Permanent sources of water were few and far between on the Arizona
Very few Arizonans let alone those living outside the state
have ever heard of Soldiers Hole. It was during the Chiricahua Apache Campaign
which lasted from 1861 to 1886 that a cavalry troop on maneuvers camped at what
had become known as Soldiers Hole. Now Soldiers Hole is located near the
current town of Elfrida , Arizona
which is in Cochise
County
The story goes that it was on one of these maneuvers in early September of 1884 that a couple of troopers who were known for being trouble makers and who had been disciplined numerous times for their antics, decided to play a little trick on their fellow soldiers. We only have the first names of these two soldiers. Their last names being lost to history we only know them by Pat and Foley.
Pat and Foley had somehow secreted a couple of bottles of
whisky somewhere in their supply wagon and just happened to be on KP duty that
morning. As soon as the morning coffee was ready and before the rest of the
platoon, which consisted on only 16 men, had risen, the Lieutenant leading the
patrol and one other soldier washed down quick cups of coffee and headed out
for a look see around the area. He told Pat and Foley they would be back in a
round an hour and to have everything ready to move as soon as they returned.
This was all Pat and Foley needed to hear to begin
concocting and implementing their little joke. By the time the rest of the
platoon had risen, they had poured a bottle of the whisky into each of the two
coffee pots sitting on the camp fire. As the men grabbed cups and poured their
first cups, Pat and Foley just stood there not cracking a smile or giving any
indication that anything was out of the ordinary.
By the time the men had finished their second cup of coffee
and finished off their meager breakfast, they were all claiming that Pat and
Foley made the best coffee they had ever tasted. By the time both pots of
coffee had been drained to the last drop, everyone except Pat and Foley were
feeling no pain thanks to the whisky.
When the Lieutenant and his companion returned, the only
members of the troop ready to move were Pat and Foley. The Lieutenant wasn’t
known for his humor and it didn’t take him five minutes to figure out what and
why the troop wasn’t ready to move. Looking at Pat and Foley, he simply said to
them, “it’s going to be a long day for you two” and he walked towards the rest
of the troop in hopes of being able to pull them together enough to move out.
It was definitely a long day for Pat and Foley just as the
Lieutenant predicted. It seems that while the rest of the troop either rode
their mounts or the supply wagon, Pat and Foley marched the next fourteen miles
the troop moved that day. By the time they came to a halt that day, Pat and
Foley were dog tired and only had sleep on their minds. Sleep would have to
wait though because they were still on KP duty and that meant that it would be
late before they saw any sleep that night.
As the two men finally turned in that night, Foley turned to
Pat and asked, “Did we lean our lesson?” Pat simply replied, “Not me!
Many other great stories from Arizona's past can be found in our book "Tales From The Files Of The Arizona Prospector"
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