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Had <em>Thomas Staniford Mumford</em> started his army career today he would undoubtedly have been an “Ambassador of good will.” for no West Point graduate ever lived up to the tenets of the Military Academy more closely than he, or inspired in the public a higher esteem for army standards.</p>
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His entire life was governed by West Point axioms because he believed so implicitly in them. A man of very strong convictions, he would never express an adverse opinion of any government in office, always saying it was an officer’s duty to uphold whatever party was in power, no matter what his private views might be.</p>
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His career was unusually colorful. The son of Ferdinand Sayre Mumford, U. S. M. A. 1838, he was born at Fort Brown, Texas, July 21, 1849. At the time his mother was living with her aunt and uncle, the latter, Colonel Thomas Staniford, who served in the U. S. Army from 1812, as Ensign of the 11th Infantry, till 1852, as Colonel of the Third Infantry. At one time, while Colonel Staniford was stationed at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, a schoolmate of his wife’s came to visit them, and while there met and married Ulysses S. Grant. Not only was the friendship continued through the years, but General Grant’s son, Frederick Dent Grant, was a close friend of Thomas’. He visited the White House frequently during President Grant’s occupation there. His commission was signed by President Grant, and he and Frederick were in the same class at West Point 1871—forty-three men, that year. The maximum strength of the army was then reduced to five thousand men, where it remained till the Spanish American War.</p>
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His mother had married Dr. Nathan S. Jarvis and was living in Baltimore. Left a widow with four young boys, Mrs. Jarvis had her hands full, particularly with “Tom.” One February morning, Washington’s Birthday, she sent him off in a new pair of shoes. He returned in the evening with the toes completely gone. On inquiry it developed he had decided to celebrate the day by climbing the Washington Monument twenty-two times. In those days a guide with a lantern led visitors up the steep dark stairs, and Thomas had slipped in behind the last visitor twenty-two times and felt his way up with his toes! A little incident serves to show his intense desire to enter West Point. As a boy his arm had been broken and badly reset, so that he could not straighten it completely. He was told when he came up for the physical examination at the Point that he would be accepted if he could “chin” himself with his bad arm, and he did.</p>
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After graduation he was ordered to Fort Griffin, Texas, as Second Lieutenant commanding the Ninth Cavalry. In 1872 he went to Fort Clark, Texas, commanding Seminole Indian Scouts. In 1873 he transferred to the Thirteenth Infantry as First Lieutenant and went to Fort Steele, Wyoming, in panhandle days of Texas, chasing Comanche Indians. In 1874 he was sent to Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, Utah. This in the days of Brigham Young when the Mormons in Utah Territory were hostile to the general government, due to U. S. laws against polygamy, manifesting their dislike by arresting soldiers and putting them in chain gangs in the city. This hostility culminated in the so-called “Mountain Meadow Massacre” of prominent gentiles, the guilty culprits being eventually apprehended by the government and executed.</p>
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While stationed at Fort Douglas, he met and married Emma Taggart, whose father, John P. Taggart, served as acting Assistant Surgeon with the Union Army during the Civil War.</p>
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He was ordered from Fort Douglas to Camp Independence Rock, Sweetwater River, Wyoming as Adjutant of the Big Horn expedition of five troops of Third U. S. Cavalry, fighting the Cheyenne—Arapahoe renegade Indians. These Indians had started raiding settlers on their way to join Sitting Bull’s Sioux, who were concentrating preparatory to crossing the border into British Columbia.</p>
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Captain Mumford had as his guide William Cody, Buffalo Bill, and a firm friendship developed between them. There has been some doubt cast on the authenticity of Cody’s claim to being the Pioneer Scout of the Army of that period, but he had official records to show he was the recognized chief of scouts with the army under Generals Sheridan, Merritt, Crook, Custer and Miles, all of whom commanded Indian Expeditions. Cody was a remarkable man. His name originated from killing buffaloes (said to be about five thousand) for the construction camp of the Kansas Pacific railway. Over six feet and weighing over two hundred, straight as an arrow and very fine looking, he was utterly fearless. He always rode a white horse, so far ahead of his Pawnee scouts it was amazing he was not cut off. He was thoroughly familiar with the general contour of the Western country and was always able to locate water. On this trip they had to cross heavily timbered mountains abounding in elk, mountain sheep and grizzly bears. Because of the shortage in rations, they finally abandoned the chase: the Indians then having joined Sitting Bull on Little Big Horn, Tongue River. Their first orders were to await supplies and return to Tongue River. Cody remarked: “If you go there you’ll see more Indians than you ever saw in your life—but you’ll never see any more.” This was Custer’s fate in 1876.</p>
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During Queen Victoria’s Jubilee days Cody’s Wild West show played in London and he was presented to the Queen and became very friendly with the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. During the performance, the Prince, the Kings of Denmark, Belgium, Saxony and Greece rode with him. Edward, being familiar with the American game of draw poker, asked Cody if he had ever held four Kings before. “Never, your Royal Highness,” said he, “with the Royal Joker, which makes a straight flush, which is unbeatable.”</p>
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In 1875, Captain Mumford rejoined his regiment which was ordered to New Orleans, Louisiana, because of street riots due to Carpet-Bag government. From New Orleans to Holly Springs, Mississippi and Atlanta, Georgia—during the yellow fever epidemic—1877-78; then to Fort Lewis, Colorado to watch the Utes; Fort Wyngate, New Mexico—as Regimental Quartermaster—to complete construction of this post near Navajo reserve; Santa Fe, New Mexico and Fort Deming, New Mexico, when General George Crook organized the expedition for Old Mexico to round up Geronimo; later captured by General Miles, who succeeded General Crook.</p>
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From 1886-88 he was on recruiting duty in Baltimore, Maryland, and St. Louis, Missouri. Then to Guthrie and King Fisher, Indian Territory—1889—when Oklahoma Territory was opened. The flotsam and jetsam of the economic collapse of that period had collected in a solid rank around the entire Territory. On the day of the opening a hundred thousand men, women and children were waiting to race in and stake out claims. The line was crowded with every conceivable vehicle of transportation; from thoroughbreds to broncos; from sulkies to prairie-schooners. One man even rode an ostrich. Earlier the troops had routed out “sooners,” chiselers who were hidden in canyons and coulees, with their eyes on choice claims. The troops ringed the Territory with a cordon and when, at high noon, the guns boomed and cavalry pistols cracked, the mob raced in, running from one to fifteen miles for their claims.</p>
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Fort Sill, Oklahoma ‘89-‘91 was his last post. Few people realize the difficulty of travel in those days. Fort Sill was eighty miles from the railroad and was reached only by “ambulance,” and when he went to Fort Griffin he had to ride three hundred miles by pony express. During his stay in New Orleans he contracted malarial fever and was never afterwards well, but he persisted in keeping up till 1891 when he was found unfit for active duty by the Army Medical Board and retired with the rank of Captain, due him, by reason of seniority at that time. After retirement he settled in Baltimore, Maryland. From 1896 to 1909, during the Spanish-American war, he served as Inspector General of Maryland National Guard under Governor Lloyd Lowndes. This title he never used, preferring his army associations. Off the record his regimental nickname was “Tommy-the-Masher,” and in the National Guard it became “Tommy-Eagle-Eyes.”</p>
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In 1908 he took his family abroad, living in Paris until 1914; returning to Baltimore when war broke out. On the death of his wife and the marriage of his daughter at this time, he spent most of his time traveling. In 1937 he received the degree of Bachelor of Science, by special Act of Congress and upon recommendation of the Academic Board of the Military Academy.</p>
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Very frail physically, his mind was absolutely alert through his entire ninety-two years and his interest in the Point was as unflagging as when he was a cadet.</p>
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His life might be summed up in the West Point motto: Duty, Honor, Country.</p>
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