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Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico: The Diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, 1846-1847
In June 1846 Susan Shelby Magoffin, eighteen years old and a bride of less than eight months, set out with her husband, a veteran Santa Fe trader, on a trek from Independence, Missouri, through New Mexico and south to Chihuahua. Her travel journal was written at a crucial time, when the Mexican War was beginning and New Mexico was occupied by Stephen Watts Kearny and the Army of the West. Her journal describes the excitement, routine, and dangers of a successful merchant's wife. On the trail for fifteen months, moving from house to house and town to town, she became adept in Spanish and the lingo of traders, and wrote down in detail the customs and appearances of places she went. She gave birth to her first child during the journey and admitted, "This thing of marrying is not what it is cracked up to be." Valuable as a social and historical record of her encounters—she met Zachary Taylor and was agreeably disappointed to find him disheveled but kindly—her journal is equally important as a chronicle of her growing intelligence, experience, and strength, her lost illusions and her coming to terms with herself.
304 pages, Paperback
First published March 11, 1926
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About the author
Susan Shelby Magoffin
4 books1 followerEighteen-year-old Susan Shelby Magoffin left Independence, Missouri, to travel “Down the Santa Fe Trail and Into Mexico” in June, 1846, accompanied by her husband, Samuel Magoffin, a variety of servants and employees, and her dog, Ring. She was one of the first Anglo-American women to travel the Trail and enter New Mexico. Her trip coincided with that of the US invasion and occupation of New Mexico. Most importantly, Magoffin kept a detailed journal of her day-to-day activities giving modern readers insight into what daily life was like along the Trail and in New Mexico.
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November 23, 2017
REREAD
“My journal tells a story tonight different from what it has ever done before.” – Susan Shelby Magoffin
In November 1845, Susan Shelby, age 18, married Samuel Magoffin, age 45. Eight months after their marriage they embarked on a journey down the Santa Fe Trail that would conclude fifteen months later in Chihuahua, Mexico. On her journey she kept a journal which began with the above quote.
Susan had been born into a wealthy and influential family on a Kentucky plantation. In fact, her grandfather had been the first governor of the state. Her husband was a prosperous trader who had accumulated a sizeable fortune while engaging in the Santa Fe trade.
To protect against marauding bands of Indians, especially the feared Comanche, the traders traveled in large caravans, and the Magoffin entourage made up a large part of this particular caravan.
Susan described it this way:
“We now numbered, ourselves only, quite a force. Fourteen big waggons, with six yoke [oxen] each, one baggage waggon with two yoke, one Dearborn with two mules (this concern carries my maid), our own carriage with two more mules and two men on mules driving the loose stock, consisting of nine and a half yoke of oxen, our riding horses two, and three mules….we number twenty men, three are our tent servants (Mexicans). Jane, my attendant [maid], two horses, nine mules, some two hundred oxen, and last, though not least our dog Ring.”
A carriage, servants, an attendant? Well, that isn’t the whole picture. One of the servants was a cook. The other tent servants’ jobs included staking out a large tent at the end of each day in which the Magoffins would spend their evenings. Luxuries inside the tent included a bed and mattress, table and chairs, even a carpet to spread on the floor.
Pretty cushy, eh? But have you ever traveled through Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, across the Rio Grande, and deep into Chihuahua, Mexico? Riding in a carriage pulled by a team of mules? I have made that trip – at least as far as the Rio Grande – not in a carriage pulled by mules but in a vehicle equipped with a heater and an air conditioner. I ate my meals in restaurants and spent my evenings in a motel. I made it to the Rio Grande in three days.
My point is that despite servants and all the accouterments Susan possessed, her journey was no cakewalk. And instead of three days, it lasted fifteen months.
Adding to the drama of the venture was the fact that war had broken out between the United States and Mexico. In fact, the Magoffin caravan traveled west in the wake of the invading American army.
One day after her nineteenth birthday she suffered a miscarriage at Bent’s Fort in southeastern Colorado. From that point on her health forced the Magoffins to spend lengthy stays along the way in order to allow her to recover from various ailments.
Despite the travails of the trail and her illnesses, Susan’s natural curiosity led her to faithfully write in her journal almost every day, in which she described everything: hardships, land and climate, flora and fauna, and people, including the Indians and Mexicans that she encountered.
In addition to her writing about her miscarriage at Bent’s Fort, she had this to say about her stay there:
“There is no place on Earth I believe where man lives and gambling in some form or other is not carried on. Here in the Fort, and who could have supposed such a thing, they have a regularly established billiard room! They have a regular race track. And I hear the cackling of chickens at such a rate some times I shall not be surprised to hear of a cock-pit.”
Her journal ends abruptly due to the fact that she contracted yellow fever in Matamoras, a time in which she gave birth to a son who did not survive.
The Magoffins returned to Kentucky in 1848 and later moved near St. Louis where Samuel purchased a large estate. Susan gave birth to two daughters, but her health further deteriorated and she died in 1855 at age twenty-eight. She is buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
Historians of the western movement will be forever indebted to this bold and adventurous young woman and her colorful journal, originally published in 1926, that provides them with a first person account of life on the Santa Fe Trail.
In commemoration of her journey, a seven-foot high bronze statue of Susan Magoffin and her dog Ring was unveiled in El Paso, Texas in 2012.
Here is a link:
http://www.elpasoinc.com/lifestyle/ph...
“My journal tells a story tonight different from what it has ever done before.” – Susan Shelby Magoffin
In November 1845, Susan Shelby, age 18, married Samuel Magoffin, age 45. Eight months after their marriage they embarked on a journey down the Santa Fe Trail that would conclude fifteen months later in Chihuahua, Mexico. On her journey she kept a journal which began with the above quote.
Susan had been born into a wealthy and influential family on a Kentucky plantation. In fact, her grandfather had been the first governor of the state. Her husband was a prosperous trader who had accumulated a sizeable fortune while engaging in the Santa Fe trade.
To protect against marauding bands of Indians, especially the feared Comanche, the traders traveled in large caravans, and the Magoffin entourage made up a large part of this particular caravan.
Susan described it this way:
“We now numbered, ourselves only, quite a force. Fourteen big waggons, with six yoke [oxen] each, one baggage waggon with two yoke, one Dearborn with two mules (this concern carries my maid), our own carriage with two more mules and two men on mules driving the loose stock, consisting of nine and a half yoke of oxen, our riding horses two, and three mules….we number twenty men, three are our tent servants (Mexicans). Jane, my attendant [maid], two horses, nine mules, some two hundred oxen, and last, though not least our dog Ring.”
A carriage, servants, an attendant? Well, that isn’t the whole picture. One of the servants was a cook. The other tent servants’ jobs included staking out a large tent at the end of each day in which the Magoffins would spend their evenings. Luxuries inside the tent included a bed and mattress, table and chairs, even a carpet to spread on the floor.
Pretty cushy, eh? But have you ever traveled through Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, across the Rio Grande, and deep into Chihuahua, Mexico? Riding in a carriage pulled by a team of mules? I have made that trip – at least as far as the Rio Grande – not in a carriage pulled by mules but in a vehicle equipped with a heater and an air conditioner. I ate my meals in restaurants and spent my evenings in a motel. I made it to the Rio Grande in three days.
My point is that despite servants and all the accouterments Susan possessed, her journey was no cakewalk. And instead of three days, it lasted fifteen months.
Adding to the drama of the venture was the fact that war had broken out between the United States and Mexico. In fact, the Magoffin caravan traveled west in the wake of the invading American army.
One day after her nineteenth birthday she suffered a miscarriage at Bent’s Fort in southeastern Colorado. From that point on her health forced the Magoffins to spend lengthy stays along the way in order to allow her to recover from various ailments.
Despite the travails of the trail and her illnesses, Susan’s natural curiosity led her to faithfully write in her journal almost every day, in which she described everything: hardships, land and climate, flora and fauna, and people, including the Indians and Mexicans that she encountered.
In addition to her writing about her miscarriage at Bent’s Fort, she had this to say about her stay there:
“There is no place on Earth I believe where man lives and gambling in some form or other is not carried on. Here in the Fort, and who could have supposed such a thing, they have a regularly established billiard room! They have a regular race track. And I hear the cackling of chickens at such a rate some times I shall not be surprised to hear of a cock-pit.”
Her journal ends abruptly due to the fact that she contracted yellow fever in Matamoras, a time in which she gave birth to a son who did not survive.
The Magoffins returned to Kentucky in 1848 and later moved near St. Louis where Samuel purchased a large estate. Susan gave birth to two daughters, but her health further deteriorated and she died in 1855 at age twenty-eight. She is buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
Historians of the western movement will be forever indebted to this bold and adventurous young woman and her colorful journal, originally published in 1926, that provides them with a first person account of life on the Santa Fe Trail.
In commemoration of her journey, a seven-foot high bronze statue of Susan Magoffin and her dog Ring was unveiled in El Paso, Texas in 2012.
Here is a link:
http://www.elpasoinc.com/lifestyle/ph...
March 30, 2018
The book is deemed significant by historians as a type of who’s who of the American frontier: in all truth it seems like the story of Susan Shelby Magoffin, “an intelligent, observant, & tolerant person with a genuine inquisitive nature” (xiv) is simply an excuse to showcase the various small biographies of the various men she happened to have met on the trail. Their individual feats and destinies are told through over one hundred footnotes--all of which were not written by the principal author herself--though she is the very backbone to which all the (hi)stories are attached, like lichens unto a structure rife with even worst nuisances: a petite, awful whimsy & full-on girlish pettiness.
The introduction is incorrect in saying that Magoffin had “unusual tolerance.” (xxxi) She's taken by the hand & shown only a discrete sample of frontier life by her successful husband, who she adulates every chance she can. The famous opening: “My journal tells a story tonight different from what it has ever done before. The curtain raises now with a new scene” (1) is evidence of what a production, most likely self-imposed, is put forth for the benefit of promoting ancient decrees of femininity. Like a lady, Magoffin blushes in front of the nude natives and has difficulty managing the servants. This woman--all she does--is play house at the frontier. She readies it and compares it to other, lesser, more unfortunate abodes in the neighborhood. She feels bad for not going to a church on the Sabbath day. If you wanted a thrilling tale, something perhaps as captivating as Black Hawk’s atrocious account, then this isn’t the book, though it does manage to contain a narrative: one devoid a personality other than that of a devoted-to-the-point-of-fanaticism wife (“The life of a wandering princess, mine.” [11]) whose limited point of view (“I picked numberless flowers with which the plains are covered, and… I threw them away to gather more”[7]) really prevents the text from becoming a particularly good one.
I was decidedly more intrigued by the side notes which were at times like secret histories: tragedies that befell men shortly after Magoffin met them herself, men like Capt. Warner (killed 3 years later by Indians), and Mr. Robert Spears and J. Stewart (3 months later… ”their heads mashed with rocks” [109] by the Navajos). These editorial add-ons were far more shocking than Magoffin’s tale.
Even romantic conventions are limited, and rarely thought up, like this astute observation/contemplation: “The Hole in the Rock I found …is quite romantic. It is quite the place in which to build a lovers castle and plant his gardens &c.” (76) Dullsville!
Antelopes, corrals, bad weather, oxen, Prairie dogs, buffalo, Mexicans, illnesses, forts, Indians, mirages, “unpalatable” dishes, cigarettes, ruins, housekeeping, men, war, mi alma, mi alma, mi alma… all these appear in the diary, which shows no more than the stunted, stagnant psyche of the mid-19th century American housewife, more than a little racist, & small.
The introduction is incorrect in saying that Magoffin had “unusual tolerance.” (xxxi) She's taken by the hand & shown only a discrete sample of frontier life by her successful husband, who she adulates every chance she can. The famous opening: “My journal tells a story tonight different from what it has ever done before. The curtain raises now with a new scene” (1) is evidence of what a production, most likely self-imposed, is put forth for the benefit of promoting ancient decrees of femininity. Like a lady, Magoffin blushes in front of the nude natives and has difficulty managing the servants. This woman--all she does--is play house at the frontier. She readies it and compares it to other, lesser, more unfortunate abodes in the neighborhood. She feels bad for not going to a church on the Sabbath day. If you wanted a thrilling tale, something perhaps as captivating as Black Hawk’s atrocious account, then this isn’t the book, though it does manage to contain a narrative: one devoid a personality other than that of a devoted-to-the-point-of-fanaticism wife (“The life of a wandering princess, mine.” [11]) whose limited point of view (“I picked numberless flowers with which the plains are covered, and… I threw them away to gather more”[7]) really prevents the text from becoming a particularly good one.
I was decidedly more intrigued by the side notes which were at times like secret histories: tragedies that befell men shortly after Magoffin met them herself, men like Capt. Warner (killed 3 years later by Indians), and Mr. Robert Spears and J. Stewart (3 months later… ”their heads mashed with rocks” [109] by the Navajos). These editorial add-ons were far more shocking than Magoffin’s tale.
Even romantic conventions are limited, and rarely thought up, like this astute observation/contemplation: “The Hole in the Rock I found …is quite romantic. It is quite the place in which to build a lovers castle and plant his gardens &c.” (76) Dullsville!
Antelopes, corrals, bad weather, oxen, Prairie dogs, buffalo, Mexicans, illnesses, forts, Indians, mirages, “unpalatable” dishes, cigarettes, ruins, housekeeping, men, war, mi alma, mi alma, mi alma… all these appear in the diary, which shows no more than the stunted, stagnant psyche of the mid-19th century American housewife, more than a little racist, & small.
March 23, 2020
3.5 stars
This book is an unselfconscious description of what it was like for a young woman to ride in the caravan of a military campaign in 1846. Her husband was a trader attached to the US military to help provide supplies as it invaded Mexico. She was along for the ride and she tells us in her diary about what she sees. We get to meet famous generals, hear up-to-date intelligence and many rumors, meet through her eyes a brand new culture (which she evaluates mostly without prejudice except for when very frightened). She even entertains a future US president. This book takes historical dates and puts them into a human pattern, letting us see those dates as days unfolding, as people living, instead of just sterile facts.
Particularly interesting to me was how folks in that era never really knew what was going on. The state of things was disseminated from horsemen who just happened to be passing their caravan, or by dispatches which would then spread by word of mouth. In a situation as risky as war so little information would be unnerving. Now it’s the opposite, I guess. We’re unnerved by too much information that never never stops coming at us. Also this lack of situational awareness suggested to me how folks in the middle of events often have little control over them, how they seem to be just riding the currents of history.
This book is an unselfconscious description of what it was like for a young woman to ride in the caravan of a military campaign in 1846. Her husband was a trader attached to the US military to help provide supplies as it invaded Mexico. She was along for the ride and she tells us in her diary about what she sees. We get to meet famous generals, hear up-to-date intelligence and many rumors, meet through her eyes a brand new culture (which she evaluates mostly without prejudice except for when very frightened). She even entertains a future US president. This book takes historical dates and puts them into a human pattern, letting us see those dates as days unfolding, as people living, instead of just sterile facts.
Particularly interesting to me was how folks in that era never really knew what was going on. The state of things was disseminated from horsemen who just happened to be passing their caravan, or by dispatches which would then spread by word of mouth. In a situation as risky as war so little information would be unnerving. Now it’s the opposite, I guess. We’re unnerved by too much information that never never stops coming at us. Also this lack of situational awareness suggested to me how folks in the middle of events often have little control over them, how they seem to be just riding the currents of history.
June 18, 2009
I read this as a requirement for a course in Colorado history. This is a journal written by Susan Magoffin which tells her journey from Missouri all the way down to Mexico through Colorado, along parts of the Rocky Mountains. Amazingly, she turns a mere 19 through the journey, which is amazing when compared to the younger people of today: both genders. She has the sense of being very curious about her surroundings and of the people she meets throughout the entire work, incorporating new information (such as the way mules act, or Spanish language) within her narrative. Because this was written in 1846, she has a keen insight to the workings of the Mexican American War, with personal experiences with several of the key players. This could have been a wonderful travel journal in its own right, for it certainly started out as one, with great descriptions of the plains, flora, fauna and people of the southwest. But because of the timing of her journey, this becomes something else entirely. I would highly recommend this to anyone interested in the role of women in the time period of westward expansion, or to those who just enjoy good, insightful and readable journals/diaries. Not a very large audience for sure, but they are out there.
June 4, 2014
The weakness of real diaries (those solely recorded for the consolation or amusement of the writer)is the lack of structure -- stuff just happens, but their strength is the truth of their sentiments. Susan Magoffin is an amazingly attractive personality, a close observer of the trail (nature and people), and sensitive to the danger and cruelty of the war as her caravan moves closer to the scenes of battle.
There are wonderful moments -- Stephen Kearny flirting, climbing an overlook to realize she is alone and unarmed in the middle of Indian country, her gradual acceptance and then delight at Mexican customs, but the diary ends suddenly in media res.
Stella Drumm's introduction does provide some bare facts about Magoffin's later life, and she provides reasonably detailed biographies of the individuals mentioned and normalizes Magoffin's sometimes chaotic Spanish. An excellent index makes it possible to retrace earlier references to people and places.
The book is a good companion to Garrard's Wah-to-yah and Edwards' Campaign in New Mexico.
There are wonderful moments -- Stephen Kearny flirting, climbing an overlook to realize she is alone and unarmed in the middle of Indian country, her gradual acceptance and then delight at Mexican customs, but the diary ends suddenly in media res.
Stella Drumm's introduction does provide some bare facts about Magoffin's later life, and she provides reasonably detailed biographies of the individuals mentioned and normalizes Magoffin's sometimes chaotic Spanish. An excellent index makes it possible to retrace earlier references to people and places.
The book is a good companion to Garrard's Wah-to-yah and Edwards' Campaign in New Mexico.
April 19, 2020
A solid firsthand account of the Santa Fe Trail and farther through Mexico in a woman's perspective.
The foreword of this book gave a great overview of Susan Shelby Magoffin's life. Throughout the diary she detailed practically daily accounts of life on the trails, through the wilderness, and in Mexican cities and villages. Magoffin truly appreciated the culture of different people she came across and her appreciation shows in how she steadily tried to learn Spanish and incorporate it into her diary entries. She also wrote of learning other ways of living such as sewing different types of clothing and learning new recipes. I'm amazed at how many influential, historical people she came into contact with, oftentimes not even knowing how important those people would later become. The footnotes, while feeling a little excessive, provide wonderful history lessons of the Mexican-American War and other events including the lives of men she met in her travels. While at times this book felt heavy with content, largely due to the footnotes, the diary itself could be a great teaching tool for that time period of Mexican and American history during the mid-1940's.
The foreword of this book gave a great overview of Susan Shelby Magoffin's life. Throughout the diary she detailed practically daily accounts of life on the trails, through the wilderness, and in Mexican cities and villages. Magoffin truly appreciated the culture of different people she came across and her appreciation shows in how she steadily tried to learn Spanish and incorporate it into her diary entries. She also wrote of learning other ways of living such as sewing different types of clothing and learning new recipes. I'm amazed at how many influential, historical people she came into contact with, oftentimes not even knowing how important those people would later become. The footnotes, while feeling a little excessive, provide wonderful history lessons of the Mexican-American War and other events including the lives of men she met in her travels. While at times this book felt heavy with content, largely due to the footnotes, the diary itself could be a great teaching tool for that time period of Mexican and American history during the mid-1940's.
March 25, 2020
Down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico is an interesting book. It has all kinds of facts and people who later are well known (kinda like law and order, the original 😀). I just have one question though. "Why did they go on this crazy adventure?". I just can't tell what they accomplished.
Nice read though, very good detail. I just won't be volunteering to ride across country in a wagon anytime soon.
Nice read though, very good detail. I just won't be volunteering to ride across country in a wagon anytime soon.
June 7, 2015
2.5 stars. Annotated diary of Susan Shelby Magoffin, who set off on the Santa Fe Trail at the age of 18 with her husband Samuel. As with many trail journals, her story has long dry spells, but is interesting when she encounters new places and cultures. I admired her adventuresome spirit, but disliked her sense of entitlement.
I had mixed feelings about the (very extensive) annotation. It provided a lot of historical context, but consisted almost exclusively of biographies and anecdotes about men they encountered along the way, which diminished the author’s point of view. On the other hand, maybe it’s just as well… I’m still reeling from this journal excerpt: “The only way to treat a turbulent domestic is to look above them too much to answer them back, or even to hear their impudence, till it becomes correctable by the rod.”
I had mixed feelings about the (very extensive) annotation. It provided a lot of historical context, but consisted almost exclusively of biographies and anecdotes about men they encountered along the way, which diminished the author’s point of view. On the other hand, maybe it’s just as well… I’m still reeling from this journal excerpt: “The only way to treat a turbulent domestic is to look above them too much to answer them back, or even to hear their impudence, till it becomes correctable by the rod.”
March 20, 2025
The other reviews on this journal stating that it is uninteresting and insignificant because of her “girlishness” truly enrage me. This is an EIGHTEEN YEAR OLD girl’s diary. This was not something she crafted to be distributed to the masses. It is an artifact we should be grateful to hold in our hands and read today. First-hand accounts of the Santa Fe Trail written by men of the time are widely praised as they should be. This one should also be held in high regard, ESPECIALLY because it offers the incredibly unique perspective of a young woman from the time, many of which did not have the opportunity to receive an education as extensive as hers. If you are hesitant to read this because of the reviews claiming it as uninteresting, pick it up today and see for yourself how much history is jam-packed into such a “naive” and “girlish” book.
September 22, 2019
A lot interesting things are revealed as Mrs. Magoffin, who calls her husband mi alma, crossed the frontier/border, into Mexico and the Mexican War. "The Frontier" was the Mexican border back then, and the Midwest was quite Mexican. And Mrs. Magoffin finds a lot to like and admire about the Mexicans. A different take on the usually buried history.
September 9, 2019
Well researched and absolutely fascinating.
December 30, 2020
Susan Shelby Magoffin was one of the first white women to travel down the Santa Fe trail, leaving in June of 1846 with her husband—whom she refers to as "mi alma" (my soul) in her diary. She was at the ripe old age of 18 (her husband being 43) when she left. This book is a good contrast to "Land of Enchantment" by Marion Sloan, Sloan's book based on memories from decades before, and Susan Magoffin's being a diary focused on day-to-day occurrences along the trail. She has a knack for description, and being focused on the ordinary events of life routinely goes into careful descriptions of, for instance, the tent that she and her husband used, the rooms they stayed at in Bent's Fort, 2/3 of the way down the trail, the women she met in Mexico and New Mexico, along with many Army officers since they traveled at the same time that the Mexican War was taking place.
She comes across as a tough, devout, woman who was very much in love with her husband and willingly suffered the difficulties of the trail with little complaint. They ended up doing a circuit all the way down to Chihuahua and then Saltillo, Mexico, before finishing at Matamoros, Mexico, though her diary ends just as they leave Saltillo. The trip appears to have affected her health, for she passed away in 1855, just a few years after they finished their trip.
Her diary has many entries expressing her genuine faith. In one place she writes: "What a satisfaction it would be to me now, to know that I shall be as well prepared to leave this mortal, this earthen body as I am to leave this earthen house and with as much anxiety.That I could know that my daily prayers were not frowned upon by my God, that my Saviour's blood pleads not in vain, and that a seat and white-robe are prepared for me at the foot stool of my Heavenly Father."
The diary is helped by many careful footnotes regarding the identity of people that Susan refers to as she writes. It also includes some interesting anecdotes. In one the high mortality rate of society at the time is reflected. There was a Dr. Sappington who was well known in Missouri. He had three daughters who all became, "in succession, the wives of Claiborne Jackson, governor of Missouri. It is related that on the Governor's asking him for the third daughter, the doctor replied, 'Yes, you can have her on one condition, that if you lose her, you will not come back for her mother.'"
Mrs. Magoffin does us a great service with her diary, shining a light on the ordinary life of Santa Fe trail travelers and the lives of the people in New Mexico and Mexico, including a clinic in how to make corn tortillas. I enjoyed reading it very much.
She comes across as a tough, devout, woman who was very much in love with her husband and willingly suffered the difficulties of the trail with little complaint. They ended up doing a circuit all the way down to Chihuahua and then Saltillo, Mexico, before finishing at Matamoros, Mexico, though her diary ends just as they leave Saltillo. The trip appears to have affected her health, for she passed away in 1855, just a few years after they finished their trip.
Her diary has many entries expressing her genuine faith. In one place she writes: "What a satisfaction it would be to me now, to know that I shall be as well prepared to leave this mortal, this earthen body as I am to leave this earthen house and with as much anxiety.That I could know that my daily prayers were not frowned upon by my God, that my Saviour's blood pleads not in vain, and that a seat and white-robe are prepared for me at the foot stool of my Heavenly Father."
The diary is helped by many careful footnotes regarding the identity of people that Susan refers to as she writes. It also includes some interesting anecdotes. In one the high mortality rate of society at the time is reflected. There was a Dr. Sappington who was well known in Missouri. He had three daughters who all became, "in succession, the wives of Claiborne Jackson, governor of Missouri. It is related that on the Governor's asking him for the third daughter, the doctor replied, 'Yes, you can have her on one condition, that if you lose her, you will not come back for her mother.'"
Mrs. Magoffin does us a great service with her diary, shining a light on the ordinary life of Santa Fe trail travelers and the lives of the people in New Mexico and Mexico, including a clinic in how to make corn tortillas. I enjoyed reading it very much.
May 8, 2020
It was a very slow read for me and I would not have chosen this book to read, except that it was a gift and I felt obliged. As a result I read it over a period of 2, perhaps 3, years. But for the positive, Susan did make the trip with her husband and his team, and an arduous trip it was (even though she rode in what was considered luxury on the trail). They mostly traveled with Army troops because they were in Indian territory. She handled it all, boring days on the trail, uncomfortable accommodations, the weather, frightful times and meeting many new people and learning Spanish so that she could speak with the Spanish/Mexican peoples she encountered along the way. She was cordial and thoughtful toward all.
August 10, 2020
In 1846 at the age of 18, newlywed Susan Shelby Magoflin traveled with her husband, who was a Santa Fe trader, from Independence, Missouri, down through Santa Fe, New Mexico and into Mexico. This is her diary that she kept during the first year of travels.
Susan Magoflin was wealthy, so she traveled with more comforts than many women did in that time period, but still it was not easy. She describes misery from mosquitoes, fear of Indian attacks, sickness and death. While I enjoyed reading parts of this diary, I also felt like all the footnotes, while maybe necessary, bogged down the reading for me. The diary also ended very abruptly. I had hoped to read her adventure until she at least returned back home.
Susan Magoflin was wealthy, so she traveled with more comforts than many women did in that time period, but still it was not easy. She describes misery from mosquitoes, fear of Indian attacks, sickness and death. While I enjoyed reading parts of this diary, I also felt like all the footnotes, while maybe necessary, bogged down the reading for me. The diary also ended very abruptly. I had hoped to read her adventure until she at least returned back home.
November 28, 2020
The title tells it all. Mrs. Magoffin is a newly married, 18-year old who writes far beyond her experience and years. This book is a must-read for the southwest, New Mexico, or Mexican War enthusiast. It is a personal, informative account of someone who meets many of the consequential people involved in the time period along the trail and in the towns. She is an excellent writer (even if the original spelling[s] are included. Stella M. Drumm did a good job editing the diary for the Missouri Historical Society and adds many clarifying footnotes.
February 6, 2023
Pros: I enjoyed the historical content of this book. Her writing was easy to follow and overall she was a great writer considering the time frame, age, and considering many women didn’t read or write back then (f the patriarchy). I am a Colorado native so I enjoyed her descriptions of Bent’s Fort and the Raton pass as well.
Cons: My main struggle was her descriptions of indigenous and Mexican natives. As I got further through the book, I can see her opinion about indigenous and Mexicans change, but I continued to feel that it was just another colonizer story.
Cons: My main struggle was her descriptions of indigenous and Mexican natives. As I got further through the book, I can see her opinion about indigenous and Mexicans change, but I continued to feel that it was just another colonizer story.
August 8, 2018
This is such a good first person account of what life was like in the mid-1840s in what is now New Mexico and Texas. Her observations and descriptions, truly paint a picture of how people lived. The historical context from editor Stella Madeleine Drumm is so helpful in filling in the blanks, and broadening the over all picture. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the history of the Southwest US.
February 17, 2019
The amazing journal of a young woman, recently married to a merchant in the US-Mexico trade in he early 1800’s. They travel to Santa Fe just as the US - Mexico war breaks out. This first person account of her adventures thru what is now New Mexico and even further into Mexico itself is an adventure story, an investigation into interactions between cultures. And she was only 18-19 years old during this period - amazing!
June 22, 2025
I read this book - really two books in one due to long footnotes that are essential to understand the times of that era of New Mexico, Santa Fe Trail and the war skirmishes with Mexico and New Mexico. I grew up in New Mexico and read about the Santa Fe trail in grade school and I visited areas to see the ruts of this ancient trail. I enjoyed reading her diary and following along on the trail.
March 3, 2022
Fascinating! A taste of the bravery and input early pioneer woman had.
Read
April 2, 2023A book that truly made me see the story of the expansion of the United States and what it means to be within its borders differently. Also who knew Louisville and Mexico were so connected back then?
January 14, 2025
An excellent vision of a traveling to Santa Fe via wagon in 1846. She was 19 and gave birth on the trail.
Currently reading
July 30, 2025Borrowed ebook from the Internet Archive ( https://archive.org/details/downsanta... ).
February 11, 2026
Very interesting and added to my history knowledge
I liked the journal form and that this is a true journal from 1846-1847
I liked the journal form and that this is a true journal from 1846-1847
August 20, 2009
If you love history, I would highly suggest reading diaries or accounts of the day written by people during the time. You get an unfiltered highly personalized story that is much more exciting as they are living it rather than a dusty set of facts with possibly an author's political agenda coloring their interpretation of events.
Newlywed to veteran Santa Fe trader, Samuel Maggofin, 18 yr. old Susan Magoffin's humorous wit and enthusiasm for her great adventure traversing the Santa Fe Trail is infectious. You feel her sense of wonder as she explores the 'wilds' outside of the U.S. Her diary seems to be written with an audience in mind although there is no evidence an attempt was made to publish it until long after her death.
The diary's extensive notes fill in the details of the Mexican war battles occurring around her and the people she meets many of whom are famous like Zachary Taylor and Stephen Watts Kearny.
If you are interested in early American history during the time of expansion to the west, you will truly enjoy this book.
Newlywed to veteran Santa Fe trader, Samuel Maggofin, 18 yr. old Susan Magoffin's humorous wit and enthusiasm for her great adventure traversing the Santa Fe Trail is infectious. You feel her sense of wonder as she explores the 'wilds' outside of the U.S. Her diary seems to be written with an audience in mind although there is no evidence an attempt was made to publish it until long after her death.
The diary's extensive notes fill in the details of the Mexican war battles occurring around her and the people she meets many of whom are famous like Zachary Taylor and Stephen Watts Kearny.
If you are interested in early American history during the time of expansion to the west, you will truly enjoy this book.
October 12, 2012
This book was assigned reading in a United States history class.
The instructor was very much into the "oral history" genre,
and much preferred we read the lives of common, unexceptional people
rather than "the movers and shakers" of the nation.
So, being rather common and ordinary myself, and as oral as the next fellow, I found this book very dry, unrelatable, somewhat irrelevant in terms of the ebb and flow of the nation as a whole. I am afraid I did not like it, despite struggling to identify with the writer, to empathize with the events and experiences, and to discover an underlying value that would redeem the personal life of an ordinary citizen as a window on National Politics, Economics, Culture, and Philosophy.
The instructor was very much into the "oral history" genre,
and much preferred we read the lives of common, unexceptional people
rather than "the movers and shakers" of the nation.
So, being rather common and ordinary myself, and as oral as the next fellow, I found this book very dry, unrelatable, somewhat irrelevant in terms of the ebb and flow of the nation as a whole. I am afraid I did not like it, despite struggling to identify with the writer, to empathize with the events and experiences, and to discover an underlying value that would redeem the personal life of an ordinary citizen as a window on National Politics, Economics, Culture, and Philosophy.
October 20, 2025
Fascinating look into life in the mid-1840's on the Santa Fe Trail. Also, an American view of the war with Mexico, showing just how slow and bad information was. Her brother in law was reportedly murdered, and turned out to be alive. The book is enhanced by the original editor's footnotes identifying the persons mentioned in the diary. These footnotes flesh out what might otherwise be a thin story line.
Note on second reading: overall just as much fun as I remembered. Her notes on spiritual conviction to come to Christ I did not remember. The diary did not contain a final resolution of her thoughts and decisions in this regard.
Note on second reading: overall just as much fun as I remembered. Her notes on spiritual conviction to come to Christ I did not remember. The diary did not contain a final resolution of her thoughts and decisions in this regard.
June 9, 2014
Interesting reading -- for those who are interested (anyway...) in that time, era, history and a kind of close-up shot of US-Mexico relations and military history at that time. As the blurb (or was it the foreword?) notes, the average modern American reader may recognize nobody but the name of Zachary Taylor or Kearney (nowadays -- and I stress 'average,' perhaps like me...). But extensive footnotes that sometimes even crowd out the main page contents themselves are filled with 'mini-biographical notes' on the American explorers, guides, 'big' Western merchants/traders, and military men of that era -- notes that are very interesting all by themselves.
April 10, 2015
Interesting account of a 19 year old woman married to a successful and respected merchant who detailed their crossing of the Sante Fe trail from Independence Missouri to New Mexico over the course of a year. This was the first recorded trip by a female and was not without significant danger as the Indians were attacking wagon trains along the route and the Mexicans Texans and New Mexicians were fighting over the area. The battle for the Alamo was only 10 years before and Santa Ana and other Mexican generals' attacks were still a concern. The buffalo still were plentiful and the western states mostly uninhabited by whites.
October 21, 2015
I like to pick up local books from local bookshops when I travel. Picked this up in Santa Fe -- pretty interesting diary account of a young woman who traveled with her husband along the Santa Fe trail during the westward expansion of the US. An unfiltered account of her experiences on the Great Plaines and into the Southwest -- interesting to hear about the day-to-day life of that time: what she saw, ate, experienced, who she interacted with, etc. The first portion of the book, while she was traveling across the Great Plaines, was reminiscent of Laura Ingalls Wilder books.
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