Your Affectionate Father, Charles F. Smith

From December 1855 to March 1860, Lieutenant Colonel Smith served with the Tenth Infantry Regiment in the Minnesota Territory where he led an expedition to the Red River of the North and then in the Utah Territory as an officer in the Mormon Expedition. During this period, Charles F. Smith began to correspond with his daughter Fanny Mactier Smith. The letters contain unblemished observations about Charles's experiences and fatherly advice to Fanny. These letters provide an intimate view of antebellum life in a military family.