[Mexican-American War]

[Autograph Letter, Signed, from Lieutenant Arthur Breese Lansing, a Quartermaster Officer Serving During the Mexican-American War, To His Father Barent Bleeker Lansing in Utica, New York, Regarding the Climate and His Activities After Arriving at the Principal Gulf Coast Supply Depot at Brazos Santiago, Texas, Illustrated with a Hand-drawn Map of the Area]

Brazos Santiago: February 18, 1847. [2]pp. plus integral blank, second leaf addressed on verso. Old folds. Small hole in address leaf from removed wax seal. Very good. Item #3542

An original wartime correspondence from Lieutenant Arthur Lansing, a quartermaster officer recently arrived at the principal Mexican-American War Gulf Coast supply depot and transportation hub at Brazos Santiago, Texas, illustrated with a hand-drawn map showing the sand bar that impeded offloading of transports and slowed the movement of supplies and personnel up the Rio Grande. The first page contains Lansing’s letter, the second his hand-drawn map. The text of the letter reads in part: "I have been ordered to report to...the QM Dept at this place - the most humid place in Christendom (worse, by far that Fort Brown.) I have been sick since here the water is bad - my old complaint the Diarrhea. I am living on board a steamboat fitted up & called the 'Greenwood Hotel' - $10.00 a week - Astor house prices in all things.... Gen Jesup, the Chief of the QM Dept. is daily expected here. On his arrival, I shall try to procure orders to go North.... I have been so long in the country that my constitution is more or less affected by the climate. That you may understand the location of Brazos, I add a sketch, on the opposite side. The troops are being Embarked as fast as possible but still slowly. The elements are more to be contended against. What is their destination I cannot say with certainty.... I have not recd any letter yet by the last mail. I suppose they have gone to Matamoros. They may be here in a day or two.... Brazos is a sandy island - all sand up to your ancles."

Lansing’s map shows the Mexico-Texas coast, the Rio Grande, Fort Brown and Matamoros, Point Isabel, Laguna del Madre, Padre Island, Brazos Santiago, and the sand “Bar of Brazos” that hampered shipping. Lansing shows large ships anchored outside the sand bar, and smaller vessels around Brazos Santiago. This first-person illustration of this specific area of the Texas-Mexico region is a unique contemporary view of an important location during the Mexican-American War.

During the Mexican War General Zachary Taylor established a supply depot and transportation hub at Brazos Santiago where supplies and personnel were offloaded because seagoing ships could not cross over the sand bar. Supplies were then transported to Fort Brown and Matamoros by smaller vessels or oxcarts to Fort Brown and Matamoros. During the war, several thousand American troops moved through the port. Brown’s mention of the Greenwood Hotel is interesting. Other army travelers mention it as well, reporting that the wreck of a beached steamboat “was firmly wedged in the sand. It had been repaired and rendered weather-proof by the mud and mortar generally made use of for building purposes in these primitive regions. A bar-room and eating-room formed the principal apartments, with several sleeping rooms of limited area adjoining, which were the accommodations of the boarders. It was kept by an old woman and her pretty little granddaughter about twelve years old, who was receiving an education to fit her for the responsible position of bar-maid to this ‘Hotel Texian.’” Another source, a tongue-in-cheek article in the United States Magazine and Democrat Review, reported a room at the Greenwood cost "four dollars a day with no extra charge for fleas, mosquitoes and dirt!"

Lansing was an artillery lieutenant when he was detailed to quartermaster duties at Brazos Santiago. Prior to that he served on the Northern Frontier near Buffalo, New York, during the border disturbances with Canada, in the military occupation of Texas, and at the defense of Fort Brown. Later he served as the Assistant Quartermaster at forts in Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, Arkansas, and the Indian Territory before leaving the service in 1851.

Communications from Brazos Santiago are incredibly scarce both institutionally and in the trade. No printed or manuscript maps of Brazos Santiago and only one Brazos Santiago letter have appeared at auction per Rare Book Hub. OCLC shows only one institution holding of a printed map of the Brazos Santiago region, and no institutions hold hand-drawn maps. OCLC reports just two institutions holding letters from Brazos Santiago.

Price: $2,500.00