The Diary of Lieutenant Francis Henry French at Fort Clark, Texas 1883 (continued, #38)

Monday, Sept. 17, 1883

Went down town this morning and to the factory. Telegraphed to Lafayette to see if Mr. Smart1 will be there tomorrow. In the afternoon went out calling with Mother. Received a telegram from Mr. Smart saying he would be in Indianapolis tomorrow but would be back by Wednesday. Concluded to go to Lafayette Wednesday morning, returning that evening to see him in reference to my getting the detail at Purdue University of which he is President. Went up to the railroad to see about the running of the trains on the Wabash R.R. In the evening Henry went with me to call on Miss Edith Breckenridge. Had a very pleasant call, but had to cut it short on account of my stomach. Was very much annoyed in consequence. We took a little ride afterwards. Henry made a short call on us afterwards. Potter was here this evening.

Today commences my last week at home. Went down to the factory and up town where I saw Henry Freeman. Told Cash Miller we would be up to call on him tonight. Received a letter and a telegram from Mr. Smart saying he was ready to see me at any time today. Father thought best for me to go down this afternoon and return tomorrow morning. Went to call on Mr. Wells on my way up to the depot. At 3:15P.M. left on the Wabash for Lafayette. Nothing of interest en route. Arrived about 8:30, ate supper at St. Nicholas,2 took hack out to Mr. Smart's house. He was quite affable but does not give much satisfaction. He promised to look for me and to get Senator Hendricks3 and Commissioner of Pensions Dudley4 to work also. After 30 minutes call returned to the hotel to sit up until 3 A.M. tomorrow in the office. Received a letter today from Marie, in which she gives me fits for not making that visit as I promised. Am glad that I cannot go there as my funds are getting low.

Spent a cold night until 3 A.M. sitting in the office at the hotel waiting for train time. Left on the train for home at that time. Nothing of interest. Arrived at 7 A.M. After shaving & cleaning went down to the factory & had a talk with Father & then up town. Apologized to Cash Miller for not visiting last evening with the others. He seemed somewhat disappointed. In the afternoon sat around home reading & sleeping until 5 o’clock, when made a call on Mr. Moffitt. After supper Sue, Lula & I called on Mary Jefferds Greenawalt who has just returned from her bridal tour and on Gusta Stapleford.5 Came home early & found Potter here. Retired early feeling tired & sleepy.

One week from today is my 26th birthday. Went down town to select a present for Sue, her birthday being next Monday. Then rode out with Mother & Aunt Mary to Grandmother's & took dinner there. Father was unable to come out. Almost all the corn in the five acres is cut. After dinner it rained a little. The fire engine was brought over to pump water from the river into Spy Run for the use of the waterworks. At 3 o'clock returned home, cleaned up & went up to Kate Hamilton's to play lawn tennis. Sue & Henry Meyer were present also. Had a very pleasant time until half way through supper when my stomach commenced to bother me again & I had to leave the table pretending that my throat hurt me. Was unable to return to the table. Sue & I left after the others had finished their meal. Called with Henry at Mrs. Chittenden's and on Miss Fowler. Henry came back to the house but did not stay. Potter was here as usual.

Went down to the factory this morning & then up town to buy Sue a fan for a birthday present. Bought one from Henry Meyer & telephoned6 up to Mr. Sweet at the Wabash R.R. to find about time of arrival of train in St. Louis. I will have to take the train next Tuesday evening & spend Wednesday in St. Louis. Took the fan down to the factory to keep until Monday and then came home stopping at Aunt Mary's new house to see how it is getting along. Lula told me this morning that Marie's friends in Cincinnati wrote up here that I had proposed to her & had been refused. I don't think Marie wrote this, but perhaps Mrs. Lyster wrote that she thought I had. In the afternoon called on Mr. Wagenhals & on Mrs. Chittenden, but nobody was home either place. Afterwards went down town. About 6:30, Kate, Mary, Kate Hamilton, Potter, Howard McCullough, Chapman, Cary & Henry came up for tea and spent the evening. Mrs. Jefferds, Mary Aggie, Dr. Greenawalt, & Clint Walton called & John Morris also. Wanted to escort Kate Hamilton home, but her mother called for her in a hack. Had a pleasant evening.

Went down town and to the factory this morning. In the afternoon went down street with Sue and was pleasantly surprised to meet Mr. D. S. Alexander7 on the street. He used to be my teacher here about 12 or 13 years ago, but is now 5th Auditor of the U.S. Treasury at Washington. Called with Sue on Miss Chittenden & Miss Jessie Humphrey, but found neither at home. Met Miss C. down town and told her I would have to leave next Tuesday evening. She cannot go with me at that time, much to my regret. After supper Henry & I called on Mr. Alexander at Col. Robertson's. He promised to work for my detail at Purdue & told me to tell Mr. Smart to send him a letter of application and he would work it through for me. After this call met Lula at Cash Miller's & made a short call there. Then we returned to the house. Potter was here as usual. Wrote to Mr. Smart before retiring.

Rained quite hard this morning. Father, Mother, Lula & I went to church. After dinner Father, Lula & I went out to Grandmother's. Started to walk up to Aunt Martha's place with Henry but the weather was so threatening that we had to start for home. Early in the evening it rained for a long time, preventing us from going to church and up to say good-bye to Mrs. Miller. Wrote to Marie in the evening. Potter was here.


 
1 Smart, James Henry (1841-1900) served as the fourth president of Purdue University from August 23, 1883, until his death on February 21, 1900. He began teaching in 1859, became superintendent of Fort Wayne’s public schools by age 25, and held leadership roles in Indiana’s education system, including State Superintendent of Public Instruction (1874–1880) and President of the National Education Association (1880).
2 The Saint Nicholas Hotel was a notable commercial and social venue in Lafayette during the 1880s.
3 Hendricks, Thomas Andrews (1819-1885). A powerful Indiana Democrat, Hendricks served in the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate, was the 16th Governor of Indiana, and 21st Vice-President of the United States. Hendricks remains the only vice president who did not serve as president whose portrait appears on U.S. paper currency. An engraved portrait of Hendricks appears on the $10 "tombstone" silver certificate.
4 Dudley, William Wade (1842-1909) He served as the 13th United States Commissioner of Pensions from June 27, 1881, to November 15, 1884, under Presidents James A. Garfield and Chester A. Arthur. An Indiana Civil War veteran, he lost his right leg at Gettysburg.
5 Stapleford, Augusta Rupert (1854-1934)
6 This is Lieut. French’s first ever mention of using a telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876.
7 Alexander, De Alva Stanwood (1846-1925). U.S. Congressman. With the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Union Army at the age of fifteen and served as a Private in the 128th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. After the war, he graduated from Bowdoin College, Maine, in 1870, moved to Indiana, was one of the editors for the Daily Gazette, (1871-74), was secretary of the Indiana Republican State Committee in 1874, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1877 and practiced law in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was Fifth Auditor of the Treasury Department, (1881-85), commander of the Department of the Potomac, Grand Army of the Republic, in New York, in 1885 and was appointed United States Attorney for the northern district of New York, serving (1889-93). In 1897, he was elected as a Republican to the Fifty-fifth Congress and to the next six succeeding Congresses, serving until 1911. An unsuccessful candidate for reelection, he resumed the practice of law until his death at age 78.

Francis Henry French was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on September 27, 1857. Deeply impressed from his youth by the stirring deeds and stories told by veterans of the Civil War, he realized his ambition for a military career by entering the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York where he graduated twelfth from the class of 1879. He was assigned as 2nd Lieutenant of “E” Company, 19th Infantry and came west. Following service at Fort Garland, Colorado Territory, and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, the regiment moved to Fort Brown at Brownsville, Texas where Lieutenant French was detailed as the Regimental Adjutant. In December 1882 the 19th Infantry was posted to Fort Clark. At Fort Clark, on January 1, 1883, Lieutenant French began diaries, which he faithfully maintained for the next thirty years. The Fort Clark period of these diaries from 1883-1888 and his letters home are an intriguing window to late 19th century Army life at Fort Clark and to the American experience of the Victorian era. Lieutenant French’s command of the famed Seminole- Negro Indian Scouts is particularly noteworthy as the young officer developed a lifelong respect for the scouts as soldiers and men. Lieutenant French is a caring and sensitive man with opinions on people and politics. He is a bachelor immersed in the “society” of the regiment and Fort Clark. However, always in the background is his profession of being a soldier and an officer, which he takes quite seriously. The fascination of any diary is of course the private thoughts and observations of another human being, revealed, and in this case the direct link to local history. What the diary truly brings to light is the complex society of a regiment at a frontier post amid the tedium of garrison routine and soldiering, all of which serve to season the young officer. The reader can’t help but become engrossed in the almost soap opera like situations and personalities observed and commented upon on a daily basis by the very perceptive Lieutenant. French falls in and out of love and debt, and is the consummate social butterfly as he takes full advantage of his bachelor status. 

Submitted by Fort Clark Heritage Council - Bill Haenn, FCHC Senior Historian. Fort Clark Heritage Council is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, established in 2023, to advocate for the preservation and protection of the architecture and other historic resources in the Fort Clark National Register Historic District… committed to endorsing and promulgating the rich history of Fort Clark by expanding upon related educational and research efforts.