Description:

THOMAS C. H. SMITH
(1819-1897) Union brigadier general, enrolled as a lieutenant-colonel of the First Ohio Cavalry and saw action at Corinth. He later joined Maj. Gen. John Pope's staff, serving with him at Second Manassas. Good content A.L.S. as regular army major, serving as paymaster for the New Mexico Territory,, 4pp. 8vo., Santa Fe, Aug. 19, 1881, to an unnamed general. In part: ‘...You will see by the papers that we are again isolated here by the breaking of the railroads in every direction. I had my usual good luck, leaving for the Southern posts the day after the ten days interval during which the N. T. & S.F.R.R. south was closed by the wash outs & after making all rail road trips during ten days without interruption & then getting back here the day before the road broke again. They say it will not be open again South for ten days. So you may see what I escaped. The battalion of 9th Cavalry had not got back to Lewis [Colorado Territory] as expected when I got there. As Genl [Edward] Hatch and Col. [Robert E. A.] Crofton were both anxious I should not leave without paying them I waited five days & then went out to the Big Bend of the Dolores [River] paid them there & got back so as to take the first [?] train on the RR after its completion to Durango. Arrived here and found McClure had been so thoughtful as to pay all the officers accounts before returning to Leavenworth which relieved me from the only annoyance anticipated in the detraction at Lewis, and my delay there enabled my wife & daughter to complete her proposed curing baths at Pagosa [Springs, Colorado Territory] & join me at Amargo & return with me. The Apache trouble brought Genl Hatch & family down to Amargo the same day, so that we had a very pleasant party together coming home. They gave us the caboose to ourselves, so that it became a special car a kind of excursion party… [all sic]'. He signs ‘T. C. H. Smith' vertically in black ink on the first page, over the date. Shows original mailing folds, very faintly toned, otherwise in fine condition. Smith's references to Gen. Hatch, the 9th Cavalry and the ‘Apache trouble' are quite interesting: the previous years, 1879-1880, Hatch and the U.S. 9th Cavalry, made up of Black ‘Buffalo Soldiers', pursued the Apache chief Victorio as he waged a guerrilla war across New Mexico and Texas. Hatch's forces were unsuccessful at defeating Victorio, but he was brought down by the Mexican Army near Tres Castillos in October of 1880, although Apache raids continued in New Mexico until the summer of 1881.

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November 14, 2025 10:00 AM EST
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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