[Oklahoma]. Rogers, Daniel G.

[Manuscript Letter Written from Lieutenant Daniel G. Rogers While Stationed in Chickasaw and Choctaw Territory, Reporting on Troubles Finding Corn from Local Growers and More]

Fort Washita, Indian Territory: August 17, 1844. [2]pp., on a folded folio sheet, addressed and docketed on the verso of the integral leaf. With Fort Towson handstamp to address panel, along with initialed "Free" stamp, apparently by another officer at one of the forts. Minor splits at folds, tape mends along one fold line of integral blank, small loss of blank paper from removed wax seal, not affecting any text. Very good. Item #4510

An intriguing manuscript letter from Lieutenant Daniel Gibson Rogers (1816-1848) of the 2nd Dragoons, sent from Fort Washita in Chickasaw & Choctaw Nations just two years after the fort opened. Rogers was at Fort Washita serving as commissary of subsistence, and here writes to Quartermaster Thomas Jesup in that capacity, requesting that a boat be ferried to bring corn to the post, as the local farmers (presumably the Chickasaw, who were sent there during Indian Removal a decade earlier) have formed a combine and are seeking to set a price for their grain higher than he wishes to pay. Rogers proposes importing the grain so that the farmers will be forced to accept a lower price for their corn. An early letter from an officer stationed in Chickasaw & Choctaw Nations not long after the Trail of Tears, relating the difficulty of commerce with native peoples who were forced to move there.

"Fort Washita was built in 1842 as the southwestern-most military post of the United States. The mission of Fort Washita was to maintain peace for the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations within their new lands, pursuant to treaty obligations. There were many outside threats to the new home of the Chickasaw people, including attacks by Republic of Texas militia, interference by unscrupulous intruders, constant raids by Plains tribes, the presence of traders and trappers, and unsettled scores with some of the Plains tribes due to disputes concerning hunting grounds in the Homeland. Fort Washita operated as a United States military post until the start of the Civil War in 1861. It was then occupied by Confederate forces through 1865. The fort was almost entirely destroyed by the Confederates as they fled at the end of the Civil War" -- website of the Chickasaw Nation.

Price: $850.00