Little Pills, an Army Story / Being Some Experiences of a United States Army Medical Officer on the Frontier Nearly a Half Century Ago

by R. H. McKay

The bugle calls at the army posts were always interesting to me, and seemed to convey the idea intended almost as well as words. A number of them have words set to the music, if it can be so called, as "Give your horses some corn and some hay" for stable call, and "Take your quinine" for sick call. Reveille had a rousing, get-up quality about it. Sick call was for those who had only slight ailments and were treated at the hospital and returned to duty, or if found to be something serious enough, were sent to one of the wards in the hospital for treatment. Maybe a so-called bilious condition or a scratch on the hand, or if a colored soldier a "misery," or he was "powerful weak." There were not many maligners, and they were soon detected. In the cavalry drill there are many bugle calls for the different evolutions. The bugler rides near the commanding officer and receives the orders and transmits them by bugle to the command. Of all the bugle calls in the service "Taps" the last call at night, affected me most. It has all the quality of our good-bye or goodnight, but to me it had much more. To me our good-bye conveys only the idea of separation, and I like the Spanish word "Adios" much better. It not only conveys the idea of separation but also the sentiment "God be with you" and so "Taps" always impressed me "Good-night, and God be with you," and as the last prolonged note died away the lights went out and everything was still. This did not apply to the officers when at the post, and they and their families could enjoy themselves in their own way, and could put out their lights early or late.

Toward the latter part of June, 1871 a command came up from the Department of Texas on its way to the military posts in Kansas. The medical officer accompanying it returned from Fort Sill to his own department and post, and I was ordered to accompany the command to Kansas. My recollection is that there were three companies. In this command were two young officers, lieutenants, not long out of West Point, who proved very charming companions. One was a Mr. Reese from Kentucky and the other was a Mr. Parker from Connecticut, a son of the maker of the famous Parker shotgun, generally thought to be the best to be had in those days.

The first thing of special interest on this march was when we had gone into camp about sixty miles north of Fort Sill, which was the second day out. This was about four o'clock in the afternoon, to give the horses and transportation mules a chance to graze. I happened to look back in the direction of our march and saw a small black object far in the distance that I could not make out. I borrowed field glasses of one of the captains and discovered it to be a horse and buggy. I became quite curious about it, as I did not think any sane man would travel through that Indian country alone for any consideration. I would not have done so for all the money in the mint unless in military dress. He came directly to our camp and I walked out to meet him. He proved to be Father Poncelona of Osage Mission, now St. Paul, Kansas, who had been down to Fort Sill to baptise the children and give what comfort he could to the followers of his faith at that post. He was very tired for he had started before daylight, and had driven all day hoping to find our camp somewhere, but he did not know where. I took him to my tent and insisted on him lying down on my cot, which he did under protest, and I brought him some brandy which he drank with seeming relish, and by the time dinner was ready he was ready to join us. I asked him how he came to take such chances alone. He said it was part of his work and that there was a higher power (pointing his finger upwards) that would take care of those who were doing God's service. He was past middle age and had spent most of his life since taking orders as a missionary among the Indians. He had a benign faith-abiding expression of face, such as I have never seen on any other man, and his voice was low and musical, and his manner most winning. I had some difficulty in getting him to take my cot for the night, he insisting that he was used to sleeping on the ground and did not mind it. I finally told him that I was boss of the ranch, and he must do as I told him. To this he smilingly assented, and said that if it was orders he would have to obey. We always had breakfast and broke camp early in the morning and aimed if a suitable campground could be found to go into camp by four o'clock in the afternoon. The priest had expressed a wish for an early start, and I had ordered his horse and buggy to be ready for him, and he had breakfast with us and went his way across the prairie and was soon out of sight in the direction of Camp Supply where he intended going. I have often thought of this and wondered at it. Why did he do it? It was not for money for he was poor and had spent years at the work. What motive had he? What guardian angel accompanied him and kept him from harm? If it is true that there is a divinity that shapes our ends, why are they shaped so differently, and why is it that some are immune where others fear to tread? Right here I think it proper to say that the Catholic priests have always been the pioneers in religious matters on the frontier.

During this trip Mr. Reese and Mr. Parker and myself rode ahead one afternoon to select camp. We went at good speed and were soon out of sight of the command when Mr. Reese discovered he had lost his pocket book. He was quartermaster and it contained about fifteen hundred dollars of government money. He was sure he had taken it from under his pillow in the morning and he became quite nervous about it. He referred to his loss several times before the command came up with, "Well, if I am mistaken and Andy (his old negro servant whom he had brought from Kentucky) got it I am all right, and I will quit talking about it." But he was ill at ease and went out to meet the command as it approached and we could see the old darky take something from his pocket and give it to Mr. Reese who came back smiling and told us Andy said, "Oh yes, Massa, I just got it right down here, I done found it under your pillow" and this illustrates a phase of negro character quite in contrast with my political experience with Stanton.

Mr. Reese, Mr. Parker and I generally rode together on this march and were seldom out of sight or hearing of prairie dogs. It was suggested one day that maybe they would be good to eat. Knowing that they were not dogs at all but rather a kind of marmot, and sometimes called so, and are strict vegetarians, we killed a young one and had it for dinner. I was quite pleased with the experiment before trying it, and was not particularly enthusiastic about it afterwards. It was not very bad but was not very good. It tasted something like rabbit but I think mostly like prairie dog. At one time in my life I wanted to try almost everything that was brought to bag in my hunting experiences and I have tested worse things than prairie dogs, and I think that if one were hungry enough he might relish it.

We crossed the line into Kansas about the last of July and soon saw a new house away to the front, a thing we had not seen since leaving Fort Sill. It proved to be a kind of business and residence combination and was the first house in what is now known as Caldwell, Kansas, now the county seat of one of the famous wheat counties of Kansas, and a thriving city. The contrast between the two sides of the land separating Kansas and the Indian territory was very pronounced. Small houses of settlers and little patches of broken ground and other evidences of an inhabited country on the one side, and nothing but absolute vacancy on the other.

At Wichita we remained three or four days, having our transportation repaired. As I remember it, we had a long stretch of sand before crossing the Arkansas and forded the river below the town and then turned to the west. It was a little village of one main street and I think they called it Douglas avenue. The houses were small but neat, and being the first town I had seen for a year or two it looked very attractive. We were there over the Fourth of July and I remember a delightfully clean, attractive little place where they sold ice cream. We had camped just north of the village and Mr. Reese, Mr. Parker and I frequently visited the ice cream parlor. If there were any saloons in the place I do not remember them for if there had been it would have probably shown on the enlisted men of the command.

I do not remember which one suggested it, but we concluded that it would be some fun to visit the real estate offices, of which I think there were two in the town, and hear what the agents had to say. They treated us most cordially and were anxious to show us around and told us what a wonderful city it was going to be. All the southwest was going to be a great wheat country, although we saw no wheat, and would be tributary to their town and they were going to vote bonds the following Monday for a railroad from Newton, then the terminus of the Santa Fe. If not the terminus it was the great cattle shipping point for the immense herds that came up the Chisholm trail from Texas, the trail we had followed some distance from Fort Sill. Everything would eventually come to Wichita and it would be a second Chicago. One agent offered us a corner lot centrally located for one hundred dollars, and out farther to the west, or north, whichever it might have been, I don't remember, on down to fifteen dollars a lot. We approved of the wonderful prospects for the town and told them we would consider the the matter of investing, and then went back to our tents and laughed about it. We at least had an enjoyable hour or so.

I have had occasion to think about it since, not with any particular feeling of hilarity, but rather one of regret that I did not grasp the wonderful possibilities of the country. Either of the three of us could have invested a little money if we had known enough. After we had again started on the march I stopped and talked with a man standing by the roadside and he told me each alternate section of the land was offered by the Santa Fe railroad at two dollars per acre. It was a beautiful valley and the land looked rich but the country generally looked very primitive.

One company left our command near here and I think went to Fort Larned or Fort Dodge, Kansas, the other two going on to the railroad at Fort Harker, where one company remained, and if I remember right, one company went on to Fort Hayes. I remained with Captain Kerin's company at Fort Harker for a day or two during which time the paymaster came and paid us for June. Captain Kerin was a typical Irishman and his company, almost without exception were Irish, and they were very much devoted to each other. The captain looked on his men very much I thought, as a father would look on a bunch of wayward children. The payment was made by the middle of the afternoon and by night I think most of the men were drunk, the few on guard duty being about the only sober ones, and the captain told me they would stay that way until their money was all gone.