Letter written by an Army surgeon stationed at Fort Huachuca in the Arizona Territory. The letter is addressed to a fellow doctor, possibly a medical school classmate, and provides insight into the author's experiences at the fort.
Letter from miner Samuel McCleave to his wife Emma, written from Virginia City, Nevada in October of 1893. McCleave discusses his struggle to remain in contact with his wife and the worsening conditions at the mine.
Letters written by miner Samuel McCleave (1854-?) to his wife, Emma (1871-?). The letters, written in 1893 and 1894, reveal McCleave’s discontent with his situation as a wandering miner, which he describes as “getting worse every day.” They also reveal his desperation to remain in contact with his wife, telling her “I have been fretting so much about you that I could not eat nor sleep”. The letters provide insight into McCleave’s struggles as a miner looking for work.
Letter from miner Samuel McCleave to his wife Emma, written from Hot Springs, Arkansas in May of 1894. McCleave describes his extreme anxiety about Emma's lack of communication.
Letter written by Van Swearingen to Captain Josiah Swearingen of Berkeley County, Virginia, dated March 17, 1791. The author describes a raid against indigenous people, led by Samuel Brady, in retaliation for the capture and killing of settlers. He details the aftermath of the raid and the expectation of upcoming battles. The second half of the letter also discusses Van Swearingen’s financial
This letter was written in 1849 by a forty-niner in St. Louis, one William H. Morse, to a friend back home in New England. He’s been in St. Louis for three weeks, the last stop on the frontier, as he prepares to embark on a journey westward on the overland trail, making his way to California in search of gold. He describes his 35 day trip thus far, from an unnamed town in the northeast, south
This narrative was written by Edward Thomas Bruckner, a mate aboard the steamer Republic, on January 15, 1910. In it, he details the breaking of the 1910 ice gorge at St. Louis. The damage caused by this event would forever reshape river commerce on the Mississippi. Entire fleets were destroyed and companies collapsed, paving the way for new names in the river trade.
Two letters written by Samuel Rothgeb to his parents in 1847. Rothgeb was a young man just off the farm when he took up a position as a merchant and cook aboard a flatboat plying the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers at the twilight of the flatboat age. His letters chronicle storms, river trade, daily rafting life, and more.
This letter to an unnamed recipient provides a remarkable window into the mind and soul of this American legend. The letter captures Robert Fulton’s frustration and bitterness at having to compete for recognition of his monumental achievements. He argues passionately that he alone can claim he invented steamboats and he provides proof by expounding upon his superior familiarity with the
Letter written by Charles H. Smith, an Army Paymaster in the Territory of Florida. Writing from St. Augustine in East Florida, Smith discusses the status of payments to both regular and volunteer troops. He also responds to a letter from Florida territorial governor Richard K. Call. The last page of the letter, which bears an address to Nathaniel Towson, the Paymaster-General of the United States
This letter, dated April 21, 1852, was written by former Philadelphia resident Samuel N. Patton. Writing to a friend from Rich Gulch in Calaveras County, Patton describes his experience moving to California to be a miner, traveling through the boomtown of San Francisco and the varying landscape of the region. He also describes meetings with friends and his views on gold fever. The letter offers a
Letter written by John Brown of Peoria, Illinois to his parents in Morris County, New Jersey. The letter describes plans for possible fur trapping expeditions in the Rocky Mountains and the “Winnebago swamps”. Brown describes the necessary equipment for this kind of expedition and extends an invitation to his friend William Laurence to join the group. He also discusses the rapidly increasing