10 Historical facts about U.S. Marshals by Paty Jager

I found this book, The History of U.S. Marshals by Robin Langley Sommer when I was writing my historical western romance, Improper Pinkerton. I wanted my female Pinkerton to come up against a U.S. Marshal, but I needed to know information about the occupation.  Below are some interesting tidbits about the marshals.

1) The offices of U.S. marshal and deputy marshal were established in 1789 by the Judiciary Act which established the federal judicial system. Their job was to support the federal courts. 

2) Their duties were to serve subpoenas, summonses, writs, warrants, and other processed issued by the courts. As well as arrests and handle prisoners. They disbursed money- paying the fees and expenses of the court clerks, U.S. attorneys, jurors, and witnesses.  Another job was renting courtrooms and jail space, and hiring bailiffs, criers, and janitors. 

3) Before the Civil War, The U.S. Marshals in the North were called upon to capture runaway slaves and return them to the South and the Southern U.S. Marshals tried to stop the slave trade under the realms of piracy. 

4) In the 1800’s before the Civil War, the marshals worked to track down and break up counterfeiting rings.  It was estimated that one-third of the money in circulation by 1860 was counterfeit.

5) During the Civil War the marshals arrested suspected traitors and Confederate sympathizers. They also confiscated property being used to support the rebellion. 

6) 1870-71 the U.S. marshals and deputies supervised all the polling places for Congressional elections to stop the violence against politically active blacks. This was an attempt to defuse the Klan and similar organizations who wore masks or disguises and attacked citizens of different races, colors, and condition of servitude.

7) On the frontier they were the highest ranking law enforcers. 

8) Their duties out west included making sure the mail was delivered and not stolen. They spent many days and months tracking out outlaws who robbed stages and trains taking the mail and currency.  They protected the Indians on reservations, keeping the whites from encroaching on the land the government gave the tribes.  

9) Usually marshals and deputies didn’t shoot to kill and didn’t travel in a large posse.  They usually traveled in groups of four or five along with a wagon for supplies and could be used as a jail. They watched for stolen horses, suspicious travelers, stills, contraband whiskey, and wanted men. 

10) They were paid $.06 per mile traveled and $2 for an arrest. A good year they would make $500.

Paty Jager writes murder mysteries and steamy romance starring cowboys and Indians.

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Plains Cavalry

Doing research for the third book in my spirit trilogy, Spirit of the Sky, I had to do research on the plains cavalry. This was the mounted army used to curtail Indian uprisings and make sure there was safe passage for the people populating the west.

After the Civil War, southern cavalry officers were demoted to privates. There was a feeling that if they were allowed to remain officers they could become in control of the military.  So many left the service rather than be demoted. After the war many of the soldiers went back to civilian life, leaving the cavalry shorthanded.

The years following the war most recruits were either illiterate or spoke a foreign language, causing problems when it came to training. Officers, who were graduates of West Point or promoted during the Civil War, and had sufficient training and experience in fighting, found themselves teaching ragtag groups how to ride horses and fire a rifle.

The plains cavalry weren't the sophisticated and well-oiled machine the movies make them out to be. A good part of the enlisted men were criminals who chose enlisting to going to jail.

Not all forts were as large and accommodating as we see in movies either. Most were small complexes of buildings for housing, cooking and eating, and a supply or trade shop along with a stable and farrier. When the soldiers weren't working on their fighting, they were the upkeep and builders of the forts.

During most of the Indian Wars period, the basic enlisted man's salary was $13 a month. Low pay, combined with boredom, and the fact many were their due to paying a debt to society for crimes they committed, there was a high desertion rate.

Food at the frontier forts wasn't of good quality. The enlisted man's menu consisted of hash, stew, hardtack, salt, vinegar and molasses. Scurvy was a common disease among the men due to the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables.

I discovered with my research the cavalry life was not glamorous and you had to have either wanted to stay away from your family really bad or had no other place to go to want to stay in the mundane life that could kill you just as easy from fraternizing with the local women as it could from a bullet or arrow. 

Sources:  

US Cavalry on the Plains 1850-90 Philip Katcher and Ron Volstad

The United States Cavalry: An Illustrated History 1776-1944 Gregory J.W. Urwin

Reprinted blog.

Clothing and the Western Woman

Women living in the west in the 1800’s dressed in the silks, satins, and fashionable dresses for special occasions just like the women in the east. However, they also dressed decidedly different when facing the rigors of western living.

In the rural areas women’s clothing could be dated to when they first arrived from the east and up to ten years earlier. Silk and satin could be scarce in the rural areas. In these instances, they would make ball gowns out of gingham and calico adding extra flounces, bustles, and trains to make them "fancy". Another way to make the dress more fashionable was by adding handmade lace collars and wool braid around the hems to enhance the garments.

They had one special dress they wore only to dances, church, and socials. A corset would be worn with their finest dresses to special occasions.

Common material for women’s clothing:

Linsey-woolsey - a strong, coarse fabric with a linen or cotton warp and a woolen weft.

Calico - a plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may contain unseparated husk parts, for example. The fabric is less coarse and thick than canvas or denim, but owing to its unfinished and undyed appearance, it is still very cheap.

Silk - a natural protein fibre, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fibre of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons.

Plaid -any fabric woven of differently colored yarns in a crossbarred pattern.

Muslin - a cotton fabric made in various degrees of fineness and often printed, woven, or embroidered in patterns,especially a cotton fabric of plain weave, used for sheets and for a variety of other purposes.

printed cotton - cotton fabric with color added through block printing with dyes.

Wool challis - a soft fabric of plain weave in wool, cotton, rayon, or other staple fiber, either in a solid color or, more often, a small print.

Dimity - a thin cotton fabric, white, dyed, or printed, woven with a stripe or check of heavier yarn.

Grosgrain- made from wool, silk or a combination of fibers such as silk and wool or silk and mohair.

Striped silk taffeta - is traditionally plain and extremely tightly woven with fine horizontal ribs produced from white silk cocoons..

Most garments had a pocket sewn in the right side seam. Generally, each dress was the same style(they used the same pattern over and over), the fabric and decorations made them different. In the early part of the 1800’s most wore one piece dresses. A dress with a full skirt required 10 yards of calico or 14 yards of silk because silk wasn’t as wide on the bolt as calico. From 1850 on women started wearing two-piece outfits(skirt and blouse). It wasn’t until the 1890’s when the “shirtwaist” or blouse became popular. By 1886 the chemise (like a long slip) was replaced with the camisole a shorter version of the chemise with square or round neckline, lace and embroidery.

 In 1882 stores began selling ready-made clothing.

When traveling on stage coaches and trains, linen dusters were worn to keep the dirt and coal dust off their clothing.

Three essentials of any western woman were their apron, bonnet, and shawl. An apron was a full length garment worn while cleaning the house and cooking. It helped to keep their clothing clean, making less laundry. They called any type of hat a bonnet. Most had a sunbonnet with ties under the chin and a wide cloth brim reinforced with cardboard or thin slats of wood to make the brim stiff and keep the sun off their faces. They would also have a winter bonnet or hat. Some would even have a fancy bonnet to wear to weddings, funerals, and socials. The shawl was a quick wrap to throw on to greet company or make a trip to the outhouse. They usually had a special one to wear to social events if their family had the means.

Working and dealing with the heat they would shed undergarment layers, specifically petticoats and a corset. Rather than the five or six petticoats that was customary they would work in one or two. This also helped on wash day when they only had to laundry a couple petticoats and not half a dozen. To keep their skirts down without all the layers to hide their limbs, they would sew metal bars or lead shot in the hems, thwarting any strong winds. They also wore bloomers under their skirts rather than all the layers of petticoats. In winter, flannel or quilted petticoats kept their legs warm.

Western women worked by their husband’s sides. To make their chores easier they shortened their skirts, wore split skirts, and some even wore men’s clothing. It made walking and riding horses easier. They also were less likely to wear the tight corseted styles. They could do their work easier in loose-fitting garments.

 

This information was found in: The Writer’s Guide to Everyday Life in the Wild West by Candy Moulton.