Title:

Henry S. Hewit papers, 1849-1852

Henry S. Hewit journal and correspondence

Creator/Contributor:

Hewit, Henry S., creator

Creator/Contributor:

United States, Adjutant and Inspector General's Office,, correspondent.

Creator/Contributor:

United States, Surgeon-General's Office,, correspondent.

Contains one leather bound journal (80 p.) of an Army surgeon assigned to Captain William H. Warner's expedition to the Sierra Nevada. Entries were recorded in two parts. The first part was recorded at the time Hewit was actually with the expedition and covers the period, August 1 to September 3, 1849. It contains dated entries with observations on illnesses, California Indians, including their diet and enslavement by white settlers, Captain John Sutter, gold mining, bears digging up graves, emigrant trains, and his own long recuperation in Hawaii from a lingering illness. He resumes the second part of the journal on March 16, 1850 while recuperating in Hawaii by recalling the rest of the events in the expedition while he was with it. He gives numerous details of being ill and notes that a rumor of Warner's death was confirmed on Oct. 6, 1849. The journal also contains 9 pages of surgery notes, dated 1845(?), concerning wounds to the head and tongue, and neuralgia. Also includes 9 letters of correspondence, mostly relating to military orders, including other assignments, leaves of absence for his illness, and a letter on official stationery of the Adjutant General's Office accepting Hewlit's resignation. Includes the original envelope on official stationery of the Surgeon General's office used to mail the resignation acceptance letter addressed to Hewit's commanding officer in San Diego. Also includes one personal letter from Panama addressed to his father.

Date:

1849 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-ca

Hewit, Henry S -- Archives

Hewit, Henry S -- Diaries

Hewit, Henry S -- Correspondence

Warner, William Horace

Sutter, John Augustus -- 1803-1880

United States. -- Army -- Surgeons

United States. -- Army -- Medical care

United States. -- Adjutant and Inspector General's Office -- Correspondence

United States. -- Surgeon-General's Office -- Correspondence

Overland journeys to the Pacific -- Personal narratives

Gold mines and mining -- California

Indians, Treatment of -- California

Surgeons -- United States

Indians of North America -- Food -- California

Slavery -- California

Bears -- California

California -- Gold discoveries

Sierra Nevada (Calif. and Nev.) -- Discovery and exploration

West (U.S.) -- Discovery and exploration

Panama -- Description and travel

Henry S. Hewit papers, 1849-1852, BANC MSS 2005/238 c, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Henry S. Hewit was an Assistant Surgeon in the U.S. Army, serving in New York, California and Hawaii, and later in the Civil War under U.S. Grant.

Wiliam H. Warner became a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Topographical Engineers in 1841 and a brevet captain in December of 1846. The purpose of the 1849 Sierra Nevada expedition was to determine the most practical route for land travel across the mountain barrier to California. Captain Warner was also instructed to consider the practicability of a railroad through the pass of Cow Creek. It was during this expedition, on September 26, 1849, that Captain Warner was killed by Indians.

In English.

Partial transcript of journal available in the library.

Type:

Diaries.

print

2 volumes (circa 0.1 linear feet)

English

Origin:

California