November 17, 1877.]
1 to 7 Officers’ Qrs. 8 Cavalry Barracks 9 Infantry Barracks 10 Post Hospital 11 Inf. Co. Kitchen 12 Inf. Laundress Qrs. 13 Cav. Laundress Qrs. 14 Guard Room 15 Prisoners’ Room 16 Prisoners’ Cells 17 Grain Room 18 Shoemaker’s & Tailor’s Shop 19 Post Bakery 20 Stove Room 21 Lumber & Coal Room 22 Adjutant’s Office 23 Commanding Officer’s Office 24 Ordnance Store Room 25 Chapel & Lodge Room 26 Telegraph Office 27 Condemned Store Rm. 28 Cavalry Kitchen 29 Cav. Dining Room 30 Carpenter Shop 31 Blacksmith Shop 32 Qm. & Comsy. Off. 33 Subsistence Stores 34 Subsist. Issue Rm. 35 Clothing Room 36 Q.M. Store Room 37 Q.M. Corral 38 Cav. Stables 39 Ice House 40 Ice Pond 41 Parade Ground 42 Acequia 43 Water Boxes 44 Post Trader’s Store
May 7, 1866. Colonel (and Brevet Brigadier General) Kit Carson is ournew commander. He commanded a regiment of New Mexico Volunteers duringthe war and was sent on here with some of his old men. Good thing theysent a man like Colonel Carson to old Garland—those cantankerous Uteshave been raising cane around the settlements for several months andseem to be getting worse. About the only reason they haven’t declaredwar on all of us is that one of their chiefs, called Uray or Ulay,[4]has been keeping them in harness.
June 28, 1866. Started building hospital northeast of parade. Adobes notbaked properly—rain all the time. Building won’t stand for many seasons.
July 18, 1866. Our commander is a man to be respected. He’s keeping thisIndian Pot from boiling in these parts by his will alone. The Utes areshort on rations, some of them starving. They come to the fort and begfood almost every day. Maybe they’re not as hungry as they act, but theyare hungry enough to be dangerous. Colonel Carson sends them away withwhat he can spare and has written to the Indian Agent for rations forthe nearby tribes. The guard in the crow’s nest on the flag pole keeps awary eye on the valley these nights. This fort has never been attacked,but the settlements about have been molested on several occasions.
September 12, 1866. Molly let me know that I’m to be a father come nextspring. An old blue coat like myself a father! Good news comes inbunches; I was made Sergeant Major today, with a salary increase to $23.That should keep a family of five!
Army Escort Wagon. From diorama in Fort Museum.]
“The Guard is Mounted, Sir.”]
Sat watching Kit Carson, our commander, this evening. He stood alone onthe parade grounds after retreat; the last soft sound of the bugle haddied away and the troops had been dismissed. Carson stood looking up atthat towering flag staff for about five minutes before he turned away.He looked uncomfortable in his uniform, as he always does. A moreunmilitary man I’ve never known—and yet a better commander none of uswould ever want. He makes up for his lack of book-learning with hisknowledge of everything there is to know of hunting, trapping, Indianfighting and woods lore. He’s a short man, about five feet four, withlegs so bowed he looks astride a horse even when he’s walking. Here atGarland, Colonel Carson has kept open house—open to all passersby(Indian and White) and even to soldiers and their wives. The wild tribeof children he brought with him are as untamed as the beasts of themountains. One thing about it, though, when a dispute arises betweenIndians and settlers, the first to be called in is our “Kitty,” as theUtes call him. I’ve seen him sitting in the middle of them, laughing andjoking in Spanish or Ute tongue, making hand movements for each word hespeaks. Maybe it helps him to be understood.
September 23, 1866. We’ve had big doings round here. Lieutenant GeneralW. T. Sherman, Governor (A.) Cumming, a whole patch of Ute chiefs andKit Carson met to try to work out a treaty. This was to be a preliminarycouncil afore the big one to be held on the banks of the Rio Grande,some thirty miles from here. On one side of the council room squattedthe chiefs and on the other side sat Sherman, smoking a long cigar, withKit on one side of him and the Governor on the other. Carson talked tothe chiefs, he being the only one who could speak any language theycould all understand. Kit urged the Utes to take to a reservation, asSherman wanted them to do, but they didn’t like the idea. Chief Uraytold Kit he knew he spoke for the Indian’s good, but that they couldn’tlive so confined. Sherman gave up, finally, remarking that they’d haveto freeze and starve a little bit more afore they’d listen to reason.The next council meeting gained only a little more. Governor Cumming didget the Tabequaches to agree to a treaty which permitted roads to bebuilt through their lands. Chief Uray had signed another treaty in 1864.Uray even took a trip to Washington by stage and train and talked withPresident Lincoln. They say he came back and told his people that theIndians could never keep the white men out of their lands; that therewere too many of them. Mighty smart Indian.
Horseman with cavalry standard.]
“Cups High! Tomorrow We March.”]
Army bugle]
October 10, 1866. Some of the Ute tribes have been on the warpath again.Chief Cuneatch[5] is angry with Uray for dealing with the Whites and hasstirred up some of the other chiefs. A few settlers and some Indianshave been killed. The post stands as a strong point in the Valley thesedays, but our commander, Colonel Carson, and his friend Chief Uray areour real strength. Carson has told all the Indians to camp near the fortand not go north for their presents this year. He has promised them foodand presents if they stay and remain peaceful. Some of the young buckswill go to war, but Carson and Uray will keep the remainder of the Uteshobbled and staked.
October 28, 1866. Captain (A. J.) Alexander of the 3rd Cavalry and someof his men took care of Cuneatch’s band of trouble-makers. They roundedup most of them and brought them into the fort; had to kill a few ofthem, however, before they could get old Cuneatch to come. ColonelCarson wants to get some kind of agreement or treaty signed with thisbunch of Utes before real trouble sets in.
April 25, 1868. Kit Carson is dead. He died on the 23rd, after hisreturn from Washington. He and several Ute chiefs, including Chief Uray,went to Washington to confer on a treaty for the Ute or Utah Indians.The treaty was drawn-up, but hasn’t been ratified by Congress. But oldKit is dead! His last official act was to try to keep the peace.
July 17, 1868. My outfit is leaving Garland and this time I’ll be goingalong. I wonder when or if I’ll see the fort again? Meyer and Posthoffentertained the whole detachment last night with a farewell blow. Mollyand our two little ones will have to follow me to the new post at alater date.
(The Valley was fairly peaceful during the years of Sgt. O’Connor’sabsence. Life at the fort changed but little, as new companies ofInfantry and Cavalry came and went.)
September 10, 1879. Back home again. Returned to Fort Garland last weekafter more’n ten years here, there and everywhere, with first one outfitand then another. A soldier’s life is a weary one. But it’s good to beback here where I really began soldiering. Let’s see now, been 19 yearssince I first came to Garland. The place has changed since the earlydays. Even got a railroad running by the fort—came in ’78. Two yearsearlier Colorado Territory was made the 38th State. New buildings havebeen added; all made of the same old adobe, of course. The parade is alittle greener and the cottonwood trees have grown tall enough to makegood shade. The barrack rooms are now heated with stoves as well asfireplaces and they’ve built a kitchen
and mess to the southwest of theInfantry barrack. The soldiers’ quarters have a little more furnitureand the officers’ quarters are a little more spick and span. Morefemales about the place, too, now that the Valley is more civilized. Thesoldiers here are a lot younger than they used to be; lot of pink-facedboys who’ve never heard an Indian whoop.
The Fort’s West Barracks. Mount Blanca in the background. About 1900.]
The Fort Abandoned. Officer’s Row, about 1900.]
Fort Buildings in Ruins—just prior to restoration.]
Bugler]
October 10, 1879. We just got news of the Indian uprising in WesternColorado. An Indian agent by the name of N. C. Meeker at the White RiverAgency was killed and some of his people killed or carried off. Major T.T. Thornburgh and his troops from Fort Steele, Wyoming, had been sentfor before the affair began, but they didn’t arrive in time to saveMeeker. Battle began on September 29th and took place somewhere betweenBeaver Creek
Old Fort Garland Page 3