The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-03-30
WIFE OF NEW CHIEF O STAFF
TELlSOF FRONTIER DAYS
Typical Army Woman, Born and Reared Under Garrison
Flag-Daughter OF Famous Indian Fighter-In Army
Posts From Dakota to Cuba.

fine newly appointed chief Of staff.
NJ is the saving grace which prevents
fb. variouS and unforeseen contin-
.tacies which arise from being TRACE
dies and makes the life possible to
the woman and the woman possible
I1 the life. Moreover, to be a sue
se-sfIl wife TO an army officer a wom-
fl. must be entirely willing to subor-
liutte her personality and her de-
.ires Ia her husbands career, and
must possess a certain wide toler- |
euet. a Willingness to live and let
live that is absolutely essential in the
intimate and restricted life of an iSO- |
lated army post"
certainly no woman in the United
States is better fitted to speak, and
with authority. on the subject than
Mrs. Scott. says an article in the Wash
ingt0n star. An army woman by birth
ls we'll as by adoption. she has fol-
lowed the fortunes Of the service from
fhe early days of border warfare
against the Indians to the present
ume. She has lived in army posts
from Dakota to Cuba, from West
Point Ia the Philippines, and has
sampled all sorts and conditions of
quarters, from the old stone huts OF
Fort Sill TO the charming home OF
he chief of staff at Fort Myer.
The daughter Of n famous old In
Nlat tSlltI, ttil. Lewis MERRILL, Mrs.
Scott was born in an army post and
spent her childhood in sundry border
stations where the Indians were a real
monaco n the stockade a vital ne
'tsslJN. That stockade used to fasci-
Htte us children" said Mrs. Scott re-
GENTLY. and the world beyond, which
Nt> forbidden territory. doomed ever
ie>lrable 10 our fancy. All about, cut
'n he logs. Were tiny holes for mus
kNlFL IRE. with every fou yarlS rroo3
square apertures for the cannon
Many a time, with some of my COM
panions. | have crawled through a
poTthole, with an eye cooked over my
shouldcr on watch for a prowling
sentry, ana dropped into the prairie
ot'2". Even yet l shudder TO think
81 the tragedy that might have been,
for that stockade was no idle pre-
caution. While l was quite a young
ater we were ordered to old Fort
h'ce, and the very day before our ar.
tlFal an officer was set upon by a
browning band OF hostile Indians be
iWe.-i the suffers store and the
stockade gate, killed and scalped be.
tore help could reach him.
The weather was so severe il
winter that there was chance fol
F'rV little trouble. but as soon a.
spfing came the troops were off t,
punish here, to pacify there, and gen
Nrp III NSC VII Tx SAtudllO
aod prevent disorder. Raids ant
sklrmishes were not ~infrequent, 70
'heSe were the days Of real India1
warfare, and the women spent man.
anxious days while their husband
hnd fathers were in the field"
Gen. Merrill was graduated fror
West Point in 1855 and served in tn
anion army throughout the Civ
War: then came those years Of ser
wee on the border land; and, just a
ne achieved sufficient rank to rat
oelng sent east, his daughter. Mis-
MARY Merrill, was married to Ger
scott, then n young lieutenant wit
~" years of frontier service befOr
him.
The wedding took place at old Fro
rates, since abandoned, and tn
Young people first set up housekeel
ing at Fort Totten, near the Cana
nan border. now turne over to tt
interior Department. This pos
eighty miles from a railroad, w
sonsidered centrally located. for
those days the Dakotas, where the
'"t was to be cast for a number
years, were sparsely settled and SUI
posts az Fort Lincoln, Fort Mead
from civilization.
Fort Meade, where the u SC
aler and his wife were next statione
was fully 214 miles from Pierre,
~, and was reached by the famo
Deadwood coach.
That route" said Mrs. Scott, w
burned into my m by a territ
experience, n trip of five days a
i've nights with a desperately 81
baby iii my arms. / was returni
ny coach to Join my husband, wi
my tiny first-born, now Lieut.. DAY
hunter Scott of the 5th cavalry. T
Guinbo' roads, as they were call
made OF heavy CLAW. were baked ma
40 iron in summer and in winter fr'
on To GRANTEE; but between seast
They We're a morass. and this was
hHht of the spring thaw.
a Bitter Experience.
The heavy wheels of the coz
ground into the mud of the road
why prairie grass that grew by
~ayside, forming a pasty mire t
"aked upon the wheels. Progress
mdddeningiy slow and every !