Details For Cover ID# 30395

Fort Craig, N.M. May 7. Strike of large cds with date in manuscript on yellow cover to Ohio franked with manuscript cancelled 1857 3¢ dull red, included is original enclosure datelined "Fort Craig, New Mexico, May 5th, 1861" and reads, in part:

"…The only thing that bothers much is the getting of news from the States. To be sure we get news every week but then it is always about a month old. For instance our last news was quite warlike and startling and I suppose ere this that there has been a collision between the North and South and we are waiting with almost breathless anxiety and suspense for the arrival of the next mail. We heard by last mail that Fort Sumpter and Pickens would be reinforced at all hazards, that the revenue would be collected, and in fact that the laws of the United States were to be enforced to the very letter. There was also news from the direction of Texas that Gen. Ampudia at the head of 3,000 Mexicans were marching upon Brownsville, Texas with the intention of again uniting it to the government of old Mexico. Here it is very difficult to surmise what will be the destination of the troops in this country. Some think they will be sent down to Texas to protect that state from foreign invasion, others think that they will remain where they are while others say that they will be called into the states to aid the government to subdue the Southern States or at least to help reinforce the important Forts. I trust, however, that our next mail will settle all these doubts and surmises and that something decisive will be known…M.V.B. Lewis"

The letter describes the early stages of the Civil War from a perspective of the frontier of New Mexico.

Ex Milgram