DUCHAUSSOIS (R. P.).Livre Rare Book
Autograph Letter Signed to his father Peter Poythress Mayo detailing his rescue and suffering on the disastrous U.S. Darien Exploring Expedition across Panama
1854réf. 369733Palmas Panama 1854. 2pp. single 4to sheet. With: Carte-de-visite photograph of Mayo signed and inscribed to his sister on verso. Folds minor separations. 2pp. single 4to sheet. With: Carte-de-visite photograph of Mayo signed and inscribed to his sister on verso. Seeking a low-level train or canal route to bridge the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in late 1853 President Franklin Pierce ordered a U.S. Naval exploring expedition to participate in an international attempt affiliated with a venture by the Atlantic and Pacific Junction Company. Although ships from Great Britain New Grenada and the United States were involved the principle overland portion of the expedition through 40 miles of dense jungle would be led by Lieutenant Isaac G. Strain who had previously led exploring expeditions in Brazil Baja California and Chile. With a party of 27 officers and men and including the author of the present letter they entered the jungle on January 20 1854. Problems began almost immediately. While puting ashore a boat was swamped and a portion of the party's provisions lost. Next the route Strain had been tasked with following contained no gap in the cordillera as had been previously believed. Led through the jungle by several groups of indigenous people the promise of a few days hike turned into months of wandering in the jungle before being abandoned by the guides. Subsisting on plantains and bananas and drinking river water Stain divided his men with an advance party striking out to seek rescue. On March 9 forty-nine days after starting from Caledonia Bay Strain and his advance party reached Yavisa; it would be another nearly three weeks before the main body was rescued but not before at least five had died of starvation or disease. Sometimes compared with the trials of the crew of the Essex or the members of the Donner Party the men on the Darien expedition endured extreme harship and resorted to unspeakable things. This remarkable letter was written by one of the expedition's survivors shortly after his rescue and return to civilization. George Upshur Mayo 1834-1896 was born into a prominent family in Norfolk VA. He attended the Virginia Military Institute served as an assistant engineer on the Strain Expedition was involved in the United States Geodetic Survey and was later a major in the Confederate Army. Here he writes: "My dear father From this filthy native village where our party are brought by the officers of the war steamer Virago English whose officers rescued us from a most deplorable condition starvation misery & want for about 70 days without bread or meat living on roots & nuts from the trees. May the rescue be never forgotten & I thank & give praises to God for his goodness. We abandoned & buried 4 or 5 in the woods as unable to keep up. I suffered from the cusano a worm that gets in the flesh also from a very bad knee. Almost unable to travel 3 miles a day. Unfavorable reports reached the U.S. concerning us. We are safe & go to Panama when we get well. My mind is out of sorts by medicine & sickness & my hand too weak to write more legibly. Will write from Panama or Aspinwall a respectable letter there. We are 100 miles from Panama. Had the party 8 days provisions only in the woods yet nothing to shield us from wind & storm & no change of garments. The suffering was intense & the rescue came at the most dreadful & important for our safety. I with 3 others on the river bank washing at sundown when the canoes came in sight. Captain Strain had no pants or underdraws to protect him from the briars & vermin. God be praised for rescue. Love to Annie. . . . In all probability will meet the Cyane at Aspinwall." A remarkable first-hand account of a desperate struggle for survival. unknown books
James Cummins Bookseller · États-Unis4 500,00 $US≈ 4 020,37 €
