- Tales of Old Fort Steilacoom (PDF) (historicfortsteilacoom.org)
Brevet Captain Delancy Floyd Jones was a bit of a dandy. And like most dandies was somewhat full of himself. He claimed an aristocratic background, was proud of his family’s lineage, and believed that small hands and feet were evidence of that heritage. Floyd Jones had small hands and feet. Also, perhaps his hyphenated last name contributed to his feelings of superiority. Floyd-Jones was a good soldier despite his aloofness. Lieutenant August Kautz describes him as a man of good habits and beyond reproach in his personal conduct, but he had one personal trait that distinguished him from all others at Fort Steilacoom. Floyd-Jones changed his shirt every day.
- [William Alloway] Slaughter had gone to Olympia for two or three days, and I was acting as quartermaster during his absence. The captain had discovered that some Post mules were in use by a farmer, and he came to me and ordered them to be brought in. I replied that I did not know Mr. Slaughter’s arrangements concerning the mules, and therefore did not like to interfere. He turned to me and said sharply: “You will do it, By G– if I order you to,” whereupon I answered in the same tone: “I won’t do it, by G–, unless you do.” He at once changed his tone and manner and said the he had meant it as an order, and naturally I answered that IF that were the case I would obey him.
- And when Lieut. Slaughter returned I reported the case to him, and he immediately cut off the supply of forage for Jones’ private horse, which he had been feeding out of the surplus forage in the quartermaster’s stables. Slaughter was justified, as Jones had taken the stand that public property should not be used for private purposes, but I think it generated an unpleasantness that lasted while I remained at the a post.7
- I became well satisfied with my new station; there was plenty to eat and little to do, and pleasant surroundings. I was appointed adjutant and had to look after the guard and the bakehouse and the drilling of the company. Capt. Jones continued in command;6 Lieut. Slaughter was quartermaster and commissary, and Mrs. Slaughter, who was the only lady at the post, managed the mess, where we all took our meals. Dr. Haden was the Post Surgeon; he had ridden to meet us before our arrival. He was a courteous and refined Southerner, of blonde complexion and affable manners, and not obtrusive in his southern sentiments. There was also a Dr. Wallace, brother of Capt. Wallace, of the Fourth Infantry, who desired to become post sutler.
- DeLancey Floyd-Jones (Wikipedia)
DeLancey Floyd-Jones (January 20, 1826 – January 19, 1902) was a career officer in the United States Army, serving in the Mexican–American War and the American Civil War, as well as on frontier duty in the Old West.
