The dragoon soldier started and ended his day in the squad room. The squad rooom served as the sleeping quarters as well as a recreation room for the soldiers. The squad room was crowded and uncomfortable. Soldier were issued no pillows, so slept on rolled up-overcoats. Soldiers slept two to a bed, sleeping head to toe. Regulations required that soldiers bathe once a week and wash their feet twice a week.
Life for recruits was a round of drill and trial and error, Some had difficulty adjusting to the strict discipline; others virtually had to learn a new language and become familiar with the customs of a country they had adopted only recently. Seasoned troopers enjoyed the discomfiture of the new arrivals and off duty collected around the parade ground to watch the noncommissioned officers attempt to instill drill in the new men. An instructor, who momentarily let his attention wander, might find the following happening:
At the command, 'By the right flank, right face, forward march,' one-half of the squad misunderstanding the command, would face to the left, and march on until brought up against a fence or other obstruction. At the same time the other half marched with the instructor at their flank in the opposite direction, until he commanded, 'Halt, front face,' and discovered the missing half on the other side of the parade ground 'marking time,' and waiting for a command.
Augustus Meyers
Ten Years in the Ranks
The use of enlisted men on work details had its drawbacks. An officer, observing the marksmanship of the men, commented:
At all events, if I were at the head of the war dept, the army should be ordered to do less work, and more shooting--if only at a target. For most of the recruits being foreigners, who never handled a gun before enlisting into the United States service, could not hit a man at the distance of thirty yards, in a dozen trials.
Rodney Glisan
Journal of Army Life
From the best and more experienced men, the noncommissioned officers were chosen. These were men the officers felt could be relied on to act responsibly and to be able to handle the polyglot group under their command. Literacy often was a factor, for a noncommissioned officer who could read and fill out forms was an asset. Percival Lowe, who was with the First Dragoons from 1849-1854 and became a sergeant, prided himself on the fact that he could call the roll at "tattoo" without a list or lantern. His description of a fellow noncommissioned officer was that he was "a fine horseman, an excellent shot, a superior drill and all-around athlete," who would attract attention anywhere. Usually a certain resentment from the more unruly members of the company had to be overcome before a sergeant or corporal was well established.
The ruffians of a company were misfits from civilian life, who joined the army to escape unpleasantness of one kind or another at home or perhaps were too lazy to find employment. This small core of men could make it unpleasant for the rest, and occasionally ill feelings resulted in murder.
Lowe observed that men might be disciplined in garrison, but it was in the field, on the march, and in bivouac, where they were exposed to the storms, cold and heat, that the "thorough dragoon was made." Hardships had to be born cheerfully and a camaraderie was born. A first year man was "not worth half as much as in after years." The latter observation, he felt, applied even to troops, where three-fourths of the men were old soldiers who had served more than one year.
The dragoons were more fortunate than their fellow infantrymen, who spent more time confined to the posts and routine duties. Summer expeditions provided relief from boredom at least. Yet, the end of the trip the first sight of the flag flying over the post, brought a welcome response. Carleton described the return of the dragoons to Fort Leavenworth:
Two days more of steady marching brought us back to our post. We were met by the Band, and the whole column entered the square from the North-west sally-port, and wheeled into line upon the exact spot where, forty-one days before, it had taken up its march for the prairies. Like a ship's coming home from sea, the first fifteen minutes were nothing but shaking of hands and howdy-doing, right and left. Everybody glad-everybody smiling--all happy.... I hold that such are among the really happiest moments that one ever experiences. This had been, on the whole, an extremely pleasant campaign.... In all the fatigues attending such labors, cheerfulness and alacrity have invariably characterized the movements of the men. They performed every duty with promptness, and a good will, which was remarked with the most complimentary satisfaction by every officer of the command, from the highest down.
James Carleton
Prairie Logbooks
There was little to relieve the tedium of life a frontier post in the 1840's and 1850's. When a man obtained a few days' leave, he usually sought the nearest town of any size for relaxation. Normally, time passed very slowly when the men were not on duty. A dreary picture of the lack of constructive amusements and entertainment is painted in one report from Fort Laramie in 1858
: ... The same holds good as to the other duties of the soldier. Drill is also another effort to keep the falx in the plane of certain directions and to produce pantographic results with bodies, limbs, and muskets or other weapons. Police duty is a daily funeral procession around the garrison with twig brushes instead of cypress boughs for the mourners.
And so with the individual action of the soldier, when left to himself, after the various processes above have been duly gone through with. Little temptation does he seem to feel to do ought but vegetate in his bunk, with some occasional spasmodic effort at foot-ball or other game--possibly to -hunt or fish a little; when, perhaps, there is additional inducement in the shape of a cask in the bushes somewhere near his garrison, whereby, he spreads to any other bad physical and mental influences those derived from the depression attendant upon alcoholic 25 stimulants most villainously adulterated.
Richard H. Coolidge
Statistical Report on the Sickness and Mortality in the Army
Almost every regiment had its library, consisting of a few books and magazines. These were available to the men, but officers and their families also took advantage of the reading materials. Lowe spoke of his major, who suggested his company be assessed to purchase "Harper's Classical and Family Libraries". The libraries came with a pair of bookcases, with hinges closing the edges on one side. The cases could be locked at the edges when being moved, and the books were uniform. The major, who proposed the library donated $25.00, and the money the men volunteered was withheld from their pay. Usually, a man from the company or regiment was in charge of checking out the books. When the library was kept in the Adjutant's Office, this usually was the orderly sergeant.
Mail in the 1850's arrived by an expressman every two weeks. Exiled from all contacts with home, friends and the world outside, the mail carrier was awaited with much anxiety. Many soldiers, who were illiterate themselves or had illiterate families at home, received-letters only rarely.
It was not until 1838 that the War Department employed Chaplains at some but not all military posts. There was no Chaplain at Fort Scott until 1850. Chaplains received $40 a month and were provided quarters, rations and fuel. They also were expected to teach the children at the post. Prior to this, responsible noncommissioned officers or even privates were selected to conduct the schools. The latter was considered a rather thankless task, although the teacher was entitled to extra rations of whiskey. Few of the schoolmasters thus selected were able to teach their pupils more than basic reading, writing and arithmetic. The children of officers continued their education in the East, but the formal education of soldiers' children ended early.
Chaplains seldom were around, however, when death overcame soldiers on the march. When a dragoon died, he was wrapped in his blankets and carried on the shoulders of his friends to the grave. The entourage was preceded by an escort and followed by the dismounted squadrons. The horse of the deceased dragoon was led along with the saddle empty and the arms hanging down. The squadrons formed three sides of a square about the grave, a few appropriate remarks or prayers were given, the men mounted, the salute was fired, and the men rode off, leaving a few to fill the lonely grave on the prairie. Rocks were piled over the spot to deter wolves, but markers had only a brief lifetime.
Throughout the 1840s, the dragoons were out on marches during the summer. Their return at the end of the season was welcomed by the garrison, and the familiar routine of harvesting the gardens, cutting wood, and hauling water commenced. When winter closed in, the men refurbished their equipment and completed the interior work on quarters and buildings.
Efforts were made by the men and their officers to relieve the monotony of their daily lives. Holidays were special occasions and much was made of them; but there were fewer to celebrate in the early Nineteenth Century. Thanksgiving Day and Memorial Day did not exist: Columbus Day was not a national holiday. The birthday of Washington might be noted but no more than in passing, perhaps with a short speech from the commanding officer at the post. The Fourth of July, However, was always a day of relaxation of rules. The firing of the cannon signaled the auspicious day; there generally was an oration from the Commanding Officer; and many a guardhouse was filled the next morning with those whose celebration of the birthday of their country had gotten out of hand.
At Christmas, the men in a company pooled some of their pay to send away for delicacies otherwise unavailable, even at the Sutler's Store. Meyers contributed to a dinner that included "hams, tongues, sardines, pickles, preserves, lemons, etc., not forgetting a few dozen bottles of American champagne, which had been carefully packed with sawdust into barrels both for safety and concealment. His company sent to St. Paul for stone china (ironstone) dishes, and the mess room was decorated for the celebration. Candles around the walls provided additional light. In 1851, at Fort Arbuckle, the officers had an abundance of game--bear, buffalo, tongue, prairie hen or grouse, venison, wild turkey, duck, goose, quail, and pigeon--for their Christmas dinner; and the men usually shared some of this game, at least at the holidays. There were few presents for the majority of the men, who seldom had relatives or friends to remember them. A package from home for a regular was a rarity. To compensate, the men pushed aside the tables aft the meal, and with the assistance of the post's musicians danced. Laundresses and wives of the noncommissioned officers and men provided partners for the ball.
When age began to catch up with a soldier, he could no longer cope with the rugged life of soldiering. Prior to the Civil War, however, there was little provision made for an aging soldier. Those who had become noncommissioned officers and married sometimes had the foresight to save their money and acquire a few land warrants. After their discharge, they had an opportunity to become prosperous and some even prominent in civilian life. In the 1850's, the government began to collect twelve and one-half cents per month from each soldier to support the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D. C. Disabled and aging soldiers were encouraged to make application for the Home rather than to shift for themselves in frontier towns.
Information for this page was taken from the Historic Furnishing Plan for The Dragoon Barracks by Sally Johnson Ketcham.
