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A two-page letter on blue paper, 24 cm., approx. 260 words, in a neat hand. Accompanied by an envelope addressed to James Denver, H[ouse] Representatives, Washington, DC. Heintzelman addresses Denver, a Congressman from California, as "Dear General." The letter, written from San Francisco, reports on news from Sacramento: "I came down from Sacramento last night, and let me tell you the political cauldron is boiling & bubbling over." Heintzelman speculates that [D.F.?] "Douglass will be appointed Secretary of State that is certain, & he will appoint Doct. Woods his deputy so he pledged to me." He also advocates separation of California and Oregon from the New Orleans Boiler (?) inspection district, and he appeals to Gen. Denver to leave open the Indian agency post so that Heintzelman can get it once he is finished serving in his legislative session. H[enry] P. Heintzelman (ca.1819-?) was born in Pennsylvania, and served in the Mexican War. Following his service, he moved to California and in 1854, according to results published in the San Joaquin Republican [Vol. 4, #227], on Dec. 8, 1854, he was elected State Senator for the 11th district, representing Sonoma, Marin, and Mendocino. In 1855, Thomas Henley, Superintendent of Indian Affairs for California requested that Major H.P. Heintzelman conduct a survey of the Sonoma and Mendocino County tribes. [see: S/F. Cook's "Aboriginal Population of the North Coast of California," (Berkeley, CA: 1955)]. His report on them is dated November 1855, shortly before this letter was written. Heintzelman later fell out of favor with Henley over his "injudicious management" of the Tolowa tribe. James W. Denver (1817-1892) served as a U.S. Congressman from California from 1855-1857. Pres. Buchanan appointed him Commissioner of Indian Affairs in 1857.
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