Letter fragments, Portrait

115 ALS written by Bartow Darrach while living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Kentucky; and Kansas Territory; most to his parents, James and Helena White Darrach, New York; his brother, William Bradford Darrach; and other family members in the East. Five letters are dated at Philadelphia, 1852-1853, and relate to the completion of Darrach's medical studies and his application to the United States Navy for an appointment as a medical officer. Approximately half of the letters are dated at Eddyville, Kentucky, 1853-1855, and concern Darrach's work in establishing a medical practice there.

Darrach moved to Kansas Territory in 1855; ca. fifty letters dated at Osawatomie, 1855-1856, contain a detailed narrative of the lives of settlers and events of the Kansas border war, including discussion of elections and constitutional conventions; events in Lawrence and other fighting between free soil and slavery advocates; and the killings at Pottawatomie by John Brown and the subsequent sack of Osawatomie. The letters are accompanied by an ink and watercolor portrait, 1843.