Quotations about Captain Augustus Corliss from "Vanished Arizona."

Note: The historical and genealogical quarterly "Old Times...of North Yarmouth, Maine," 1877 - 1884, although published with a Yarmouth, Maine address by Augustus Whittemore Corliss, was, in reality, published at various forts in the American west by Captain Augustus Corliss, Commander of C Company, 8th Regiment, U. S. Army Infantry. Captain Corliss has added a few clues as to where he was to his quarterly. I have extracted a few quotations from Mrs. Summerhayes' book to clarify where his Company was and why.

Mrs. Summerhayes was the wife of Captain Corliss' First Lieutenant, John Wyer Summerhayes about the time that the 8th Infantry was transferred from Wyoming to Arizona in the 1870's. I highly recommend her book to provide an excellent view of life in the Army in the old west. It is now a must read for all historians of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine.

We will pick up during 1876 at the end of Chapter XXII in Mrs. Summerhayes's book:

From Chapter XXII "Return to the States."

* * 1876 * *

" After eight months, in which my health was wholly restored, I heard the good news that Captain Corliss had applied for his first lieutenant, and I decided to join him at once at Camp MacDowell."

" Although I had not wholly forgotten that Camp MacDowell had been called by very bad names during our stay at Fort Whipple, at the time that Jack decided on the Ehrenberg detail, I determined to brave it, in all its unattractiveness, isolation and heat, for I knew there was a garrison and a Doctor there, and a few officers' families, I knew supplies were to be obtained and the ordinary comforts of a far-off post. Then too, in my summer in the East I had discovered that I really was a soldier's wife and I must go back to it all. To the bugle-calls, to the monotony, to the heat of Southern Arizona, to the uniform and the stalwart Captains and gay Lieutenants who wore it, I felt the call and I must go."

From Chapter XXV "Old Camp MacDowell"

* * 1878 * *

" ....Afterwards, Captain Corliss brought a bride to the post...."

To read what Augustus W. Corliss reported about his third marriage,
please go to "Old Times" Vol. 5, No. 4, October 1, 1881.

Later:

" Captain Corliss said to Jack one day, in my presence, 'I had a fine batch of recruits come in this morning.'"
" 'That's lovely,' said I; 'what kind of men are they? Any good cooks amongst them?' (for I was getting very tired of Smith)."
"Captain Corliss smiled a grim smile. 'What do you think the United States Government enlists men for?' said he; 'do you think I want my company to be made up of dish-washers?'"
"He was really quite angry with me, and I concluded that I had been too abrupt, in my eagerness for another man, and that my ideas on the subject were becoming warped. I decided that I must be more diplomatic in the future, in my dealings with the Captain of C company."

Later at the end of the chapter:

" Another bright winter found us still gazing at the Four Peaks of the MacDowell Mountains, the only landmark on the horizon. I was glad, in those days, that I had not staid back East, for the life of an officer without his family, in those drear places, is indeed a blank and empty one."

" 'Four years I have sat here and looked at the Four Peaks,' said Captain Corliss, one day, 'and I'm getting almighty tired of it.'"

From Chapter XXVI "A Sudden Order"

* * 1878 * *

In 1878 ...."the Eighth Infantry was ordered to The Department of California."

From Chapter XXVIII "California and Nevada"

" A portion of our regiment was ordered to Oregon, to join General Howard, who was conducting the Bannock Campaign...."

Later: " In the autumn, the troops returned from Oregon, and C company was ordered to Camp MacDermit, a lonely spot up in the northern part of Nevada (Nevada being included in the Department of California).... "

" Captain Corliss had been obliged to go on ahead with his wife, who was in the most delicate health...."

" I had no woman to talk to, for Mrs. Corliss, who was the only other officer's wife at the post, was confined to the house by the most delicate health, and her mind was wholly absorbed by the care of her young infant...."

* * 1879 * *

While home in Nantucket: " The year of 1879 brought us several changes. My little daughter was born in mid-summer...."
" Jack took a year's leave of absence and joined me in the autumn at Nantucket...."

" The following summer brought us the good news that Captain Corliss' company was ordered to Angel Island, in the bay of San Francisco...."

" Joyfully we started back on the overland trip to California, which took about nine days at that time...."

Captain Corliss is no longer mentioned in the book, but Angel Island and the San Francisco community are.

Here is another link about Captain Corliss at Fort McDowell. Please hit your browser's return button and come back to us when you are done. Then buy the book, "Burning" if you can find it.

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Report about the Editor's Marriage.
Page 782, "Old Times" Vol. 5, No. 4, October 1, 1881
" CORLISS--CUNNINGHAM--Married, at Phaenix, Maricopa, Co., Arizona Territory, March 25th, 1878, by Rev. G. M. F. Herrett, Capt. Augustus W. Corliss, 8th Infantry, U. S. Army, stationed at Camp McDowell, Arizona, and Miss Eliza Crawford Cunningham, daughter of Nathaniel Fleming Cunningham, of Terre Haute, Indiana, born July 25, 1854. Born to the above, Feb. 3rd, 1879, at Camp McDermit, Humboldt Co., Nevada, Robert Cunningham Corliss. Born at Angel Island, (one of the defences of San Francisco Bay), Marin Co., California, March 11th, 1881, Margaret Haynes Corliss."

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