Life Along Suds Row

Life Along Suds Row. Fort Union National Monument. , There were few chances for family life for any enlisted man in the United States Army on the frontier. Regulations did not allow new recruits to have a wife or child. No soldier could marry without the permission of his commanding officer. That permission was seldom given , unless the future wife was willing to work for the Army as a laundress., On this side of the street you see the remnants of eleven 18-by-20-foot apartments. Married sergeants, corporals, and privates lived in these one-room homes with their wives and children. A second set of enlisted quarters sat on the next block. Because these wives were carried on the roster as laundresses, their homes were known as “Suds Row.”, Laundresses are allowed for each company and… are entitled to the same quarters, fuel, and rations as a soldier, and the established pay for the washing they may do for soldiers and officers. , Customs of the Service for Non-Commissioned Officers and Soldiers, 1865, Army laundresses came from all walks of life. Like the soldiers of the frontier Army, many came from outside the United States , Germany, Mexico, Ireland and England. Each laundress washed clothes for about 19 soldiers.