In the relatively small US Army of the pre-Civil War era, few officers left a detailed record of their experiences and observations. One of the few was Major John S. Hatheway, whose letters were saved by his family and now are in the history collection at Cornell University. The letters provide an interesting look at a soldier's life that involved duty on the New York and Maine frontiers, in the Seminole Indian War and the War with Mexico, as well as with the establishment of the first US military post in the Pacific Northwest, in Vancouver Washington.
