About this Book

The final letter in the collection, 8 Jan. 1868, is written from Camp Hatch, in western Texas, where Foley, now a sergeant, was stationed as a member of Co. D, 4th United States Cavalry. Foley briefly describes conditions on the frontier, "a post office is a thing unknown in this country." Foley was stationed "at Camp Hatch, on the Rio Concho, in site of the new post about to be erected, witch will be known ... as Fort Griffin" (a post now in Shackelford County, Texas). Foley comments on weather and wild life, including a light snow, "just enough to remind one of the north, and the good old times we had sliding down the hillsides ... Buffalo is not so plenty here now as they were in the fall but we have wild [turkey] by the thousands," debating future plans when his duty ended in May, and whether to return to northeast or remain in Texas and take a government job, although he confided: "I am sick of the government and all that belongs to it. I have seen enough of it [during] the last year to disgust 20 dogs, with a dozen of pups in the bargain."