DRAMATIC FRONTIER SOLDIER’S LETTER FROM JEFFERSON BARRACKS DESCRIBING GUNFIGHT WITH “AN INDIAN” AND ACCOUNT OF SUMMARY HANGINGS

“...I fired upon him and he fired on me..."

Autograph letter signed “Sam,” to Cora Vedder of Onondaga County, [New York]. Jefferson Barracks, [Missouri], [circa 1880s]. Approx. 4 pages, 8vo, written creatively at non-consistent angles.

The letter was evidently written by a young man named Sam, who is serving his country at Jefferson Barracks. He writes home to his friend Cora and regales her with some of his encounters: “Cora I had a narrow scare the other night I were walking past number three and I halted an Indian which we have to do after eleven O'clock at night when I told him to halt he did not halt and I fired upon him and he fired on me two or three times but did not hit me it was so dark and foggy we could not see each other very well I give him eight shot I don't know whether I hit him or not he left all right.”

He also relates a story of hanging several Native Americans and extra-judicial justice: “There was sight of them hung yesterday for killling two white men there is a seat and twelve soldiers and after some horse thieves to day when they catch and they hang him to the first tree they come to.”

Although the letter writer cannot be definitively identified, the recipient is likely Cora L. Vedder (1869–1964) of Cicero, Onondaga County, New York, suggesting a probable date in the 1880s. During this era, Jefferson Barracks became an important depot following the relocation of the St. Louis Arsenal, and the cavalry assumed primary control. Perhaps Sam, who writes that he “enlisted to serve my time faithful and honest and I will be a brave soldier and fight for my country like a man," was serving in one of these cavalry units.

Jefferson Barracks was founded in 1826 and is the oldest operating United States military installation west of the Mississippi River. It served important roles in military conflicts from the 1832 Black Hawk War through World War II.

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