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figure 4. — Camp of the peace commissioners at Medicine Lodge Creeli, Kansas. 



{USNM 384184; Smithsonian photo 38298-A.) 



each enlistment he reenlisted and always in Company 

 K, and such reenlistment was subject to the company 

 commander's veto. It is probable that he was not a 

 particularly good soldier. But after the Civil War an 

 army career in the ranks held little glamor for the 

 average young man and recruiting officers were hard 

 put to keep the ranks even partially filled, too often 

 being forced to take what they could get. The most 

 plausible explanation is that since every unit in the 

 .\rmy, then as today, was constantly called on for 

 c.\tra-duty men, the company first sergeant just as 

 constantly selected the apparently agreeable StiefTel 

 as the person whose aijsence was least likely to weaken 

 the combat readiness of the company. The arrange- 

 ment must have suited Brotherton, for he allowed it to 

 continue for years. It obviously suited Stieffel, for 

 once he was placed more or less permanently on such 

 detail his periods of confinement ceased. Hospital 

 duty in that day and age was hardly arduous, and 

 the discipline was light. Also, it provided 25 cents a 



day e.xtra pay. Thus, this duty gave StiefTel time to 

 paint and, if our surmise is correct, both the time and 

 the money for him to indulge his thirst. In any case, 

 we are indebted to this light duty that gave him the 

 opportunity to paint. 



In September 1867 Company K left Xcw Mexico 

 for Fort Harker, Kansas, in the Department of the 

 Missouri, as escort for Brig. Gen. R. B. Marcy, an old 

 member of the 5th Infantry who was acting as inspec- 

 tor general for troop units west of the Mississippi. On 

 that march of something more than 500 miles the 

 column was sharply attacked near Fort Dodge on the 

 Arkansas River by a large force of Cheyenne belie\cd 

 led by Black Kettle, and StiefTel had his second and 

 last taste of combat. The action must have impressed 

 him, for it furnished the subject of the first of his 

 paintings (fig. 2). From Fort Harker, Company K 

 escorted the Indian peace commissioners to Council 

 Grove on Big Medicine Lodge Creek for their treaty 

 meeting with the Kiowas, Apaches, Comanches, Chey- 



PAPER 1 2 : HERMANN STIEFFEL, SOLDIER ARTIST OF THE WEST 



