[Letter to Thomas Falconer - June 28, 1846] (open access)

[Letter to Thomas Falconer - June 28, 1846]

Letter from unknown author from Washington [D.C.] to Falconer thanking him for a letter and an article from the Washington Review. The author hopes that the "vexatious" war with Mexico will be cut short and references the border dispute between Oregon and Canada that was settled by the 1846 Oregon Treaty. The letter is incomplete.
Date: June 28, 1846
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from Thomas Falconer to Alfred Austin] (open access)

[Letter from Thomas Falconer to Alfred Austin]

Letter from Thomas Falconer to "My dear Austin" in London. The letter was written in the third month of Falconer's captivity and posted from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The letter recounts how he became part of the Santa Fe Expedition in June 1841 and narrates his experiences during the expedition. Falconer states that he was falsely told that the expedition was for trade when in fact its purpose was to capture Santa Fe. The letter describes his companions; the decline of Santa Fe's importance for trade; problems with the route and guides; lack of food; a camp fire that becomes a prairie fire; buffalo; and Indian attacks, scalpings, and deaths. A typed transcript of this letter is also available via the Portal to Texas History.
Date: January 12, 1842
Creator: Falconer, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Typed transcript of letter from Thomas Falconer to Alfred Austin] (open access)

[Typed transcript of letter from Thomas Falconer to Alfred Austin]

Letter from Thomas Falconer to "My dear Austin" in London. The letter was written in the third month of Falconer's captivity and posted from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The letter recounts how he became part of the Santa Fe Expedition in June 1841 and narrates his experiences during the expedition. Falconer states that he was falsely told that the expedition was for trade when in fact its purpose was to capture Santa Fe. The letter describes his companions; the decline of Santa Fe's importance for trade; problems with the route and guides; lack of food; a camp fire that becomes a prairie fire; buffalo; and Indian attacks, scalpings, and deaths. The original handwritten letter is also available via the Portal to Texas History.
Date: January 12, 1842
Creator: Falconer, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from C.E. Detmold to Edward Trelawny - January 8, 1842] (open access)

[Letter from C.E. Detmold to Edward Trelawny - January 8, 1842]

Letter from C. E. Detmold in New York to Edward Trelawny at Putney Hill near London. It discusses his fears for Thomas Falconer's safety as he has heard that the "Texian" Santa Fe Expedition had been captured by Mexican forces and touches on British Whig finance politics. Detmold is Christian Edward Detmold (see Wikipedia article) and Trelawny is John Edward Trelawny the English biographer, novelist, adventurer and friend of the Romantic poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron.
Date: January 8, 1842
Creator: Detmold, C. E. (Christian Edward), 1810-1887
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Copy of Letter from Galveston to Messrs. Meyer & Sons of New York - December 10, 1841] (open access)

[Copy of Letter from Galveston to Messrs. Meyer & Sons of New York - December 10, 1841]

Copy of a letter from Galveston, discussing Thomas Falconer's affairs and reassuring the recipient that Falconer's silence in response to six letters is because he has been captured with the Santa Fe Expedition. It also discusses the terms of a sum of money Falconer drew and a term set by Messrs. Meyer & Co. (written as "& Sons" earlier in document) and gives a brief summary of how he joined the expedition. There are notes on cities and dates on the back page.
Date: December 10, 1841
Creator: unknown
System: The Portal to Texas History
[Letter from Thomas Falconer to John David Falconer, December [January] 5, 1841] (open access)

[Letter from Thomas Falconer to John David Falconer, December [January] 5, 1841]

Letter from Thomas Falconer to John David Falconer, dated Dec. 5, 1841, but the December is probably a mistake for January since Falconer was captive in Mexico in December 1941. The letter chronicles Falconer's trip by steamboat down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers from Louisville, KY, to New Orleans, LA. There is a small sketch of the steamer, the William French. The letter gives details of the price of passage; accommodations and food; how the steamer is different from "ours"; the stokers (slaves) who "make a most infernal singing"; fellow passengers; Americans for whom "the making of money is their chief pursuit from the time they can talk until they die"; and various towns and cities along the way. From New Orleans, Falconer went to Texas where he was caught up in the Texan Santa Fe Expedition. This letter has a modern handwritten transcription available via the Portal to Texas History.
Date: January 5, 1841
Creator: Falconer, Thomas, -- 1805-1882.
System: The Portal to Texas History