Valery Havard (1846-1927) was a career army officer, physician, author, and botanist. Although he held many posts during his military career, he is most well known for his service on the western frontier of the United States during the Apache Wars and in Cuba. ln 1871, he was appointed an acting assistant surgeon in the army and was commissioned an assistant surgeon in the medical corps three years later.
Summary note
Diary of career Army officer, physician, author, and botanist Valery Havard (1846-1927) dating from 1871 to 1877 that includes documentation of his time at Camp Grant, Arizona, caring for Apache Indians.
Havard’s diary primarily documents his U.S. Army service in the American southwest as part of the United States’ campaign against Apache tribal confederations there. The first section of the diary documents his time at Camp Grant, Arizona from November 1871 to April 1873. Arriving six months after the massacre of Pinal and Aravaipa Apaches, Havard details his work treating sick Apaches and providing rations to 792 of them; and chronicles numerous events, casualties and deaths, letters sent and received, departures and arrivals of officers and troops, the weather, and trips that he made. He mentions the peace meeting between George Crook, Oliver Otis Howard, and Apache tribal confederations in 1872; the Wheeler expedition coming through; troop movements including their pursuit of Apache tribes; references Lt. Royal Emerson Whitman; and more. A couple of pages are devoted to Havard's trip back to France. The diary picks up again in 1875 with 18 pages of notes, mostly entries about his work as post surgeon at Fort Pembina near St. Paul, Minnesota, where he also treated Native Americans and soldiers.
The back pages of the diary contain a list of diseases Havard diagnosed in the Apaches, a 14-page dictionary of the Apache language, an inventory of hospital equipment, and a few hand-drawn pencil sketches of botanical specimens.
Content advice
Havard documents multiple accounts of violence including killings of members of Apache tribes, and uses anti-Indigenous racist language.
Notes
Harmful language from dealer description that was originally used to describe this item was revised and/or removed by Faith Charlton in 2024 per reparative description work.
Binding note
Original leather binding with flap.
Source acquisition
Purchase, 2016. AM 2016-116.
OCLC
1340472142
Statement on responsible collection description
Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...