By James Labosier
Among the History of Medicine’s manuscript collections rests a small group of letters and diaries from Army Surgeon Jonathan Letterman. However, these papers, donated to the Library in 1924 by Dr. Joseph T. Smith, Jr., a Baltimore physician and Letterman’s nephew, include two diaries which Letterman did not write. There is some tantalizing evidence in the historical record which places Letterman in the proximity of the activities documented in the diaries and he almost certainly personally knew some of the persons who traveled with the diaries’ author. How they made their way into this set of documents and who actually did write them is a mystery.
Courtesy National Park Service
Both diaries, written by the same person, detail the daily adventures, sights, and people encountered during month-long trips along the Santa Fe trail between Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and Fort Union, New Mexico in May and September of 1860. But it is clear that that person could not be Dr. Letterman—official Army records prove he was stationed elsewhere during the periods the trips took place. It is true that by December, 1859, Jonathan Letterman was assigned to Fort Union, New Mexico as assistant surgeon. But for more than a year, he had been on detached service with General John Garland’s expedition on the Great Plains. And in January 1860, he was transferred from Fort Union to Fort Tejon, California, where he arrived on February 29, 1860.
Courtesy National Park Service
The earlier of the two diaries begins as a group—including recruits for New Mexico regiments and 160 horses for the mounted service—depart from Fort Leavenworth on May 30, 1860. During the 37-day trek over the north fork of the Santa Fe Trail the diary’s author carefully notes the distances traveled each day and the availability of fresh water and grass for forage at each place they camped. He seems interested in the physical composition of the land, noting limestone and sandstone formations. The journey ends at Fort Union on July 5. Throughout the entire journal the author has given no overt clue to his own identity.
Official army post returns (monthly summaries of activities submitted by Army outposts to the War Department) verify that Dr. Letterman was on detached service from Fort Tejon on the Mojave river during May and June and had been since early April.
The diary’s author notes of the expedition: “Lt Pegram in command Capt. M Ferran A.Q.M.” This is likely Captain John C. McFerran, an officer from Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, who had been transferred to New Mexico. Captain McFerran was formally assigned to Fort Union and reported on July 18, thirteen days after the expedition arrived. McFerran may have been acquainted with Dr. Letterman since he had previously been assigned to Fort Union at the same time and had in fact been transferred out of Fort Union on January 5, 1860, the same day that Letterman had been transferred. Could McFerran be the author?
Another curious fact is that an assistant surgeon, Joseph C. Bailey, had been transferred from Fort Crittenden, Utah to Fort Union in May. His whereabouts are unaccounted for during the month of June, but he reports for his assignment at Fort Union a few days after Captain McFerran. It is not unlikely that Dr. Letterman and Dr. Bailey, both medical men, would be acquainted. Could Bailey be the author?
The second diary begins as a group numbering over 100 leaves Fort Union on September 27, 1860. Documentation from army post returns verifies that Jonathan Letterman was present at Fort Tejon during September and October. Captain McFerran again travels with the group. He had been relieved of his position at Fort Union on September 18 and reassigned to Albuquerque. Joseph C. Bailey, however, could not have been on this trip. In August he had been detached to a Comanche expedition. He returned to Fort Union on October 15, when the military party being documented was en route along the Santa Fe Trail to Fort Leavenworth.
During this trip the author implies that he is a military surgeon when he mentions visiting some of his patients. But when this dusty group reaches the walls of Fort Leavenworth 52 days later on October 29, the diary’s reader still has no clue as to the name of its author. Monthly reports from army posts in California, New Mexico, Utah, and Kansas prove that he could not have been Jonathan Letterman. We are left with the hope that an inquisitive researcher may be able to identify the author of these diaries and perhaps also tell us how they came into the possession of Dr. Letterman’s heirs. If that researcher is you, or someone you know, we invite you to share what you know about the diarist by commenting below.
James Labosier is Associate Curator for the Archives & Modern Manuscript in the History of Medicine Division at the National Library of Medicine.
Letterman made the trek between Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and New Mexico in 1854, but not in 1860. Dr. Joseph T. Smith mentioned this in a presentation he gave about Letterman to the Johns Hopkins Hospital Historical Club on January 10, 1916.
Thanks for this information, very helpful.
The diary writer isn’t an Army officer; that is clear from descriptions of his activities. He describes no military duty. He is not an enlisted man either, as he had loads of free time, comes and goes as he pleases, and isn’t subject to any specific duty. He also isn’t a physician of Contract Surgeon, as he isn’t in charge of any medical supplies, nor does he describe practicing medicine. With a group as large as this train, there would have been load so sick men and injuries that he would have dealt with as a doctor.
Since he was on a wagon train hauling supplies (mostly for cavalry unit), it seems that he was either working as a clerk for the wagon-master, Quarter-Master or an officer, or he was just tagging along with the train for protection through potentially hostile territory.
Jon, Thanks so much for sharing your observations with us. Your comment will be very helpful as we continue to search for the identity of our mystery diarist.
I believe I may have solved at least some of this mystery. …stay tuned.
I’m going out on a limb, but I think the diaries may have been written by Jonathan Letterman’s brother, Richard or ‘Ritchie’ Letterman.
On page 58 of the diary from Leavenworth to Sante Fe there is a list of ‘persons’. This corresponds directly to a typical ‘report of persons and articles hired’ pay-list made out by Army Quartermasters, and the first name listed is R. Letterman, as a clerk, so probably the man making the list. He may have been employed as the clerk for the quartermaster (Major VanVliet) who was charged with transporting 160 horses to Fort Union. It was preferable to hire civilians to fill temporary positions like clerks or teamsters, rather than detail enlisted men. As brother to well-known surgeon like Jonathan Letterman, he would have easily been in a position to secure such a job.
It is accepted that Jonathan Letterman had a brother named William H. Letterman, who was also a physician. In the 1880 federal census for Duffau Twp., Erath County, Texas (page 1, supv dist 3, enum dist 152), can be found the Letterman family, including ‘brother’ Ritchie Letterman. Although this isn’t utterly conclusive, it is compelling.
Perhaps a more thorough search of Quartermaster’s records at the Nat’l Archives could reveal some correspondence related to Ritchie Letterman.
Craig Ritchie Letterman was Jonathan’s younger brother. Ritchie was their mother’s maiden name. Craig Ritchie Letterman was born in 1826.
One of Jonathan Letterman’s duties while in New Mexico was collecting specimens for the Smithsonian Institution. Often post surgeons would be responsible for such things, as well as recording weather data.
I was thinking there may have been a ‘naturalist’ connection. I’ll see if SI Archives has anything.
Jon, Thanks so much for sharing your conclusions and the information about Jonathan Letterman’s family. If Ritchie Letterman was Jonathan Letterman’s brother, it certainly would explain how the diaries came to be in a collection of Jonathan Letterman materials. We will have to see what we can learn from the Quartermaster’s records at the National Archives. Thank you again!
Terry, Thank you for helping to confirm the identity of Ritchie Letterman and his relationship to Jonathan Letterman as well as the information about Jonathan Letterman’s duties.
We’re gonna check Letterman’s personnel file to see if we can squeeze a little more out of it.
Thank you, Jon.
According to Letterman’s personnel file, there is no way he could have been on the trip from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Union and back. Neither could it have been Surgeon Bailey; he was assigned to Fort Union, but after the expedition. This supports previous conclusions. The last thing to look at that would help verify the identity of the diary author would be the accounts of Major Van Vliet, QM for the expedition. I should be able to look at those by the end of the week.
Jon, Thanks again for your continued research into the orgins of the diary and particularly for checking Jonathan Letterman’s personnel file. The file confirms what we had thought about Jonathan Letterman’s location during the time the diaries were written.