Frontier Crossroads: Fort Davis and the West

Chapter Seven: FRONTIER DUTIES

chapter seven FRONTIER DUTIES In reoccupying Fort Davis following the Civil War, the federal government had signaled its determination to complete its conquest of the Trans-Pecos. Americans once again expected their army to play a leading role in this process of nation-building. A garrison afforded better security as well as a considerable influx of federal money, both sure to attract civilian settlement. Soldiers would also help improve communications, building the roads and stringing the telegraph wires that would make the region more accessible to outsiders. Finally, the army was to enforce the nation’s claims to West Texas, seeking out and crushing all who dared to challenge its manifest destiny. Such high expectations were inconsistent with the often-contradictory relationship between the U.S. Army and the rest of American society after the Civil War. Though eager to defeat the Indians and conquer the West, Americans remained unwilling to provide the army with the tools needed to quickly achieve these goals. Some—particularly many white Southerners, who deeply resented the military’s role during Reconstruction—held the army responsible for all of society’s ills. Others feared that a large standing army threatened liberty and represented an unnecessary burden on taxpayers . The army thus suffered a political pummeling. Pres. Ulysses S. Grant, newly elected in 1869, refused to support a move to give the commanding general real power, ensuring that the dysfunctional line-staff relationship of antebellum years would continue. Repeated cutbacks in the army’s authorized strength—from 54,000 in 1866, to 37,313 in 1869, to 30,000 in 1870, and to 27,000 in 1874—had been accompanied by similar reductions in pay and emoluments, which commanding general William T. Sherman described as being “almost fatal.” In 1877, Congress’s failure to pass a military appropriations bill left soldiers without pay for nearly six months. Some lawmakers threatened to disband the army entirely. “There is an almost insanity for retrenchment ,” explained one senator who allied himself with the regulars, “which ignores both reason and necessity.”1 Even as it slashed military appropriations, Congress continued to place great faith in the army’s resourcefulness. When congressional Republicans wanted to ensure that the former Confederate states abided by Congress’s mandates following the Civil War, for example, they gave authority over local governments to the military. When improvements in the infrastructure of the nation’s capital city were necessary, the government turned to the Army Corps of Engineers. Nowhere was the “multipurpose army” more evident than in the American West, where officers and enlisted men were expected to defeat the Indians, conduct scientific reconnaissance, construct and protect lines of communication, defend international borders, bolster local economies , and preserve civil order.2 The quality of uniforms and equipment reflected the fickle relations between the army, the federal government, and the public. In order to save money, stocks of surplus Civil War woolen uniforms, though of notoriously poor quality and ill-suited to the blazing Texas heat, had to be depleted before replacements could be purchased. Subsequent changes in the regulation uniform only belatedly addressed the needs of soldiers in the arid Southwest. Cavalrymen received longer coats to replace their traditional shell jackets; for a time, infantrymen were issued loose-fitting pleated coats. For dress parades , mounted soldiers added a Prussian-style spiked helmet with yellow horsehair plume, and infantrymen sported new shakos. All troops eventually secured broad-brimmed felt hats for campaign duty, but only during the late 1880s did the army introduce light cotton or muslin uniforms adapted to the southwestern climate. The constant tinkering with the regulation uniform, as well as the long delays it took to replenish western stocks with updated issues , left the frontier regulars wearing a bizarre mixture of styles that approximated society’s paradoxical views about its armed forces.3 Weapons were better suited to West Texas than were the official uniforms . After considerable debate and extensive field tests (which included the men of one company at Fort Davis), military officials concluded that repeating weapons were too expensive, too prone to misfire, and too limited in range. Instead, the army adopted single-shot, 1873 model .45 caliber Springfield rifles and carbines. Although often criticized, the reliable breech-loading Springfields would serve the army well in its wars against the Indians. Mounted personnel also received the Colt’s 1872 revolver, a powerful .45 caliber singleaction six-shooter. Light, easily manageable, and accurate...