Nothing Worthy of Note Transpired Today, chapter 1, paragraph 19

author

August Valentine Kautz

chapter

1

dispatch of

DeLancey Floyd-Jones

footnote 10

When Kautz wrote of the lower Sound he meant that area closest to the Ocean. The upper Sound was near Olympia.

page

10

paragraph

19

random

Preparing the ferry to depart from Clinton

snippet of

Nothing Worthy of Note Transpired Today (archive.org) The transcribed journals of Civil War General August Valentine Kautz that detail his daily life and activities during his post at Fort Steilacoom in 1850.

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snippet

website

https://archive.org/details/nothing-worthy-of-note-transpired-today-the-northwest-journals-of-august-v.-kautz/page/n37/mode/2up

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In May [of 1853] I was supplied with an open ships launch with two sails and a month’s supplies for a sergeant, ten men and a guide, and informed that the object of the expedition was to “intimidate the Indians.” When the strength of my command is considered in connection with the hordes of Indians then to be found along the shores of the waters of Puget Sound, the absurdity of this order becomes apparent. This is more evident now than it was then, for at the time our mission seemed to partake merely of danger, and not of folly. Also my orders were very undefined: I was to visit the various settlements and to do all in my power to discover the offenders and the source of complaints. I was given authority to arrest whites who were selling liquor to Indians and full license to arrest Indians on suspicion. So on the 23rd of May, 1853, we started on our voyage of “intimidation" accompanied by Dr. Haden and Mr. Starling, the agent who had proposed to go part of the way.

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I wrote a few letters to the New York Herald and the Spirit of the Times, but this was only a fraction of what I desired and mentally resolved to do. I soon realized that army life in garrison was one of laziness. It soon required effort to hunt or ride on the plains or to go fishing. But this discouraging condition was happily interrupted first by a detail of an absorbing nature and then by my promotion, which caused my removal.