The Diary of Lieutenant Francis Henry French at Fort Clark, Texas 1883 (continued, #15)

Spent the day in camp working on the Ordnance Return and got it all finished except having Dr. Harmer make a true copy of an order. Tomorrow he will be back and the couriers are due with the mail, so I hope to get a good deal of mail. It is becoming very lonesome here without the Doctor. Read a French novel, "Nana"1 by Zola, a thoroughly licentious work. If it is a fair sample of Parisian life, no wonder that Paris is such an immoral place.

Rode over to Thurston in the wagon and met the Doctor who had come up on the freight train. He brought me a letter from Marie, one from home and the news that Gen. Neill,2 the commandant at West Point while I was a cadet had been retired, promoting Luff3 the A.C.S.4 at Clark, that Morris'5 and Wells'6 troops are ordered to Duncan & McIntosh respectively and two troops from those places to Clark, changes that I was sorry to read about as they take away some very pleasant ladies from Clark. But such is Army life. The couriers came in late in the afternoon and brought some more mail. Spent the evening in reading mail.

Wrote a letter home and took it over to Thurston to mail in the afternoon. Sent a letter home, some official mail to Clark. The Ordnance Return is all completed now and in the letter sealed ready to go to Del Rio with the couriers tomorrow. This completes the last Quarterly Return. Made arrangements to start tomorrow for Shafter's Upper Crossing of the Rio Grande, go down to Antonio's Crossing, then over to Willow Spring, Fielders's Ranch on the Pecos, up that River to Independence Creek and then back here. Expect to be gone about a week, and hope to find a letter from Gen'l. Smith on my return.

Started out this morning with 10 men, after sending the couriers with the mail. Rode Sgt. July's horse as Harvey's back is still in bad condition. Made camp at Shafter's Crossing about 3-30 P.M. Nothing of interest. The men killed a deer today and caught a fish in the river. The Rio Grande flows through deep canyons in many places and is a beautiful clear stream, much different from what it is at Brown. Plenty of wild flowers along the trail.

Started down the river today. The men shot at some deer. About noon noticed two scouts in the lead suddenly stop & hold up their hands. Rode down to them and on looking around a large rock saw about a mile away a number of horses grazing. The men said there were Indians there, and were very anxious to charge them. I thought we were booked for a fight. But we heard a shout and did not see the horses run off as they would have done had there been Indians. So we continued on the trail and were surprised to find Dr. Harmer and 13 of the scouts. They had left Mayers Springs about 11 o'clock last night, camped at Cedar Spring, and had hurried on to intercept me with a telegram from a Division Superintendent of the G.H.& S.A. R.R. saying that 50 Indians had crossed the river at Eagle's Nest. I did not believe this report, but felt under obligations to Dr. Harmer for if it had been true my men would have been easily used up as we were going along never thinking of Indians. Was glad to have the Doctor for company. Continued down the river examined all the crossings and kept a good look out for trails and other signs. Camped near Antonio's Crossing and posted pickets to observe the crossing all night. The trip today was a tiresome one as the wind blew the sand in our faces almost all the way. The Doctor is about used up. In going down a hill he turned his foot and it hurts him very much.

Went four or five miles farther down the river without seeing any signs and then cut across the country to Willow Spring. By doing so I was certain to cut any trail of Indians going over on the Pecos the only place where they would go to steal stock, and would be near the railroad. After putting most of the men into camp, I went on to Eagle's Nest with five men. Saw no trail. Telegraphed to Hall what I had done and learned that on Thursday evening a Mexican Captain and some soldiers crossed the river at Eagle's Nest and said they were trailing some Indians on the other side and thought the Indians had crossed the river. From this came all the rumors. Capt. Randlett came up from Del Rio on a special this morning and had gone up the river along the bank; so I missed him. Camped at Eagle's Nest and spent a rather cold night, as most of my bedding was at Willow Springs.

Sent two men to find Capt. Randlett to tell him what I had done, and then returned to Willow. Dr. H. with three scouts returned to Mayers Springs today as our supplies were running short. If any more are needed, I can easily telegraph him where to send them. Told him to keep couriers at Thurston in case I telegraphed. Lay around camp reading Zola's "Rene'e7 most of the day and was thoroughly disgusted with it. Went to the section house near Willow in the afternoon and found that they had all been frightened by the senseless Indian scare. The Chinamen had been sleeping up in the bush on the hills, a mile or two from their houses. Saw one of them write a letter & heard him read it. Commencing on the right hand of the page he read down a column and then down the next column and so on, seeming to read with a great deal of skill as though he were well educated. Soon after returning to Camp was very well pleased to see the two couriers return from Capt. Randlett's. They said he had found no sign but had not gone up to my trail. He intends to return to Eagle's Nest tomorrow and if nothing new happens to go back to Del Rio. I shall return to Mayer's Springs tomorrow, refit and go up to the Pecos as I intended to do. This has been a most tiresome day waiting for news.

1 Nana is a novel by the French naturalist author Émile Zola. Completed in 1880, Nana is the ninth installment in the 20- volume Les Rougon-Macquart series. Nana tells the story of Anna "Nana" Coupeau's rise from streetwalker to high-class prostitute during the last three years of the French Second Empire. 
2 Neill, Thomas Hewson (1826-1885) USMA class of 1847. He earned five brevets during the Civil War for gallant and meritorious service and was a brevet Major General of Volunteers by wars’ end. He was Commandant of Cadets at West Point from 1875-1879. He retired April 2, 1883. 
3 Luff, Edmund (1841-1937). Then serving as Regimental Quartermaster, 8th Cavalry at Fort Clark. He was a veteran of enlisted and commissioned service in the Civil War. He retired as a captain on January 3, 1895. 
4 Acting Commissary of Subsistence  
5 Morris, Louis Thompson (1840-1899). Then commanding Troop ”L” 8th Cavalry at Fort Clark. He earned two brevets with the 19th Infantry in the Civil War. He transferred to the 8th Cavalry in 1873. He ended his career as the Lieutenant Colonel of the 4th Cavalry retiring on July 13, 1898. He died just a year later. 
6 Wells, Almond Brown (1842-1912). Then commanding Troop “A” 8th Cavalry at Fort Clark. A Civil War veteran of the regular army who also later saw service in Cuba and the Philippines, he was promoted to Colonel of the 1st Cavalry in 1901. After forty years of service he retired as a brigadier general on August 15, 1903.  
7 Rene by Emile Zola. Even on “campaign” Lieut. French brings along a trashy French novel.


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.