Redwood History Basic Data

C. COMPANY B, 4TH UNITED STATES INFANTRY, GARRISONS the POST

Prior to the receipt of orders sending his unit up the coast, Crook was involved in a dispute with Capt. Gabriel Rains, who had replaced Captain Buchanan as commanding officer at Fort Humboldt. Rains had detained 2d Lt. T. E. Turner at his post, although the young officer was assigned to Company D. Crook accordingly protested to Adjutant Mackall that he had been the only officer with the company since he had joined in 1856. When he had only the company to be responsible for, he did not feel overly burdened by his tasks, but now that he also had the duties of post commander to reckon with, it was impossible to give the unit the attention it deserved. [18]

Department headquarters called on Captain Rains to release Lieutenant Turner, and he reported to Crook before the company started for Fort Vancouver on June 28. Company B, Lt. Joseph Collins commanding, was to occupy Fort Ter-Waw during Company D's absence. Collins' people left Fort Humboldt on July 8 and reached the post on the Klamath 72 hours later. Evidently, the men were not overjoyed at their new assignment, because four deserted after tattoo on the 8th.

After reaching Fort Ter-Waw, Collins complained to Adjutant Mackall that he had left two men at Fort Humboldt, one a baker and the other a carpenter. As his people had inherited a number of unfinished structures, Collins wanted these men provided with transportation to the Klamath. If he were compelled to hire a carpenter, the salary demanded would be more than the army could afford.

When Captain Rains was asked to comment on Collins' complaint, he exploded that it was humbug about one of the men named being a good carpenter. The man, however, was a first-rate servant. [19]

Collins tried to be an "empire builder." In late July he complained to Mackall that as there was no post surgeon, one should be ordered to the Reservation. On August 1 Mackall was notified that there were no laundresses at Fort Ter-Waw, and as there were three assigned to Company B at Fort Humboldt, two should be sent to the Klamath. [20] Mackall viewed Collins' requests with a jaundiced eye and they were pigeonholed.

Lieutenant Crook expected to return to Fort Ter-Waw in the fall, so on July 29 from a camp, near the Dalles, he wrote Mackall, in forming him that his company had left a "fine garden." A letter had been left, addressed to Lieutenant Collins, requesting him to reimburse Company D for the money expended. As yet, he had heard nothing from Collins, and he had reason "to believe that the company will . . . lose all." He therefore requested that Company D be reassigned to Fort Ter-Waw, as soon as the campaign was over, because his unit had been deprived of a "garden every season since I have been with it." [21]

Taking cognizance of Crook's request and good record, Mackall saw that orders were issued reassigning Company D, 4th U.S. Infantry, to Fort Ter-Waw at the close of the summer's campaign in Washington Territory. Crook and his unit were back on the Reservation in October. For the next several months, Fort Ter-Waw was garrisoned by two companies—Crook's and Collins'. [22]