Benjamin Grierson marries Alice Kirk

On this day in 1854, Alice Kirk and Benjamin Henry Grierson were married in Illinois. Grierson entered the army during the Civil War and rose to the rank of major general. After the war he commanded the "Buffalo Soldiers" of the Tenth Cavalry on the frontier. After their marriage the Griersons lived at Fort Riley, Kansas, and Fort Sill, Indian Territory, as well as Fort Concho and Fort Davis, Texas. Alice left behind a remarkably frank correspondence describing the problems of raising a family in the frontier army. Her letters were later published under the title The Colonel's Lady on the Western Frontier: The Correspondence of Alice Kirk Grierson (University of Nebraska Press, 1989). General Grierson's papers are in the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University. The Griersons' written remains give a comprehensive picture of frontier life on the Texas frontier.