The noble Red Man is a myth…He is really odious, but intensely picturesque

This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/31/2008

Very interesting 8 pp. letter, dated La Porte (Indiana), Apr 17 1873, written in violet ink from Ellen "Nelle" Hathaway, to an unnamed uncle. Outstanding content regarding visit to Texas, where she met General Abner Doubleday, the reputed inventor of baseball, and the Indian Territory, where she vividly describes the Native Americans of the plains. It reads in part: "The reason that I am obliged to decline any invitations [to visit] at this time will be apparent, when I tell you that I have been at home but a fortnight from my sojourn of nearly five months in Texas and more than one [month] in the Indian Territory. My marriage is arranged to take place in early June, and the time of preparation is all too short, and yet must be crowded in this space, as Mr. Lynch leaves his business with great difficulty, his partners being residents of Bordeaux, and he can be here only in June. The journey, too, from Matamoras and return occupies a month, because the steamers afford us .. [in]frequent means of transportation. Next week I shall run over to Chicago [Illinois] with Mother for a day or two, shopping, and after that shall be fortunate if I comprehend anything above a sewing machine. I must tell you directly after my wedding, our family remove[s] to Denver, Colorado, on account of my sister Rosie's poor health, and because Mother, and all, wish to be near Curtis. He has engaged a home there, and they will take possession in June. He sold the dear old house last summer, after our fire, and have rented ever since. Just now we are anxious to go into a larger house for the ensuing two months, but it seems almost impossible to find one in this town. I must congratulate you upon your appointment, and trust your eastern trip will be a delightful one. June is very charming at West Point. You ask me to give you a few items of my experience ... Fort Brown [near Brownsville, Texas] is built about a little laguna in the form of a horseshoe, in which reposes a fair green island, which is the National Cemetery, and where lie buried nearby three hundred thousand Union dead. Gen. Doubleday (of Fort Sumter memory) was in command, and manned a little rowboat for my benefit, the crew being placed at my disposal. I was called the 'Lady of the Lake', and as my name is Ellen, it was quite appropriate in all aspects! I wish I could give you an idea of ... coming home under the wonderful Texas moonlight from Matamoras, with dear friends, and finding my faithful "Brownsey" ... on the lookout for me, when they rowed us home on the laguna, for we lived up in the Artillery Quarters. I met ... the Mexicans .. on the [boundary] Commission, of course. The Mexicans are ... fine .. gentlemen. I dined at Gen. Doubleday's with our Commissioners, and fell in love with two of them, Mr. Savage and Gen. Osborne -- though all are agreeable. My journey from Fort Brown to Fort Sill [Indian Territory] occupied eighteen days, including detentions, a few days in Galveston &c. ... The Indian Territory is the fairest, upon which my eyes have yet rested. The noble Red Man is a myth. He is really odious, but intensely picturesque, when flying over the prairie, mounted upon his Indian pony, his arrow aimed, his red blanket streaming in the wind, his feathers nodding, his braids rattling, and his supple body bent forward, as he eagerly pursues his prey. The squaws are hideous, they flatten their noses against any available window frame to stare in stolid curiosity at the 'Whites'. In the Choctaw Nation, a squaw who had married a 'White' visited me to spend the month the Month of May ... Before I left Fort Brown, the wife of the British Consul sent me a most elegant note of congratulation ..." A wonderful first hand account of the American Indian in the early 1870's. Excellent.

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