FORT SMITH ARK OCT 2 1861 double-circle datestamp with PAID handstamp and manuscript 10 (type A, CCV $400) with original two-page letter headed Fort Smith September 30, 1861, signed F.T. Rhodes and addressed to Miss Laura McFarland, Mt. Enterprise, Texas. Rhodes apologizes for not writing sooner but has been sick with measles. Half the company came down with measles. He hopes that the demand for soldiers will not be so great as to call out all the young men at once, but is fearful that will be the case because Ben McCullough has made a call upon Texas for 5000 men. He hears that the company at Mt Enterprise under Barto are going to New Mexico. Ex Roberts. Click here to see page two of the letter. $475.

Frank T. Rhodes was mustered into Company K of the Indian Territory 1st Chickasaw-Choctaw Cavalry. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, along with other tribes (Cherokee, Creek and Seminole), raised troops to fight with the Confederacy. The Choctaw and Chickasaw Mounted Regiment, headquartered at Fort Washita, fought some of the last battles of the Civil War.