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...

Overview These two letters to Wendell Phillips Garrison, editor of The Nation, were written by U.S. Army surgeon Stevens G. Cowdrey while posted at Fort Harker, Kansas and Fort Gibson in Indian Territory (later the state of Oklahoma). In his 1870 letter from Fort Harker, Cowdrey describes his anticipation of hunting wild game as well as Native Americans in the company of Major Joseph Tilford's 7th Cavalry. He also describes the commonplace violence among Ellsworth,...

Overview This photocopy is of a July 1, 1867 letter from merchant Thomas Dougherty Heed, written from Fort Harker, Kansas, a military post along the Santa Fe Trail in Ellsworth County. Heed, a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, addresses his 3-page letter to his sister, Susanna Mercy Heed of Bucks County, describing the traffic on the Santa Fe Trail, negative interactions with Native Americans, buffalo herds, and the local gambling and violence. Also included in the collection is a photocopy of an...