Kenneth Spencer Research Library Archival Collections

Overview

A "Physician's Daily Pocket Record" notebook, used as a diary by Dr. Mahlon Bailey while he was on Army duty. Bailey served as surgeon during the six-month campaign of the N19th Regiment, Kansas Cavalry Volunteers, which neutralized threats to Euro-American Plains settlers caused by Native American raiding parties in 1868. Also in the collection is a photo of Dr. Bailey.

Overview This 8-page letter from J. M. Forshee, a Northern Pacific Railroad operator at Fort Harker, Kansas is written to his friend Jim, "alias Bill," on August 11 [circa 1867], approximately two weeks after Forshee's arrival at the fort. Forshee describes his previous grueling work schedule while at Junction City, the state of the cholera threat at the fort, the extent of the railroad track and its use as far west as Ellsworth, "the Indian threat," and the anticipated arrival of Indian...