(Authentic copies of letters written by John Williams Gunnison. Typed by his grand-daughter Genevieve Delany O’Neill. Written in 1832.)
Letter #1
A few words to my respected Mother
With the business of the day, which is pure vexation to the mind, when the evening is far spent with its imperious duties — when these are past and when the busy wheels of time are fast approaching midnight, what, then, at such a time and under such circumstances can you expect from my pen. When, then, the stillness of the night reminds me of balmy sleep, then the thought of her who watched even as such a time often steals over & infuses itself into the mind — I say of her who guarded my infantile days and nourished them for youth and for manhood, that then they might secure to themselves their own support. Conscious am I how great must be the solicitude of others for their offspring, yet no doubt it is even greater than I imagine. The various conditions in which society is seen, the ever varying shift of fortune, the multitude of evils to which youth are exposed, the many vices which are likely to entice and draw them away from the path of virtue, — all those serve to awaken a lively emotion in the breast of the sensitive, fond and affectionate mother. Yea, well when reflection teaches me the past events which with all their deeds are often called up in memory’s domain, and imagination reflects from her burnished mirror their instructive image, then the sense of gratitude which is due to mine for all her kind, officious care, is seen to require a grateful return whenever opportunity shall present the occasion for the exercise. Distance and the observance of the actions of others, the care on the one hand and return on the other among these of connection with ourselves, will more effectually put one in mind of the relation in which they are placed and what should be their manner of acting than one is apt to consider while under maternal instruction. When, therefore, you think on me, remember, too, oftentimes the thought is returned by corresponding feeling in the wish of your happiness and comfort. Whatever may be the kindness of others, yet the home fireside often tells me in thought the many pleasant hours that have been enjoyed there. Though the offer of making a home in a friendly family is given, yet it can never be precisely the same to me.
A half month of my school is gone. Have got along tolerably well, but could not before I came have believed they were of such a mould in this place. Bred up in idleness and accustomed to acquire a boldness or sauciness not creditable to youth.
Tell Brother, if he would be respected, he must be good-mannered and courteous.
With due respect and love to you all I subscribe most affectionately.
J. W. Gunnison
Letter #2
(The following was written when Gunnison, who was a second lieutenant recently returned from West Point to head a convoy of munitions to Florida, surveying its then mostly unknown creeks and rivers. It was dangerous work, as he was almost continually under fire and attack from the Seminoles. Indeed, but a short time previous to this particular survey the Dade massacre had occurred. Later removed to the Topographic Corps of Engineers.)
St. Mary’s, Ga. Mar. 1, 1841
My Dear Sis-
A very agreeable treat was your letter received on 1st of ultimo, and tardy have I been to acknowledge my obligations. Why it is I know not, but very much do I neglect or procrastiante my duties to friendship and affectionate regards; reading, business and society interfere at one time, and languer(sic), restlessness and melancholy unfit at another. Among all, find the excuse and believe I should have been more punctual this year were it not you have three friends, brothers.
Well then, not to omit them, — they are well, though the Captain is not so portly as last year and Joseph is improving rapidly in science and will shortly be ready to begin the Latin, a smattering of which will be necessary.
We should enjoy ourselves much in a decent part of the world — but in such a place as this it requires more than human forebearance to keep in right good humour. There is a great contrast between places some are pleasant to visit but detestable as a residence. On the contrary a traveller may find no attractions where the inhabitants discover a paradise. So here:- to a person who would spend a winter for health or to escape six feet of snow & ice, with plenty of money to spend and interfere with no profession or trade, St. M. presents a choice spot. But woe to the wight who must stay here. Heaven opens a prospect soon of relieving me from it. The time of remaining here will be regulated by the money given us by Congress. Should they be sparing, you will see some of us back early in the year.
Came from the U. S. Bridge boat yesterday — thirty miles in a small boat with six Negroes for oarsmen. The wind blew a gale and carried away my boat mast and for twenty miles we buffetted the waves and drove through the spray that thoroughly drenched the boys & did not omit to favor me with an occasional shower bath. The scene was sublime oftentimes; for the water was covered with foam and the dashing wave & soaring wind made the sublimity. A task, however, is that trip not often desired, & it makes one look like a Seminole. At least it makes me a red man.
My thanks are sent to my dear mother for her good advice & good wishes. Hope she will be able to write herself hereafter; but you will do me a kindness to write when she is not. I feel anxious on account of her precarious health.
That is a good idea to improve your evenings in that debating and writing society. At all times opportunities present to gain intellectual ornaments. For whom would a true gentlman & good man look for a companion for life? He would not hesitate between a beauty with an empty head but smiling face and a gist of accomplished manner and well trained mind. One that could entertain his guests, preside at his table and assist at all times with a mature judgment in matter of business that admit of consultation. My Sisters will be found of the latter class, whatever natural grace and comeliness nature has endowed on them, and their choice will then be likely to be of those worthy of their merits. You tell me not to marry until I can live with my wife. “We know not what fate has in store.” But what kind of a lady would you like for a sister? It is more of an object for girls than officers of the army to marry, but my dear Sister, never marry unless you love the gentleman. And when once satisfied of his sincerity that offers, put it not to too hard proofs through caprice or vanity. I write sadly, for so I feel. Adieu. Give my love to all the family, – & remember me to all relatives and friends.
Yr. affectionate broth. John W. G. — Miss A. M. Gunnison
Letter #3
(After writing the above letter, five years passed and meanwhile Lieutenant Gunnison had married one of St. Mary’s belles, Martha Delany, a petite, golden-haired Miss of sixteen who in features was a miniature of George Washington. A hot dispute between Canada and the United States was now pending. The Treaty of Utrecht in 1712 had provided for a running line between the French and English provinces of North America, but the question was still unsettled. Great Britain seemed unwilling to make a reasonable compromise and the United States favored making a claim for the entire territory up to 54o40′. The Democratic platform of 1844, backed by President Polk in 1845, strongly supported this view. However, the United States government finally agreed to a settlement of 49o degrees as the line of boundary, as it is today. During this controversy Lieutenant Gunnnison was stationed at Grand Haven, Michigan, ready to be called to the colors at any moment, and while there, he wrote his wife.)
Grand Haven, Mich
April 22o – 1846
My dearest Love
Fearing that I may not arrive at Milwaukee to meet the mail for Saturday, I will send yu a hasty note this morning to let your mind have the comfortable thought that I am well & safe thus far; for after all you do worry more than myslf, I know, though you lecture ever so much on being low-spirited. Yesterday Sister came down with me and I found your letter of the 3o March which read just as happily as if I had not received four of later date. And, when I get to M., I shall expect another great treat. You are becoming an excellent letter writer, the length & breadth have so much improved and the matter always “goes to the very spot.”
I am hoping to have the requisite information at Milwaukee to enable me to say, “Come, my Love.” At any rate I shall then very likely say, “Come down to Savannah and wait while Mother goes to St. Mary’s.” Until the matter is settled whether we are to have war for the Oregon, I should be cautious, I think, about buying any more negroes.
Bob (Peaslee) writes that he is to have two more Southerns to help bear the jibes of the Yankee boys. He thinks more prejudice exists in the North than in the South. What a pity that such a feeling should be! Breakfast is ready, so goodbye.
Today I expect to sail over the lake & if the usual luck attends shall cross in one night. It often awakens gratitude in my heart to think of the entire good fortune which has always attended my journeys and trips which have not been few or short. ****
Hoping soon to meet and praying for your welfare ever, I remain
Yr. own J.W.G.
Letter #4
(Three years later, at the age of thirty-seven, we find Lieutenant Gunnison badly broken in health, but still faithful to the country which he loved. He had been commissioned to enter the first leg of his surveys that finally led to the construction of the Union Pacific. He is now beyond Fort Kearney and is out in the plains, headed for the Utah territory, an astronomer and topographer of his corps, and writes:)
Camp Fourth June 2, 1849
My Dear Wife
We are thus far along in number of camps which might indicate great distance in our way toward the final point; but we are only a little over twenty (23) ms. from the Fort. The first day (Thursday) we started, which is always a great thing, and made six miles. Yesterday we came above ten and expected to have made a pretty great display on this. But ah, no! At noon, just after crossing this little creek, tributary to the Missouri, the guide came up with the unwelcome, though in a train not unusual, news of a break in one of the wagons and so here we are to repair damages and shall remain over till Monday morning. In hopes that some express may be coming in from above, I go to work in order to have the pleasure of relieving your mind of apprehension of our progress and my present safety. By the blessing of God I have improved since leaving the river (Missouri) and am now quite active & smart in comparison with the two or three days before getting away. The Dr. has kept me on such thin diet that we ought not expect much strength. He is a different nurse than you and Mrs. Edder. He kept me to the arrowroot for several days, then allowed the yolk of a soft shelled egg with it, and yesterday we obtained from our traveling friends a paper of farina to vary the sage & at dinner today I took out, Epicure-like, the yolks of two eggs stirred in, making a very good pudding. We tried hard to kill some birds, but none would stand shooting. Rather annoying to the Dr. who fired upon a quail which I had seen & drove up. What the afternoon may bring in is uncertain. No doubt some small game will be found, though on this open prairie there seems a scarcity. I ride nearly all the time in the spring carriage which is about the easiest one I ever tried, particularly as the boxes are placed to make a bed, & on this a mattress & my bed with the chronometers are my head, & I can sit up or lie down at pleasure. At the bad places we take out the time-keepers and then I mount John’s (Bellows) mule & he takes the babies, which by the way, are ruined or nearly so already. Thus, keeping out of the sun and nursed up, having three hours at noon rest and travelling, you see that I am in the fairest way possible for an invalid. In fact, I should b very apprehensive in undertaking a journey back to Detroit, even with John at present, and consider the best chance of recovery in going ahead. The weather which has been bad, indeed, appears settled now, and all looks bright and cheering. My spirits rise with the escape of fever and return of health and, as the periods are fourteen days, by proper precautions we hope to prevent the next and then, having such a great change of air, may soon get free altogether. Even last year the journey from the Rapids was useful. Now with only comparatively slight attacks and ten times the comfort in travelling, may we not reasonably expect the best results? By favor of Heaven I think so. Therefore, console yourself of the providential nature of this duty &, if it prove the eradication of the seeds planted in the Maumee region, of these chills & fevers, then a year or even two in the mountains & on the waters of the Salt Lake would be most profitably spent. And it is an expedition of great interest and such an one, after being identified with, as I should like to see through. And, as it has a specified time, we can calculate on the time of the end.
Sunday June 3o 1849
We have a bright, but warm, day and a day of Rest. Our camp is on the bank of a little stream and the men at leisure are angling for such small fish as these streams float, from a finger’s length downwards to the capacity of their smallest hooks. I am passing the day in my tent & shall stir out but little until my bird broth is made and the sun descends further. Have read the morning service, in order to do my duty, and hoped to be engaged in the same delightful theme of prayer & praise as yourself and others at the same time, thereby striking the sympathetic chord in one of the ways comprehended in that article of our creed “communion of saints.” But the difference of a tent where you are liable to be broken in upon every moment & the stillness & decorum of your church in Detroit, is great — very great, let me assure you.
The wind is blowing a gale over our heads, but we feel it lightly, being in a valley between the high rolling ridges of a vast prairie. Here we see the prairie already in its vastness. It is a deep green far as the eye can reach and, when you look at it close at hand, find it blooming with its thousand flowers. The prevailing color is red or pink, and when riding in the carriages, they looked like roses for all the world. The bunches are about the size of that flower, composed of several small ones of the size of a pink. The white flowers are more scattered and less obtrusive, very modest and retiring. Out botanist is already pressing his specimens and shows the zeal of a florist in his searches of the rare & beautiful. Today we have found another piece of bad luck, an instrument for determining heights by boiling water was found broken. But we can partially supply its place, though not in its original perfection. Everything of the kind is a great loss to us, for there are no New Yorks & Baltimores where we are going, at which to replace them. The mate expected to come up with us soon, and we hope he will come today, particularly as he has two animals back which are needed upon his teams, and then we might expect to travel faster. It is well not to hurry at first, and thus far we have not but son all will get accustomed to their gear and we must make 25 miles a day. And, though it carries me further & further from home & its charms, it is the way of returning there the soonest. For 75 miles the road is said to be bad this third has proved the saying true. When we get to the plains, then it will be smooth as Jefferson Avenue.
Yours of the 10th May was recd. the day we started & I was pleased to hear the check was safe with you.
No express coming up, I keep my letter open to write a last word at the “closing of the mail”. Oh that we were together today and in delightful play with dearest children! May God bless you all.
Letter #5
(A year later, under Captain Howard Stansbury a second time, Lieutenant Gunnison resumed the survey which now took him beyond the Great Divide. At this date Salt Lake City was already laid out upon a magnificent scale, being four miles in length and three wide, its streets placed at right angles with sidewalks twenty feet broad. it was planned that every house was to set back twenty feet and each building lot was to contain an acre and a quarter of ground Shrubbery and trees were to adorn all vacant spaces. The opening of spring enabled the corps to carry on their work with great energy, all being eager to complete the survey before autumn. Gunnison, whose health was now restored, was detailed to survey the eastern shore of the Great Salt Lake, and that he enjoyed the work we can glean from the following letter as well as from his “History of the Mormons”, published by Lipincott in 1852.)
Great Salt Lake City, March 1st 1850
My dear Martha
Another 1st has come round and I have to continue my quota without the prospect of sending off for some weeks yet. Next Monday was fixed upon to start a mail in company with some persons going east on business, and I went over to Tuille Valley on Tuesday last to arrange for mules at the head & send in the men for that purpose. But that night a furious snow storm came on and in the morning I found a huge pile of snow alongside of my head, which had blown through the curtains of the wagon in which I slept that night. And that day (Wednesday) we rode about 17 miles (horseback on mules) to visit a ravine in Tuille Valley mtns. for timber. And after the first half hour it snowed so thickly most of the time that we could hardly see a few yards ahead. We got back a night & my companion & myself took another night’s lodging in the wagon at the “herd house” and yesterday returned to town dragging heavily through still mud till long after dark tired, cold and hungry. Today I’ve felt pretty well down in the mouth & my companion, I learn, is laid up at home with his two wives to nurse him. He is the Assistant Surveyor. But this snow knocks the expedition in the head, and we learn further that there is eight feet of snow in Weber River Canyon still, which bare all egress, and the snow is daily accumulating.
But early this last month I was greatly delighted to get three letters from you, down to 10th September, just before your starting for Valmaria Grand Rapids. I am hopping anxious to receive word how you sped in your move; for it was a tremendous undertaking & I’m fearful you did not get through without much more trouble & expense than you anticipated. It is with great pleasure to hear that all is well. And now don’t let any disappointment make you dislike the Rapids. It was my intention to render that place far more lively & worthy of one I love & cherish at least as myself. And, having conceived a most fervid affection for Valmaria & formed a mental picture of that it can be made for beauty’s eye, I am desirous you shall not have any prejudices against it. It gave me heartfelt gratitude to our Heavenly Father to hear of your good health & that of our beloved children, though the cough of the “fat boy” is not very consoling; but he must take his turn at whooping, as the Colonel said his father must do on frontier service. And a-plenty of whooping we have among the Indians here.
A party in the Utah Valley above were so bold as to steal cattle from us last fall & this winter they troubled the colony of Mormons there to such a degree that forebearance was pushed to the test & they ordered out 160 men and pounced down upon the red brethren in a savage manner and whipt them unmercifully, killed about thirty & drove the balance into the mountains where many are perishing with the measles. They brought in squaws & children which are placed in families as servants, to make white people of them. One old woman went off the other night with her new petticoats & some knives. The old ones will decamp when warm weather comes round, no doubt. They may make something of the children. One bad thing occurred during the week’s war. The militia managed to cut off several squaws & children who were flying from their wigwams, & the men were beyond on the sides of a mountain within call. They were induced to come in on the assurance of the white men being friendly to them, and the warriors & women were kept under guard that night & in the morning all disarmed & the male Indians were all shot. But the thievish rascals have been as thoroughly trounced and the measles have used up so large a number that we shall probably have no annoyance from the few scattered & frightened ones left. This band, which has been as fully thrashed & nearly exterminated, has been called the worst Indians & hardest fighters in the mountains. And, as the whole country of natives have suffered from the measles, we hope that they will be peaceable for a few seasons. It is astonishing what infatuation has seized on the race of red men. They are not only at war with each other as tribe against tribe, but bands of the same tribe are fighting and destroying one another. It is a doomed race, and following the law promulgated by God, that a people adhering to murderous, idolatrous practices shall be extinguished.
The standard of morality is not high among the mountaineer white traders. Each has his squaw wife to live with her while it suits his fancy. The mother of an Indian girl sells her for a wife for a stipulated time, when she is at liberty to renew the contract or go away. These and the like practices influence those who ought to be gentlemen, and our forts in the Indian territory witness to the depravity of many connected with the army. A few days since the officer who joined us from Fort Hall left for that post, and today word is brought us the he has married a young woman sixty miles from here, who has been living with her father a few months past, but who has a husband living on the Missouri river. For the credit of the army & for human nature, may it prove an untrue tail (sic). Some things happen in this polygamy loving community which would astonish the people in the states. A man was digging the gold mines & his two wives were left here. He is of little account in point of character & the women procured a dispensation & married the brother of the President. The gold digger returned with some of the “yellow” and the fickle women were redispensationed back to the supposed rich fellow. His money turns out small & what will next be done we don’t know. Should you not like to come over to this new faith and give me a few adjutant wives? The first one holds priority of power, and I am willing to stipulate for your supremacy!! I shall have some curious notes to make up hereafter, if I live, and certainly should the whole state of domestic life among the Mormons be pictured to the enlightened East, there would be many disbelievers in the story. How excellent is our common faith in the church which, once given us as a perfect rule of action by the bounder of Christianity, does not allow of the addition man-made creeds, to suit either the fancies of a morbid imagination or to concede under religious sanctions the indulgence of an inordinate lust & passion. The influence of polygamy in degrading the female sex is very perceptible thus early. And the straining of the prerogative of man as “the head of the woman” will doubtless end in making her a slave or blowing up the whole system.
Our prospects are pretty good for obtaining men for the survey, though the gold fever rages extensively. My personal relations are of the most pleasant kind at present, such as you refer to; for proper apologies & explanations have been made to me. My bed is now transferred to the room of Capt. S., and the prospect is that we shall pull strong together in finishing up this work. ***
Now that I am fat and hearty, you would probably find me a more goodnatured (sic) boy than when under the influence of those depressing fevers last year. God bless you all and make you kind neighbors & a happy people. Angels guard you & so farewell another month.
Your own J. S. G.
Letter #6
(This first part of the survey ended, Lieutenant Gunnison left for home August 28, taking a southern course from Fort Bridger — Captain Stansbury returning by the regular trail — to ascertain the practicability of a more direct route to the Atlantic. He reached Fort Leavenworth on the sixth of November, and thence hastened east to greet his family of four; for, besides his wife, he had now three children — Maria, Elizabeth and Delony, an infant son. Shortly after his home-coming, he was ordered by the head of the Topographical Corps. Colonal Abert in Washington, to make a survey of the Great Lakes and, stationing his family at Green Bay, to be as near them as possible, he went up into the wilds of Northern Wisconsin. A letter penned by him at this period gives a very interesting description of the region at that date:)
Somewhere in the woods
10 miles from last Date
Sunday June 13th 1851
Martha
The old Puritans were right when they adopted the notion that nothing prospers on Sunday, except works of charity & necessity. This morning was cloudy, like several that preceded it; but, unlike them, was followed by rain. We took our breakfast at the fork, as the Frenchmen express it, and before the last canoe had left the landing, it poured torrents, which drove us to land again, and we shall not start if it clears off fair. Thus much for a revenge which is not likely to be gratified. Could this be called a “work of necessity”? Undoubtedly not; for the world will still stand as firm on the Turtle’s back of the Brahmin, or roll on its axis as regularly, according to modern vulgar opinion, whether our survey be done one day sooner or later. But it may keep me away from mine — mine in heart & soul — one day more by losing labor here, and that makes me so much of regret. Yet I’m no advocate for Sabbath labor and, and I proposed (to myself) writing you every one, even if the letters were not sent. Yesterday we had a laborious portage of canoes & lading for two miles around falls & rapids. The work that these French voyageurs can endure is truly surprising. They carry their loads with a strap across the forehead, the bundle on the back. Usually there are three loads to transport with the canoes, and such a portage as our last requires six miles of travel, of course. I measured this & one before which is so much done on the business. From this trial I find my party very inefficient. What can be made of them is to be seen.
Let me say that there are beauties of nature to be seen in this region. We passed two falls yesterday that are really great curiosities and would have their thousands of admirers every year were they near any frequented or settled parts of the country. Not quite so grand & sublime as Niagara; but they chain the attention equally strong by the natural love of the romantic and beautiful. Romantic surely may we call th little Quineseck Falls. The Menomone, a large river, is precipitated over a ledge into a chasm below, where the waters, rebounding, seem to take another leap down the rocks into the boiling basin beneath. On one side a part of the river steals along the side of the channel for a distance and then leaps wildly into the cauldron below, and the appearance is like Niagara from the table rock on the Canada shore, but much smaller. I anticipate seeing many rainbows on the return; for the mists rise high in the air and almost obscure the view of the torrent at a short distance from it. At Big Quineseck Falls the appearance is quite different. The river stumbles about forty feet nearly perpendicularly into a beautiful basin, which is very deep and agitated by the fall, like the sea, the waves beating hard against the rocky shores.
The rose (single rose) grows wild on the banks, and many a bouquet have I selected for your admiration; but, alas that you could not see them! Yesterday I put in my bosom a beautiful rosebud to keep for my next letter. It had withered and dried before we came to camp, and today there are none to be found on this densely wooded bluff.
My dear wife, there is a solitude here, save the sound of the wind and the hoarse laugh of the party, that seem a profanation of the place and the time. Here I feel alone, and never have a known what that expression meant so well as since we parted. Life is something more, something different from what it was a few months since to me. And amid the roaring Falls, the smoothly gliding river, the rustling leaves of the forest or the hurry & bustle of our little fleet of canoes, I feel there is one away, there is one wanting! – that Martha is not there. But God is everywhere & may He bless her with health.
Kindly yours J.W.G.
Letter #7
(But the yearning of his heart was to be gratified; for in April, 1852, he was granted a short furlough, the first in nine years. And he improved the opportunity by visiting his New Hampshire relatives, with his wife — the last visit he ever made them. At the close of his furlough, he was called to Washington and was occupied with reports and charts until winter. The letter below describes graphically his journey to the Capitol in January of that year.)
My dear Wife
This morning after a most severe time I came to this terminus of the journey which began two weeks ago tomorrow. It has been a worse than Rocky Mountain tour, over the Alleghanies in Pennsylvania. We were several days battling in snow drifts and driving the engines over the inclined planes, and I’ve been well paid for not taking warning advice at Detroit & crossing Canada to New York on the old line of travel. But, though sleeping in cars & in bar rooms on the floor, with my cloak for a bed, has given me a most awful cold & sore eyes, I’m thankful that it is no worse.
We have had some incidents for remembrance on the way and for the last two days till yesterday had an old West Pointer to chat with, and a lady member of Congress from Indiana who came to take care of her sick husband in this uncomfortable city helped to while away the time. The report is not near finished, nor have the maps arrived from the engineers yet. I saw the Colonel (Abert) just now and he says he wants me to finish with Stansbury as soon as possible & go back. The order said the same in effect; for a Green Bay map is wanted to make some show for the money expended on the Lakes. But I tell them that it will require more data than that on hand and don’t intend to labor for no purpose on the old notes any more.
We clinched up the planes on the Alleghanies and at night came to a new house, built for a summer resort where we found the great Kossuth & company. And I have seen him, the great man of the time And I wish you could see him and suite, also; for I should like to see its effect on your boundless enthusiasm. But my curiosity was greater to see Madame Kossuth, for she stands highest in my admiration. The whole affair was a farcical thing, and the big beards & mustachios gave universal disgust in the country towns. You cannot imagine the difference between the before and after of their visits. They live like “sixty” on the best of the land, at the expense of the towns that invite him to visit them. But Kossuth himself is very simple in his repasts & living, except cigars. But his train is an awful hard tail for the democracy I assure you. The cigar bill here was twenty-eight dollars a day. There are some Englishmen with mothers etc. who have attached themselves with eternal devotion to the fortunes of the “Hungry Patriot”, as the people begin to call him, and his three secretaries, two physicians & counts & countesses, all take fine times at the expense of the sympathizers and eat the best things & drink the finest wines that the country affords. The Countess Palsky took the sleigh with a bottle of Pale Sherry in hand & our congressional lady declared that she acted like one half drunk at least. A large crown collected to see the party set out, & the baskets of champaigne (sic) and luxuries which were loaded up, not for themselves to think of tasting, but at their expense for the “poor exiles”, caused many a remark not very flattering to the Hungarian cause, and the cavalcade departed without a single cheer or mark of approbation. If such shall be the effect at all places, the enthusiasm so suddenly blown up will collapse & the cause be defunct in six months. The South is universally cool, I find, and the expression all along from the mountain down is “humbug”! Kossuth has a fine expressive face, small person and tolerably graceful demeanor. Madame is slender; tall as your dear friend Mrs. C. (Campbell), but not half as handsome nor a tithe as pleasant a voice. Has several moles on her face, with a sad expression, which last is not to be wondered at; for her children are yet in Europe.
I am now at Capt. S’s. who is keeping house on a small scale, and Mrs. S. is mourning, or pretends to be very sorry, that there is no room in the little house that I can have ; for she promised to keep me if she ever kept house. We had a good dinner and I shall soon look up a place to stay in. I’m sorry there is no place to stow into; but, after looking over their house, it can’t be managed well at all.
My friend that I have spoken about is to break up next Monday but have piloted into their harbor for a day or two. So I’m badly off. Shall finish this hasty letter & go down to friend Burgess and see the lonely lasses and soon hope to have ore to write you of matter & things in full detail.
I remain
Yr. own
J.W.G.
Letter #8
(It was during 1852 that Gunnison was appointed Captain of the Corps of Topographical Engineers and received a commission to take command of the Central Pacific Railway survey. His route lay through the heart of the Indian country and in the spring of 1853 he started on his way again to the Mormon territory near the headwaters of the Rio del Norte. On June 4th he arrived at St. Louis where supplies and outfits for his party were purchased and arrangements made for an escort of mounted Riflemen. His party opened a new wagon road across the continent, up through the Wasatch range near Manti. The route had been pronounced impassible by men who knew the mountains, as it stretched for nearly seven hundred miles through an unbroken track of wilderness. Only pack mules and footmen had ever undertaken it. The route lay across five mountain ranges and a dry desert of seventy miles. On the trek Gunnison informed the chiefs and subchiefs of the different tribes who called at his tent that ‘the President had sent him to look for a good road by which his people who lived toward the rising sun might visit those who lived upon the great waters where it sets’. Little did he realize when he thus spoke that his own sun was setting as he approached farther into the West. The letter here given was his last.)
City of Manti Oct 18 1853
My Dear Wife
We have arrived in the vicinity of the Mormons & today I rode some twenty miles with three men to this settlement. We have been very fortunate & traversed 700 miles of new country & brought ourselves & teams through safely. We had rain just as we wanted it on the desert and a beautiful month since when we approached the last great mountain ranges.
I have to go back to find m camp in the morning & have hired two guides around to Utah from Sevier Lakes. This will take ten or twelve days, & then I shall send for my letters. There is a war between the Mormons & the Indians & parties of less than a dozen do not dare to travel. We did not know what a risk we have lately been running until coming here, for I have been riding carelessly in the mountains, hunting roads ahead, and other curious capers. But I made friends with an Utah Indian who has been with me for a week until Sunday, when he put back to his squaw & papooses, not daring to come near these people.
John came with me in order to get an express to Salt Lake City but I find it out of the question. A company is to start next week for the north & will take letters, so this note may go east by the 1st Nov. mail. Another is to start on the 10th & I hope to answer yours by that mail. But I thought it might be a satisfaction to learn our success in traversing the wilderness where it has been so long thought impassible that I would not let the chance, however feeble, go without writing. May the favor of Heaven attend me until the work is accomplished in like manner as heretofore!
It will be impossible to cross back this winter with the survey. I shall try to make my maps out to this point & be ready for Congress next summer with the balance. You must not feel too much disheartened at not visiting Washington next winter; but we will try to arrange it better at a future time. I have hurried hard to escape the awful tedium of this wintering in the mountains, as you know; but the route has been longer, harder & more laborious than anticipated.
In a few days I hope to write more fully. Give love to mother and kiss the dear children for me. And kind regards to friends. There is a crowd around me in a little shantee (sic) where I can hardly see to write, so excuse my hasty note.
Your own J.W.G.
Letter #9
(The sequel to this letter was written by Captain Gunnison’s faithful friend and subordinate, Lieut. E. G. Beckwith of the Third Artillery:)
Camp Fillmore,
Utah Territory
October 29″, 1853
My dear Madam:
The painful duty which devolves upon me this morning will be distressingly suggested to you by the sight of this letter in a handwriting entirely unknown to you. I cannot, therefore, if I would, delay the intelligence beyond a moment. A moment, too, of intense anxiety and alarm, only to be too fully and truly realized.
That Kind and just Providence which guards and preserves us all daily amidst the dangers of life, and yet at times suddenly and even without premonition bereaves us of all in life that we hold most dear, and overwhelms us with grief too deep and poignant for human power long to sustain, and which can be but slightly relieved by the abundant and generous sympathy of friends or the more deep and protracted grief of relatives, has just pierced your heart with arrows too deep for human alleviation and severed those most sacred ties by which you were bound to him who has gone from this life to a better where our religion — your only consolation, my dear Madam, in this hour of grief — teaches us no savage arrow penetrates — joy and happiness only awaiting the faithful.
I have but a moment left in which to convey to you the particulars of this mournful event, as we are obliged to send an express 150 miles to Salt Lake City within the next 48 hours, to be in time for the November mail. And I cannot allow the cold, but piercing tongue of rumor to first convey to you this intelligence if exertion of mine can prevent it. Capt. Gunnison with Mr. R. H. Kim (his topographer), Mr. Creutzfield (naturalist), Mr. Potter (Guide), Jno (sic) Bellows whom, I presume, you know, who was much attached to the Captain, and seven soldiers — in all a party of twelve, and al well mounted & armed, left our camp on the morning of the 25th inst. on the Sevier river about fifteen or twenty miles above the lake of that name to make a reconnoisance (sic) of the same. The remainder of the surveying party and escort moving in an opposite direction at the same time exploring the river above. Each party travelled during the day about fourteen miles — encamping on the river at points 28 miles distant. The day having been cold, snowy and blustering, Capt. Gunnison had encamped early, our party being longer encamped later. The night was cold, but passed quietly and comfortably in each camp, no sight or sound disturbing the repose of either the sleeping or the wakeful. Each of your husband’s party, himself included, had passed a part of the night on guard. This, too, when all believed no unusual danger impeded in this Indian country, it being the ordinary vigilence (sic) of parties travelling here. At early dawn on the morning of October 26″ -1853- fatal hour in all savage lands — all your husband’s party were awake & engaged at once in the various morning duties of a camp, preparatory to an early start to the Sevier lake and the termination for this season of the most distant point of his survey — whence he was again to join us at the canon of the river and all were to proceed to winter quarters at Salt Lake City. But when such expectations were indulged in the midst of such duties and apparant (sic) freedom from danger, and before the sun had risen, the savage war whoop range out, in the midst of this silent plain from the thick willows which almost surrounded — at twenty or thirty yards distant — that devoted camp in the narrow, grassy bottom of the river — sheltered from the winds and well suplied with fuel & grass. And the fatal arrows and deadly bullets of a large ban of (Pah-Utes, perhaps) here, however, known as Pah-vans, or Pah-vantis as they call themselves — crossed each other in all directions There was a general call to arms and all was confusion, and bt a few return shots fired. Your husband stepped out of his tent, and, calling to his murderers, informed them that they were their friends. But they nevertheless continued to fire. All attempted to effect their escape from so close an ambush, but no shelter offered, the whole country around being an open plain, and only those were successful who succeeded in reaching their horses, the most of which ran off from fright at the first fire and could not be reached. Four thus escaped, leaving eight dead in or near the camp. Capt. Gunnison fell pierced with fifteen arrows, all received while facing his foes. Those who escaped were pursued towards our camp for many miles — and continuing on at the height of their powers while their horses could stand and then running on foot reached us at eleven o’clock and thirty minutes A.M. of that morning, when all our armed men were instantly mounted, Capt. Morris & Lt. Baker leading them rapidly to the fatal spot, a band scarcely larger than that already slain, hoping to save any who might have escaped or held out for so ong a time. Their exertions were rewarded only as I have stated — or rather, two men having reached camp before they left, they picked up two others — all four of whom were soldiers & had escaped on horses. The bodies of the killed were all found as they had fallen — your husband’s a few yards from camp. It only remains for me, my dear Madam, to conclude this painful duty by adding to the deep sympathy of the officers associated with me and of myself that of the party who have recently served with or under your late husband — all of whom, I am desired to say, condole with you and the dear little ones whom a kind Providence has given you for a consolation in this day of trial.
With deep sympathy I am, dear Madam,
Your obedient servant,
E. G. Beckwith
(1st Lt., 3d Arty.)
P.S. I will see that your husband’s effects are properly preserved & if possible sent early to you.
E.G.B.