened, talked, and even dreamed in German.

There seemed to be time enough to do everything we wished; and,
as the Franco-Prussian war was just over (it was the year of
1871), and many troops were in garrison at Hanover, the officers
could always join us at the various gardens for after-dinner
coffee, which, by the way, was not taken in the demi-tasse, but
in good generous coffee-cups, with plenty of rich cream. Every
one drank at least two cups, the officers smoked, the women
knitted or embroidered, and those were among the pleasantest
hours I spent in Germany.

The intrusion of unwelcome visitors was never to be feared, as,
by common consent, the various classes in Hanover kept by
themselves, thus enjoying life much better than in a country
where everybody is striving after the pleasures and luxuries
enjoyed by those whom circumstances have placed above them.

The gay uniforms lent a brilliancy to every affair, however
simple. Officers were not allowed to appear en civile, unless on
leave of absence.

I used to say, "Oh, Frau General, how fascinating it all is!"
"Hush, Martha," she would say; "life in the army is not always so
brilliant as it looks; in fact, we often call it, over here,
'glaenzendes Elend.' "

These bitter words made a great impression upon my mind, and in
after years, on the American frontier, I seemed to hear them over
and over again.

When I bade good-bye to the General and his family, I felt a
tightening about my throat and my heart, and I could not speak.
Life in Germany had become dear to me, and I had not known how
dear until I was leaving it forever.




CHAPTER II

I JOINED THE ARMY

I was put in charge of the captain of the North German Lloyd S.
S. "Donau," and after a most terrific cyclone in mid-ocean, in
which we nearly foundered, I landed in Hoboken, sixteen days from
Bremen.

My brother, Harry Dunham, met me on the pier, saying, as he took
me in his arms, "You do not need to tell me what sort of a trip
you have had; it is enough to look at the ship--that tells the
story."

As the vessel had been about given up for lost, her arrival was
somewhat of an agreeable surprise to all our friends, and to none
more so than my old friend Jack, a second lieutenant of the
United States army, who seemed so glad to have me back in
America, that I concluded the only thing to do was to join the
army myself.

A quiet wedding in the country soon followed my decision, and we
set out early in April of the year 1874 to join his regiment,
which was stationed at Fort Russell, Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory.

I had never been west of New York, and Cheyenne seemed to me, in
contrast with the finished civilization of Europe, which I had so
recently left, the wildest sort of a place.

Arriving in the morning, and alighting from the train, two
gallant officers, in the uniform of the United States infantry,
approached and gave us welcome; and to me, the bride, a special
"welcome to the regiment" was given by each of them with
outstretched hands.

Major Wilhelm said, "The ambulance is right here; you must come
to our house and stay until you get your quarters."

Such was my introduction to the army--and to the army ambulance,
in which I was destined to travel so many miles.

Four lively mules and a soldier driver brought us soon to the
post, and Mrs. Wilhelm welcomed us to her pleasant and
comfortable-looking quarters.

I had never seen an army post in America. I had always lived in
places which needed no garrison, and the army, except in Germany,
was an unknown quantity to me.

Fort Russell was a large post, and the garrison consisted of
many companies of cavalry and infantry. It was all new and
strange to me.

Soon after luncheon, Jack said to Major Wilhelm, "Well, now, I
must go and look for quarters: what's the prospect?"

"You will have to turn some one out," said the Major, as they
left the house together.

About an hour afterwards they returned, and Jack said, "Well, I
have turned out Lynch; but," he added, "as his wife and child are
away, I do not believe he'll care very much."

"Oh," said I, "I'm so sorry to have to turn anybody out!"

The Major and his wife smiled, and the former remarked, "You must
not have too much sympathy: it's the custom of the service--it's
always done--by virtue of rank. They'll hate you for doing it,
but if you don't do it they'll not respect you. After you've been
turned out once yourself, you will not mind turning others out."

The following morning I drove over to Cheyenne with Mrs. Wilhelm,
and as I passed Lieutenant Lynch's quarters and saw soldiers
removing Mrs. Lynch's lares and penates, in the shape of a sewing
machine, lamp-shades, and other home-like things, I turned away
in pity that such customs could exist in our service.

To me, who had lived my life in the house in which I was born,
moving was a thing to be dreaded.

But Mrs. Wilhelm comforted me, and assured me it was not such a
serious matter after all. Army women were accustomed to it, she
said.




CHAPTER III

ARMY HOUSE-KEEPING

Not knowing before I left home just what was needed for
house-keeping in the army, and being able to gather only vague
ideas on the subject from Jack, who declared that his quarters
were furnished admirably, I had taken out with me but few
articles in addition to the silver and linen-chests.

I began to have serious doubts on the subject of my menage, after
inspecting the bachelor furnishings which had seemed so ample to
my husband. But there was so much to be seen in the way of guard
mount, cavalry drill, and various military functions, besides the
drives to town and the concerts of the string orchestra, that I
had little time to think of the practical side of life.

Added to this, we were enjoying the delightful hospitality of the
Wilhelms, and the Major insisted upon making me acquainted with
the "real old-fashioned army toddy" several times a day,--a new
beverage to me, brought up in a blue-ribbon community, where
wine-bibbing and whiskey drinking were rated as belonging to only
the lowest classes. To be sure, my father always drank two
fingers of fine cognac before dinner, but I had always considered
that a sort of medicine for a man advanced in years.

Taken all in all, it is not to be wondered at if I saw not much
in those few days besides bright buttons, blue uniforms, and
shining swords.

Everything was military and gay and brilliant, and I forgot the
very existence of practical things, in listening to the dreamy
strains of Italian and German music, rendered by our excellent
and painstaking orchestra. For the Eighth Infantry loved good
music, and had imported its musicians direct from Italy.

This came to an end, however, after a few days, and I was obliged
to descend from those heights to the dead level of domestic
economy.

My husband informed me that the quarters were ready for our
occupancy and that we could begin house-keeping at once. He had
engaged a soldier named Adams for a striker; he did not know
whether Adams was much of a cook, he said, but he was the only
available man just then, as the companies were up north at the
Agency.

Our quarters consisted of three rooms and a kitchen, which formed
one-half of a double house.

I asked Jack why we could not have a whole house. I did not think
I could possibly live in three rooms and a kitchen.

"Why, Martha," said he, "did you not know that women are not
reckoned in at all at the War Department? A lieutenant's
allowance of quarters, according to the Army Regulations, is one
room and a kitchen, a captain's allowance is two rooms and a
kitchen, and so on up, until a colonel has a fairly good house."
I told him I thought it an outrage; that lieutenants' wives
needed quite as much as colonels' wives.

He laughed and said, "You see we have already two rooms over our
proper allowance; there are so many married officers, that the
Government has had to stretch a point."

After indulging in some rather harsh comments upon a government
which could treat lieutenants' wives so shabbily, I began to
investigate my surroundings.

Jack had placed his furnishings (some lace curtains, camp chairs,
and a carpet) in the living-room, and there was a forlorn-looking
bedstead in the bedroom. A pine table in the dining-room and a
range in the kitchen completed the outfit. A soldier had scrubbed
the rough floors with a straw broom: it was absolutely forlorn,
and my heart sank within me.

But then I thought of Mrs. Wilhelm's quarters, and resolved to
try my best to make ours look as cheerful and pretty as hers. A
chaplain was about leaving the post and wished to dispose of his
things, so we bought a carpet of him, a few more camp chairs of
various designs, and a cheerful-looking table-cover. We were
obliged to be very economical, as Jack was a second lieutenant,
the pay was small and a little in arrears, after the wedding trip
and long journey out. We bought white Holland shades for the
windows, and made the three rooms fairly comfortable and then I
turned my attention to the kitchen.

Jack said I should not have to buy anything at all; the
Quartermaster Department furnished everything in the line of
kitchen utensils; and, as his word was law, I went over to the
quartermaster store-house to select the needed articles.

After what I had been told, I was surprised to find nothing
smaller than two-gallon tea-kettles, meat-forks a yard long, and
mess-kettles deep enough to cook rations for fifty men! I
rebelled, and said I would not use such gigantic things.

My husband said: "Now, Mattie, be reasonable; all the army women
keep house with these utensils; the regiment will move soon, and
then what should we do with a lot of tin pans and such stuff? You
know a second lieutenant is allowed only a thousand pounds of
baggage when he changes station." This was a hard lesson, which I
learned later.

Having been brought up in an old-time community, where women
deferred to their husbands in everything, I yielded, and the huge
things were sent over. I had told Mrs. Wilhelm that we were to
have luncheon in our own quarters.

So Adams made a fire large enough to roast beef for a company of
soldiers, and he and I attempted to boil a few eggs in the deep
mess-kettle and to make the water boil in the huge tea-kettle.

But Adams, as it turned out, was not a cook, and I must confess
that my own attention had been more engrossed by the study of
German auxiliary verbs, during the few previous years, than with
the art of cooking.

Of course, like all New England girls of that period, I knew how
to make quince jelly and floating islands, but of the actual,
practical side of cooking, and the management of a range, I knew
nothing.

Here was a dilemma, indeed!

The eggs appeared to boil, but they did not seem to be done when
we took them off, by the minute-hand of the clock.

I declared the kettle was too large; Adams said he did not
understand it at all.

I could have wept with chagrin! Our first meal a deux!

I appealed to Jack. He said, "Why, of course, Martha, you ought
to know that things do not cook as quickly at this altitude as
they do down at the sea level. We are thousands of feet above the
sea here in Wyoming." (I am not sure it was thousands, but it was
hundreds at least.)

So that was the trouble, and I had not thought of it!

My head was giddy with the glamour, the uniform, the
guard-mount, the military music, the rarefied air, the new
conditions, the new interests of my life. Heine's songs, Goethe's
plays, history and romance were floating through my mind. Is it
to be wondered at that I and Adams together prepared the most
atrocious meals that ever a new husband had to eat? I related my
difficulties to Jack, and told him I thought we should never be
able to manage with such kitchen utensils as were furnished by
the Q. M. D.

"Oh, pshaw! You are pampered and spoiled with your New England
kitchens," said he; "you will have to learn to do as other army
women do--cook in cans and such things, be inventive, and learn
to do with nothing." This was my first lesson in
army house-keeping.

After my unpractical teacher had gone out on some official
business, I ran over to Mrs. Wilhelm's quarters and said, "Will
you let me see your kitchen closet?"

She assented, and I saw the most beautiful array of tin-ware,
shining and neat, placed in rows upon the shelves and hanging
from hooks on the wall.

"So!" I said; "my military husband does not know anything about
these things;" and I availed myself of the first trip of the
ambulance over to Cheyenne, bought a stock of tin-ware and had it
charged, and made no mention of it--because I feared that
tin-ware was to be our bone of contention, and I put off the evil
day.

The cooking went on better after that, but I did not have much
assistance from Adams.

I had great trouble at first with the titles and the rank: but I
soon learned that many of the officers were addressed by the
brevet title bestowed upon them for gallant service in the Civil
War, and I began to understand about the ways and customs of the
army of Uncle Sam. In contrast to the Germans, the American
lieutenants were not addressed by their title (except
officially); I learned to "Mr." all the lieutenants who had no
brevet.

One morning I suggested to Adams that he should wash the front
windows; after being gone a half hour, to borrow a step-ladder,
he entered the room, mounted the ladder and began. I sat writing.
Suddenly, he faced around, and addressing me, said, "Madam, do
you believe in spiritualism?"

"Good gracious! Adams, no; why do you ask me such a question ?"

This was enough; he proceeded to give a lecture on the subject
worthy of a man higher up on the ladder of this life. I bade him
come to an end as soon as I dared (for I was not accustomed to
soldiers), and suggested that he was forgetting his work.

It was early in April, and the snow drifted through the crevices
of the old dried-out house, in banks upon our bed; but that was
soon mended, and things began to go smoothly enough, when Jack
was ordered to join his company, which was up at the Spotted Tail
Agency. It was expected that the Sioux under this chief would
break out at any minute. They had become disaffected about some
treaty. I did not like to be left alone with the Spiritualist, so
Jack asked one of the laundresses, whose husband was out with the
company, to come and stay and take care of me. Mrs. Patten was an
old campaigner; she understood everything about officers and
their ways, and she made me absolutely comfortable for those two
lonely months. I always felt grateful to her; she was a dear old
Irish woman.

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