Letters & Private Correspondence

Private letters — recovered correspondence — written testimony from the frontier archive

Witness & Conflict

Witness Account — 1864

Captain Silas Soule

He ordered his men not to fire. He watched anyway. He wrote it down. He was murdered four months after his testimony was submitted.

Private Correspondence — 1885

Letter Written After Beaver Creek

Anonymous Militiaman

He wrote to his brother the week after the engagement. He did not describe what he had done. He described what he had seen done. The letter was never sent.

Science & Field Notes

Scientific Letter — 1887

A Letter Concerning Venom

Henry Sewall — Denver, Colorado

He gave them rattlesnake venom in doses too small to kill. Then larger. Then larger still. One pigeon survived a dose that would have stopped a man's heart. He wrote it down and sent the letter. The Nobel went to someone else fourteen years later.

Private Letter — 1893

Letter from an Arkansas Valley Field Hand

Anonymous, submitted c. 1913

He found a pattern in the wheat north of Pueblo that he could not name. He kept the letter for twenty years. When he finally sent it, he described walking the shape: arc — spur east — return.

Object & Memory

Object Memoir — 1894

Letter from a Rider

Anonymous, submitted 1921

He bought a saddle from a man who seemed relieved to be rid of it. The stirrups were already set to his length. The seat already knew how he sat. The marks on the left fender were not decorative.