Post Civil War Letters From Cheyenne Provides Great Content On Cavalry, Native Americans, Chinese Settlers, Etc. "The Age Of Improvement Is Fast Developing Itself."

ESB [INITIALS OF LETTER WRITER]

Publication: Letter written by ESB, 1870, Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory

A 4" x 6" four-page autograph letter signed "ESB" and addressed to "Dear Cousin Sue: Yours of a very recent date had reached me in perfect safety with only eight-days on the road. It is wonderful to see with what rapidity and dispatch the mail is sent to all parts of the world and more especily (sic) on this continent. The other day I received a letter from Memphis Tenn in four days I never heard of that. But the age of improvement is fast developing itself ... We came very near having a riot here among the Chinese. They got hostile and was agoing (sic) to clean the place out - but their better judgement prevented them. The City authorities are trying to persuade them to go farther East once there they will get brought down a peg or two! I expect to leave Cheyenne between now and the first of June for the Ogallola Reservation on business with that Tribe there will be about four Companies of Cavalry go (sic) on the expedition and if the Indians will not enter into a treaty of Peace with the Government the soldiers intend to fight them and drive them into the Mountains and keep them there until they will come to terms ... I am afraid that Northern New York has seen me for the last time as I am somewhat attached to this country and am getting old, would you think that I am thirty years of age ..." The foregoing excerpts from a slightly longer letter reveal the attitudes of a Western settler in the years after the Civil War concerning major technological advances. Thanks to the reach of the Union Pacific Railroad, Cheyenne became the capital and largest city of Wyoming Territory which was established in 1869. From the letter we learn of the biases of the times toward Chinese immigrants and Native Americans. The letter is in very good condition with minor wear to the extremities.

Inventory Number: 52324