Ungentlemanly Acts: The Army's Notorious Incest Trial

by Louise Barnett

  q “Stables” is the term for both morning and afternoon care of horses in a cavalry regiment. The trial refers to afternoon Stables, beginning around 3:30.

  r It later became clear, however, that it was the wife of First Lieutenant Owen Sweet. Both Sweets were described by Lieutenant Bigelow as notorious gossips.

  s Phrenology, formulated by F. J. Gall at the beginning of the century, was a system of determining abilities and personality by examining the skull.

  t Charlie’s letter was not available to the defense, of course, or to anyone else outside the Grierson family until the twentieth century, when the Grierson correspondence was collected in four different repositories. A selection of letters, including Charlie’s, was published in 1989 (see note 15).

  u Captain George Graham was dismissed from the Army for selling government property (horses) for personal gamin.17

  v Usually this separation is more symbolic than physical: the daughter is singled out for special attention by the father.

  w Bigelow follows the army custom of referring to officers by their brevet titles. Geddes was only a captain. Evidently, Lillie had at first hoped that Geddes had destroyed her letters to him, in which case it would have been her word against his.

  x The Menger, located next to the Alamo, was San Antonio’s first modern hotel and a popular gathering place. Geddes was staying there, too.

  y Some double-occupancies could be turned into something resembling a rooming house if space was at a premium and there were a number of unmarried junior officers.

  z Orleman was a first lieutenant.

  aa Actually, four notes were entered into evidence.

  ab From other sources the affair can be dated to the fall of 1878.

  ac He began service in 1850 and thus had served for thirty-two years.

  ad A condom.

  ae Probably this is a reference to an affair Friedlander was alleged to have had with Rachel Beck, an officer’s wife.

  af Benét observes that the court-martial should follow whatever ceremony “most forcibly imposes the obligation of speaking the truth. This can be best effected by swearing witnesses according to the particular mode which they may deem most binding on their consciences” (A Treatise on Military Law, 92).

  ag Some of Lillie’s letters to Geddes do in fact begin “darling Andrew.”

  ah Ironically, neither Clous nor Paschal had or would have children.

  ai A captain outranks a lieutenant, but Dunn may simply have meant that as a captain Geddes was not a high-ranking officer.

  aj But not in Geddes’s company. Geddes was stationed at Fort Duncan at the time.

  ak Although Friedlander and Orleman were almost the same age, since Friedlander was a bachelor, Orleman might have considered him to be a possible rival.

  al Mrs. Custer had never personally seen the statue of her husband but hated it because she had not been consulted about it.

  am Baird was actually an assistant inspector general at the time.

  an see Appendix B for the text of the Baird Report.

  ao To make extra money, individual officers, with or without family, would undertake to provide meals for those officers who wanted such an arrangement. “Mess” is the army term for taking meals.

  ap Since hiring decisions were made by the Secretary of Agriculture, no doubt when an applicant received a job, the good news went out over the Secretary’s name.

  aq The telegram was sent to Texas senators S. B. Maxey and Richard Coke.

  ar According to the 1990 census.

  as Flipper died in 1940. In 1976 the Army overturned his dishonorable discharge. In 1999 he was completely exonerated by presidential action.

  Copyright © 2000 by Louise Barnett

  All rights reserved

  Hill and Wang

  A division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux

  19 Union Square West, New York 10003

  Published in 2000 by Hill and Wang

  Designed by Jonathan D. Lippincott

  eISBN 9781466805996

  First eBook Edition : November 2011

  First paperback edition, 2001

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barnett, Louise K.

  Ungentlemanly acts : the army’s notorious incest trial / Louise Barnett.—1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references and index

  1. Geddes, Andrew, 1845?–1921—Trials, litigation, etc.

  2. Orleman, Louis Henry, 1842?–1936—Trials, litigation, etc.

  3. Courts-martial and courts of inquiry—United States. 4. Trials (Incest)—Texas—San Antonio. I. Title.

  KF7642.G43B37 2000

  343.73’0143—dc21 99-42881