Amos F. Garrison II to Harriet F. Kirby, 12 September 1861
Sante Fe New Mexico
9 o’clock in the eve Sept 12th/61
Dear Sister
We arrived here to-day
at 2 o’clock, in one of the roughest citys
in the country, and over the roughest
road to get to it. I had no sleep last
night except what four of us could
get riding in a little coach about as
large as one of those little rockaways that
John generally gets to go to Swedesboro in
And in fact for four nights out of
the thirteen I have rode all night in them
and the other nine nights I have slept out on the
prarie, a pair of blankets for a bed, and
my overcoat for a pillow. To night will
be the first night I have had my clothes
off or have slept in a bed with the exception
of once for three weeks. Living on fat bacon
and hard bread . Once in three or four days
we would get a little buffalo or deer meat.
Never felt better in my life . I haven’t
seen a house, with the exception of two or three
more than one story high, and they made out
of logs or sun dried clay for two weeks.
The houses are adobe houses
When we left St. Louis we packed up the
things we did not need much and left them
in the baggage room of the Planters House.
Benj. Sticking proprietor till called for
they was not much in mine.
I suppose we will commence
work immediately, and as I have not
minded writing two or three times with
out an answer, you must return the
compliment. Give me the general news
of the place. Tell Nellie and Katie
they must make haste and learn to
write so they can write to me.
I would not have missed this trip
for a good deal it is well worth a
years lifetime what little I have seen,
but there is no place that is equal
to Salem in ease and enjoyment
Give my love to all the folks. tell
them I would be glad to hear from them
at any time. I suppose you have
received two letters and a paper from me.
we sent about a dozen papers from St. Louis
to all the folks. I have not felt any
of that disease called homesick yet, and I
don’t think I shall ever be sick in this
climate. It is bedtime now. I shall have
to quit. To Mrs Kirby From Your Brother
A.J.Garrison
N.B. The principal part of the inhab-
itants of this city is Mexicans of the
lowest and most treacherous kind, and the
rest of the citizens with the exception of
a few merchants and the army are regular
sharpers and gamblers. I haven’t the least
doubt-but-what-the average is from ten to
twenty thousand dollars change hands daily
between them.
Every American and a great
many Mexicans carry pistols and knives very
conspicuously, the principal thing in a quar-
rel is the man that shoots first.
There is a place 25 miles from here
where Montezuma made his quarters. there is
an old Jesuit church there over three hun-
dred years old, where for a long while they
kept burning the perpetual fire, expecting
him to come back again.
Good Bye
Your Brother
A.J.Garrison
8 dimes make a dollar
with every body here.
DATABASE CONTENT
| (557) | DL0068.002 | 14 | Letters | 1861-09-12 |
Letter from Captain Amos F. Garrison, United States Volunteers Commissary Department, Santa Fe, New Mexico, September 12, 1861, to his Sister
Tags: Food, Homesickness
People - Records: 2
Places - Records: 1
- (183) [origination] ~ Santa Fe, Santa Fe County, New Mexico
SOURCES
Amos F. Garrison II to Harriet F. Kirby, 12 September 1861, DL0068.002
