The Battle of Valverde was Stieffel's only experience in formal combat so far as the record shows. After the final withdrawal of Sibley's force into Texas whence it had come, the 5th Infantry turned its hand to policing the Indians and was almost constantly in the field during the period 1863-1866.[14] Stieffel, however, was seldom with his unit during this time. When not on one of his frequent stays in the stockade, he was on extra duty at the closest army hospital.[15] He continued on such duty for most of the remainder of his service,[16] except for confinements, a period of desertion, and necessary changes of station.
Stieffel's exact unofficial status in Company K over the years is difficult to account for. It is possible, though hardly probable, that Captain Brotherton had developed a friendship with the German, which might account for both his acquisition of the paintings and Stieffel's extra-duty tours. But such is doubtful. Brotherton was a hardened professional officer in an era when there was a far wider gap between officer and enlisted man than exists today. There is no evidence that Stieffel was a shirker. At the end of each enlistment he reenlisted and always in Company K, and such reenlistment was subject to the company commander's veto. It is probable that he was not a particularly good soldier. But after the Civil War an army career in the ranks held little glamor for the average young man and recruiting officers were hard put to keep the ranks even partially filled, too often being forced to take what they could get. The most plausible explanation is that since every unit in the Army, then as today, was constantly called on for extra-duty men, the company first sergeant just as constantly selected the apparently agreeable Stieffel as the person whose absence was least likely to weaken the combat readiness of the company. The arrangement must have suited Brotherton, for he allowed it to continue for years. It obviously suited Stieffel, for once he was placed more or less permanently on such detail his periods of confinement ceased. Hospital duty in that day and age was hardly arduous, and the discipline was light. Also, it provided 25 cents a day extra pay. Thus, this duty gave Stieffel time to paint and, if our surmise is correct, both the time and the money for him to indulge his thirst. In any case, we are indebted to this light duty that gave him the opportunity to paint.
In September 1867 Company K left New Mexico for Fort Harker, Kansas, in the Department of the Missouri, as escort for Brig. Gen. R. B. Marcy, an old member of the 5th Infantry who was acting as inspector general for troop units west of the Mississippi. On that march of something more than 500 miles the column was sharply attacked near Fort Dodge on the Arkansas River by a large force of Cheyenne believed led by Black Kettle, and Stieffel had his second and last taste of combat. The action must have impressed him, for it furnished the subject of the first of his paintings ([fig. 2]). From Fort Harker, Company K escorted the Indian peace commissioners to Council Grove on Big Medicine Lodge Creek for their treaty meeting with the Kiowas, Apaches, Comanches, Cheyenne, and Arapahoes in October. This historic meeting Stieffel witnessed and depicted with considerable color and attention to detail ([figs. 3], [4]).
Figure 4.—Camp of the peace commissioners at Medicine Lodge Creek, Kansas. (USNM 384184; Smithsonian photo 38298-A.)
After another period of hospital duty at Fort Harker ([figs. 6], [7]), Stieffel went in the field, for what appears to have been the last time, as a member of a wagon-train escort to Medicine Bluff, Indian Territory (present day Oklahoma), where General Sheridan was establishing Fort Sill on the southern edge of the Wichita Mountains.[17] This picturesque overhang of Medicine Bluff Creek, a small tributary of the Red River, was the subject of one of Stieffel's landscapes and perhaps his finest single work ([fig. 5]).
Figure 5.—The Wichita Mountains from Medicine Bluffs, Indian Territory. (USNM 384188; Smithsonian photo 42880.)