Beschreibung:

Manuscript letter, 3 pp, 8.125 x 10.5 in., Laramie City, Wyoming. November 28, 1882. Written by miner Ed L. Howard to his cousin Bessie, this letter begins with Ed's confession of a guilty conscience he cannot seem to escape. He writes, "...it is the same whether I am here or in Colorado or New Mexico." As he continues, he sets up the origin story for his guilt by writing, "Did your conscience ever both you, as you, no doubt, have heard the ministers say it does? Mine bothered me once in the Autumn of '79, and I'll tell you how it was." Ed then proceeds to tell his cousin about a supply trip he took with two other miners to Fort Fred Steele, during which he discovered a Ute camp situated at the bottom of Jack Creek Cañon. He writes, "...there on a little park, or level spot at the foot of the cañon, I saw a Ute camp, and as I afterwards discovered, was Young Jack and his band." According to Ed's own account, upon seeing the Ute camp he immediately thought of the 50 pound box of dynamite he and his partners had with them, and how he could drop it down the cañon, killing the Ute people below. He even went as far as to travel back to the cabin where he and his partners were staying, and explain his idea. Ultimately, his fellows dissuaded him from carrying out the attack. The very next day, "Young Jack" and his band came to the miners' cabin, appearing friendly and eager to trade, but also warning of potential future hostilities: "[They] came to the cabin and acted very friendly, trading moccasins for sugar and wanted to buy a 50-pound can of rifle-powder which we had - and which they did not get. They told us then that there would 'be heap trouble; Injuns go on war-path first[?] soon.' We asked them what was the matter. They then told us how Meeker, their agent, was trying to make them 'work like squaws;' and that if the bluecoats ever started from Ft. Steele for the White River Agency, they would kill the agent and every other white man at that place - a threat which they afterwards carried out." This warning came on September 19, 1879, and only ten days later occurred what is known as the Meeker Massacre and the Battle of Milk Creek. The Meeker Massacre was a Ute attack on the White River Agency, aimed largely at Indian Agent Nathan C. Meeker. When Meeker was appointed Indian Agent at White River, the Bureau of Indian Affairs had adopted a new policy providing that Ute men must participate in agriculture or have food withheld from them. This policy and other threats made by Meeker fueled resentment among the Ute men, culminating in the massacre on September 29, 1879, that ended in the death of Meeker and 11 of his employees, and the capture of women and children at the agency. That same day, Major Thomas Thornburgh, who had been sent to White River from Fort Steele in response to heightened Ute hostility, engaged with Utes just after crossing Milk Creek into the reservation. Thornburgh, along with thirteen of his men, were killed in the battle. After giving details of both incidents (with some dates confused), Ed then explains how he and his men heard gunshots and caught sight of Young Jack and his band fleeing from the battle: "We were within about 10 miles of the fight between the Utes and the soldiers, and as soon as we heard the rapid 'thuds' of the rifles we knew the devil was to pay, we started for the cabin (we were there on an elk hunt, about 25 miles South of our camp) and when within four or five miles of the cabin, hearing the clatter of rushed ponies coming through the pass, we hid in the spruce thicket on the mountain side, when who should pass us but Jack and his band. God, how ugly they looked in their war-paint." Ed and his partners then returned to their cabin to find it "a mass of smouldering ruins...set by the Indians." The next portion of the letter is one of the most fascinating, as Ed circles back to his guilty conscience. He writes, "Ever since then, Bessie, my conscience has troubled me because I didn't