Frontier Army Post in the American West: A Review of Literature

Successful adaptation by U.S. Army officers' to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts was associated with: (a) assumption of responsibility for maintaining morale among dependents at a post; and (b) rejecting the scripted passivity and deference in social behavior expected of women in the United States in the late-nineteenth century.

In the following two sections of this chapter, literature is reviewed in relation to two questions associated with the hypothesis. The two questions are as follows:

1. What effect did the personal role behaviors of the wives of U.S. Army officers have on their success in adapting to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts in the American west in the late-nineteenth century?

2. What effect did the attitudes of the wives of U.S. Army officers towards scripted gender behavior in the late-nineteenth century United States have on their success in adapting to the

. . .
ing to the obstacles confronting them on frontier Army posts? Within the context of this question, attitudes toward expected scripted gender behavior were defined operationally as (1) rejected scripted passivity and deference in social behavior, or (2) accepted scripted passivity and deference in social behavior (Bem, 1981). Patricia Stallard (1991) found that wives of U.S. Army officers who accompanied their husbands to frontier Army posts lived lives of what she termed as "glittering misery" (p. 7) if the adhered to the expected codes of feminine behavior that prevailed in the United States in the late-nineteenth century with respect to women in the privileged classes. In contrast, those wives who shunned expected behaviors when conditions warranted fared much better. Michel Nacy (2000) supported these findings in her study. The literature reviewed supports the thesis that adherence to social expectations and customs prevailing in safe and privileged societies by U.S. Army officers' wives when in the extraordinary environments of frontier Army posts in the American west was associated with failures to thrive in such conditions. Proactive behavior when conditions warranted led to improved social conditions. Summary of Chap
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Approximate Word count = 1218
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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