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Roe, Frances Marie Antoinette Mack

"Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871-1888"

It is
to be called Fort Assiniboine. The troops will probably be in camp
until fall, when they will go to Fort Shaw.
We had been given no warning whatever of this move, and had less than
two days in which to pack and crate everything. And I can assure you
that in one way it was worse than being ranked out, for this time
there was necessity for careful packing and crating, because of the
rough mountain roads the wagons had to come over. But there were no
accidents, and our furniture and boxes are safely put away here in a
government storehouse.
At the time the order came, Faye was recorder for a board of survey
that was being held at the post, and this, in addition to turning over
quartermaster and other property, kept him hard at work night and day,
so the superintendence of all things pertaining to the house and camp
outfit fell to my lot. The soldiers were most willing and most
incompetent, and it kept me busy telling them what to do. The
mess-chest, and Faye's camp bedding are always in readiness for
ordinary occasions, but for a camp of several months in this climate,
where it can be really hot one day and freezing cold the next, it was
necessary to add many more things. Just how I managed to accomplish so
much in so short a time I do not know, but I do know that I was up and
packing every precious minute the night before we came away, and the
night seemed very short too.


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