Kin Saito letter to Alvin Thompson Smith

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  Samuel D. Snowden letter to Alvin T. Smith

  Manuscripts

  In this letter, Snowden asks Alvin Smith to please take care of certain affairs for him in Oregon, chiefly concerning land claims, while Snowden is in California. He also writes of how Oregon men are faring in the quest for gold around Sutter's Fort.

  mssHM 16377

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  Alpheus B. Thompson letters to Timothy Wolcott

  Manuscripts

  These three letters were written by Alpheus Thompson to Timothy Wolcott during 1856 and 1857. In HM 18997, written 1856, September 6, from Santa Barbara, Thompson thanks Wolcott for looking after his son, Francis. In HM 18998 (dated 1857, June 2), Thompson writes of the advantageous opportunities in San Francisco in the real estate market, and asks Wolcott to look after Francis "for a few months longer." He also includes business details regarding property and other assets. The final letter in this series was written in San José, California, on June 17, 1857 (HM 18999), and Thompson asks if Wolcott would take Francis under his charge, and to "provide him with suitable Clothing and Board."

  mssHM 18997-18999

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  Israel N. Prince letters to Elizabeth E. Hodsdon

  Manuscripts

  Series of letters written by Israel N. Prince to his sister Elizabeth E. Hodsdon in Falmouth, Maine. Prince's first letter traces his journey by boat from Boston to Charleston in 1850. The next several letters provide a detailed look at the hardships of frontier life in the Nebraska Territory, where Prince lives humbly ("our dogs have a more comfortable house," he writes), holds low a low opinion of many of his neighbors ("the character [of frontier people] is not what I could wish it might be," he laments), works briefly on the Burlington Railroad (which ended with "considerable loss"), and is disinterested in in the California and Kansas "excitement," although he later thought about moving to California or Oregon. Prince also urges Elizabeth and her family to come west, answers her questions about when he will return home by saying "when I came into the western country it was my determination not to go back till I had done something," writes of his many uncertainties ("I seem to myself to be peculiar in some respects," he noted, "At times I hardly know what to make of myself"), and shamefully admits his failures ("I hated to tell you that I was too poor to own a farm of any description"). Beginning in 1861 the letters describe "the great war feeling around" and Prince's enlistment in Company "C" of the 1st Nebraska Volunteers in June 1861. He was initially stationed at Pilot Knob, Missouri, and guarded bridges on the Iron Mountain Railroad, and writes of a difficult march to Springfield and an enemy raid at Georgetown, Missouri. Most of his time was spent near the Tennessee/Mississippi border between Savannah and Danville. Prince writes of his participation in the Battle of Shiloh and of the Army of Southeastern Missouri, which in early 1863 had just finished "one of the hardest campaigns of the war" (probably part of Grant's Central Mississippi Campaign). He alludes to "daily skirmishes," although also notes that his sister probably knows better than he what is happening since he has little access to newspapers or outside information. In addition to chronicling the movements of his regiment, Prince outlines the difficulties of army life, including long "forced marches," the shortness of supplies, his many illnesses, the possibility of his death, and the unpopularity of the men in command. In his last letter Prince writes that there is little hope for a promotion since "I don't believe I am a great favorite with some of the officers." Specific references are made to General John Davidson, Secretary of War Simon Cameron, General John C. Frémont, and General Justus McKinstry.

  mssHM 75851-75872