What was it like for soldiers at the frontier outpost of Fort Worth? Here’s a look

Life for the soldiers at a frontier post like Fort Worth (1849-1853) was tedious and joyless, an endless series of drills and fatigue duties relieved only occasionally by free time.

For the dragoons and infantry that were Fort Worth’s garrison (never numbering more than 50), the nearest town was Dallas, more than a day’s ride away. Officers and enlisted men had to find their recreation closer to home.

Swimming was possible in the nearby Trinity River, but only upstream because the garrison dumped its sewage in the river. During the wet season, fishing was possible. Bass, catfish, and crappie were most numerous, but the results were nothing to write home about, especially after the river became polluted.

Officers could organize hunting parties into the countryside. The area still had plenty of game, including mule deer, wild hogs, and panthers.

Indoor recreation activities were not so wholesome. The most popular were drinking, playing cards, music, and women. And since women were in short supply that left drinking (when they could get liquor), gambling, and music. The Army was notorious for corrupting the morals of callow farm boys who had never been with a woman or drunk anything stronger than beer or elderberry wine.

Officers could bring their wives with them, and they had their own quarters on “officers’ row.” For enlisted men living in the barracks, the only female company was the laundresses. Every post had several who were paid by the Army and lived on post. Laundresses might be married to one of the men, or they might make themselves available to anyone interested to make more money than the Army paid them.

In the frontier army, “laundress” was also a euphemism for prostitute. Fort Worth had two laundresses, Dolly Medland, 23, and Mary Harron, 34. They never socialized with the “officer’s lady” (Mrs. Ripley Arnold). Soldiers at larger posts seeking female companionship could visit a nearby “hog ranch,” which had nothing to do with raising four-legged critters. Fort Worth was too small and remote to have a hog ranch, of which Maj. Arnold was glad because such places caused fights, venereal disease, and AWOL soldiers.

Liquor was easier to procure. It might be sold under the counter by Army sutlers who were allowed to operate on a post. If not, there was always a “whiskey shop” just beyond the boundaries of the “reservation” (the area surrounding a post under Army jurisdiction). Soldiers at Fort Worth patronized Henry Daggett’s combination general store and saloon about three-quarters of a mile from the bluff. The next nearest sellers of “ardent spirits” were at Birdville and Grapevine.

Selling liquor to soldiers was a lucrative business, which is why places like Henry Daggett’s sprang up near every post. Alternatively, enterprising soldiers might brew their own homemade hooch, out of sight of the officers, of course. Either way, drunkenness was a serious problem for the frontier Army. A Second Dragoons trooper wrote that his comrades “quenched their thirst, subdued hunger, and otherwise obliterated their misery with whiskey.” It was the cure-all for everything from loneliness to the fever, which explains why “drunk and disorderly” was a frequent entry in commanding officers’ reports (known as “post returns”) to the Adjutant General’s Office.

The most serious offenses against “good order” came right after payday, which occurred every other month on the frontier. Enlisted men were paid $8 a month by a paymaster who traveled from post to post with a single guard and a strongbox. Soldiers treated his coming as a “holiday,” meaning little work was done that day, and maybe the next.

With little else to do with their money, soldiers gambled, betting on anything from checkers to horse races but usually involving cards, specifically poker. Everybody, officers and enlisted men alike, played cards, most of them unsuccessfully.

Holidays, specifically Christmas, New Year’s, and the Fourth of July, were occasions for canceling regular duties and celebrating all day. Soldier festivities included sporting games, special meals (with eggnog at Christmas!), theatricals, and for officers, fancy dress balls. All of these were accompanied by a great deal of drinking, whether approved or not. The Fourth of July centered around outdoor activities like ballgames, foot races, picnics, and target-shooting.

According to Lt. Sam Starr, the troops at Fort Worth celebrated Christmas 1850 with one long party lasting from Dec. 25-Jan. 1. Starr wrote his wife that, “I got sick from the merry-making and was compelled to take medicine.” Very likely the “medicine” he took was more liquor. Folklore said more alcohol was the best remedy for a hangover. Another clue is that he regularly attended meetings of the Dallas chapter of the Sons of Temperance, the 19th century’s Alcoholics Anonymous.

Baseball was the all-American sport on the frontier, and contrary to folklore, it was not invented by Abner Doubleday during the Civil War. It was already well-known in the East when Fort Worth was established in 1849. A bat and ball could easily be fabricated from materials at hand, and the open prairie was a ready-made playing field.

Some posts had a regular musical band, but since Fort Worth was an “outpost,” with barely a company’s worth of men, it did not. However, the post did have an official “musician” on the muster rolls, Thomas Nolan, a non-commissioned officer who handled bugle calls and drumming. Every post had a few musically inclined soldiers who could play homemade banjos and guitars, and maybe the harmonica. They performed on special occasions for their comrades. Critical standards were low.

Maj. Arnold had his wife’s piano transported to Fort Worth. It took three months to bring it up from the coast, but her playing was much appreciated by the officers and men.

Commissioned officers, a major or captain and lieutenants, and enlisted men spent their leisure time separately. Their privileges included drinking on post, extended leaves that sometimes stretched out to weeks or months, and having their wives and families live with them.

Ripley Arnold had Catherine, and their five kids with him at Fort Worth.

Dances were always a special event. With women in short supply, some of the men would act as “make-believe” women partners, wearing a ribbon on their sleeve to identify them. The practice was something even West Point grads knew from their days as cadets. There was no sexual statement related to it. Rather, it was a good-natured matter of necessity.

In the winter of 1850, Fort Worth soldiers took extraordinary measures to hold a proper dance. They invited farmers’ daughters from the surrounding area and took a wagon to pick them up. One strapping lass was over 6 feet tall, which meant she towered over most of the men. But the biggest surprise was that the girls had no dancing shoes; they came barefoot. No problem. The men scrounged a bunch of brogans from the sutler, but since the shoes didn’t have laces and the girls lacked the social graces, what followed scarcely resembled dancing. Still, a good time was had by all.

Fort Worth had no congregation for the spiritually minded members of the garrison. That meant activities like church socials and singalongs were not available. The little community on the bluff did not hold its first organized church service until 1855, two years after the post shut down.

Fort Worth was known as a hardship post for good reason. It lacked even the minimal comforts of civilization. Time here wore on men and officers alike. Enlistments were for five years, which is why many men deserted before their time was up. For those who stuck it out through the low pay, dismal living conditions, and harsh discipline, they took their fun where they could find it.

Author-historian Richard Selcer is a Fort Worth native and proud graduate of Paschal High and TCU.