Lot
20 
[Indians - Pawnee] "Council Bluffs Agency, Dec. 15, 1844", dateline on folded letter that entered mails with red "St. Joseph Mo. Jan 21" cds and manuscript "25" rating to Newburn Va.; letter was written by the U.S. Indian Agent Daniel Miller saying "I have comparatively little trouble in managing the wild Indians to what I have with the white people in the Indian Country…The missionaries at the Pawnees, who have been placed there by the American Board of Missions have and are taking a most unwarrantable course with the Indians by exercising an improper influence over them…but I pursue what I conceive to be a proper course, undeterred by their power and influence…The weather is very cold and I am waiting my trip to the Pawnees until moderates - 120 miles directly up the Great Platt."; some soiling, Fine and great content. Estimate $200 - 300.
The cover was probably carried by a military courier down the Missouri River to St. Joseph, where it entered the mails. The St. Joseph cds is the earliest of only two recorded strikes in red.
Realized: $350