Question by Frontier Reporter, Fall 1868:
Hey there,
Sergeant. I'd like a word with your passenger, please. Is that little Miss
Sallie Reynolds? What's a nice young girl like you doing here at Fort Griffin?
Sallie Reynolds, age 7, answers:
"I go to school here at the fort. This is my teacher, Sergeant Stackhouse. He's carrying me home to my ranchup on the Clear Fork. This morning, I rode to school with my brother. We passed through the parade ground when the soldiers were drillingmy favorite time of day! I just love to see the men in their fancy dress uniforms. I sit a little taller in the saddle just seeing them in their blue coats, bayonets and brass buttons shining like gold in the sunlight. They step along in time as the bugler blows the notes. Do you know what? I can tell you what every single bugle call means.
I feel so much safer since the Army came to Ft. Griffin. So does my family. Three months before the soldiers arrived, some Indians stole our horses. My brother, George, took off after them and they shot him in the stomach. George didn't diebut he could have. His United States Army belt buckle saved him. It kept that arrow from going straight through his body. So we're glad the Army's near. But not every rancher is happy to see Northerners in Texas. Some of the locals hate anyone who wears the blueeven though the War's been over almost three years now.
You should see my school. Sergeant Stackhouse opened it in the south end of the fort commissary, which is a warehouse for storing corn and flour and other things the soldiers need. But to make it look more like a school, my teacher went to a lot of trouble. Thanks to him, we pupils sit on benches with seats and backs, with layers of clean white sacks that make them softer. My teacher is a very nice man. He must love teaching. Mother can't believe it. Here he is teaching almost forty children, all different ages at the same time, and not charging any of us a" red cent."
I love living here on the frontier. We live on a big ranch, in a solid stone house. Even the corrals are made of stone. I can see the hills beyond, and the valley is covered in wildflowers in the spring. When we first moved there, I was afraid. The house was in a shambles, with broken glass from the windows lying on the floor. And there were tooth marks on the front door, where some wild animalperhaps a wolf or a pantherhad gnawed on it. Now I love to watch the animals here. There are deer and antelope, and some days, great herds of buffalothose big shaggy beastspass by.
During the War between the States, when the soldiers left, our family had to move to a ranch further down the river called Fort Davis, for protection from the Indians. There were about a hundred of us there, living in houses surrounded by a wall. The men would sit on the wall to watch for Indians. Being there with the other families made us feel safer, and we had some happy times. I'll never forget the day we had the flag raising. I was chosen to carry the flag in our parade. We marched around the fort as band music played. Then the men fired three shots and raised the flag. Later, there was barbecue and dancing all through the night.
School on the Texas Frontier | |||
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Married Life | ||