Page 202 - Cooke's Peak - Pasaron Por Aqui

the lieutenant only two months and was concerned
about her ability to host the other officers. Her
husband told her not to worry because Phelps and
Stephenson were more concerned about quantity
157
than quality.
Phelps that he and Stephenson had consumed 5 beefsteaks, 10 cups of coffee, and 54 biscuits. Phelps noted, however, that “the biscuits were only about
158
the size of a [silver] dollar.”
Captain Edward William Whittemore replaced
Captain Humphries (he was promoted in January)
category, leaving only 12 effectives. The detachment under Sherman remained until the end of Novem- ber, and on December 1, 1873, they marched awa^ leaving Fort Cummings completely abandoned/ Ranchers and travelers would ’borrow’ portions of the structure for their own use and the elements would attack the exposed remainder.
A story persists that during the first abandonment of Fort Cummings, the 58 bodies in the cemetery were removed and reinterred at Fort Bayard and then returned to Fort Cummings when it was reac-
In later years, Mrs. Humphries told
as post commander in April 1873. In
temore left with 38 men of Company F, Fifteenth Infantry, to take up station at Fort Selden. This left First Lieutenant Horace P. Sherman with only 15 men, present and absent, of which 3 were in the later
160 PatriciaK.Novak,direc- tor for the Fort Bliss and Fort Bayard National Cemeteries, indicated that no record exists for either temporary or permanent transfer of any burials from
Fort Cummings to Fort Bayard. 161
Indian Fighting and Post War Emigration
August, Whit-
tivated a few years later.
188