Letter signed Tho. Swords, Leavenworth, to [John Dougherty]. I was much disappointed to find you could not be here before I leave for Santa Fe. I went to Iatan to try to make a deal with Shultz but he asks $3,000 for his 1/3 which is not within your limits. I executed a Power of Attorney for Steele to act for me in the sale and disposition of my interest. Rucker will start with the big train and “will make his entrée in real menagerie style.” He has all sorts of Yankee fixings for making water run in dry places, turning up sod by some invisible power, etc. Individuals mentioned: Samuel, Sumner, Rucker, Uncle Louis, and Steele. Places mentioned: St. Louis, Arkansas [River], and San Antonio., 1851 May 23

Item — Box: 2

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

Collection consists mainly of the correspondence of Major John Dougherty in relation to sutling at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, and government transportation of freight between Fort Kearny and Fort Laramie, Wyoming, in the 1840s and 1850s. Also includes numerous bills of sale of slaves; correspondence and reports regarding Indian affairs, including a report from Leavenworth, March 9, 1832; land documents; and correspondence regarding land claims. Correspondents include Dougherty's son Lewis B. Dougherty, Robert Campbell, Henry S. Turner, A.G. Reed, Major C.F. Ruff, and Col. Thomas Swords. Collection also includes two diaries, 1869-1879, and a ledger, 1851-1852, of the medical practice of Dr. William Wallace Dougherty, a Liberty, Missouri, physician and nephew of John Dougherty. The diaries include material on the family.