Title:

J.M. Smith letters: Apache Agency near Fort Webster, N.M, to Governor David Meriwether, N.M., 1853 Sept. 5-Nov. 11

Territorial New Mexico: Smith-Meriwether letters, 1853

Creator/Contributor:

Smith, J. M., creator, correspondent.

Creator/Contributor:

Meriwether, D. (David), 1800-1893, correspondent.

Creator/Contributor:

New Mexico, Governor (1853-1857 : Meriwether),, correspondent.

Eight handwritten letters (circa 63 p.) from an Indian agent to the governor of New Mexico concerning the various issues and concerns the Apache Indians are bringing to him for his attention and their interactions with government and civil officials. Smith writes of their impoverished state and desperate need for food, clothing, and shelter and pleads with the Governor for more funds to help them. In one letter he quotes a previous reply from the governor, "You say 'all that I can do is to give general instructions which is to keep within the narrowest possible limits having a due regard to your means on hand for you can expect no additional means from me until some are placed at my disposal.'" Smith then goes on to give an account of his dwindling funds and that he will be destitute soon adding, "In this state of the case, I deem it important to write you and to represent that they [the Apache] are now friendly, but being on the point of starvation, that there is a great danger of hostilities...I plead for the Apache. He is a noble, fine looking, though naked Indian. Save him, I beseech you, from starvation, and its alternative, stealing. Generous individuals have offered me the means to feed and clothe him, at their own risk, if I would use the money as public funds, but, under your instructions I dare not. "

Date:

1853 (issued)

Subject:

n-us-nm

Smith, J. M -- Correspondence

Meriwether, D. (David) -- 1800-1893 -- Correspondence

New Mexico. -- Governor (1853-1856 : Meriwether) -- Correspondence

Indians, Treatment of -- New Mexico

Indian agents -- New Mexico

Apache Indians -- New Mexico -- Social conditions

Indians of North America -- New Mexico -- Social conditions

In custom clamshell case (40 x 27 x 8 cm).

J.M. Smith letters : Apache Agency near Fort Webster, N.M, to Governor David Meriwether, N.M.,1853 Sept. 5-Nov. 11., BANC MSS 2011/254, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

J.M. Smith was appointed Indian Agent to the Apaches at Fort Webster, New Mexico, by Governor David Meriwether replacing the previous agent, Michael Steck, in August, 1853.

David Meriwether was a United States Senator from Kentucky and Governor of New Mexico. He was appointed by President Franklin Pierce as Governor of the Territory of New Mexico from 1853 to 1855.

Established in 1852, the Southern Apache Agency was part of the New Mexico Superintendency until it was abolished in 1874, after which the agent reported directly to the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington DC. Tribes associated with the agency were the Mimbreno, Mogollon, Coyotero and Mescalero Bands of Apache.

In English.

print

1 oversize volume.

English

Origin:

New Mexico