[1ST PERSON ACCOUNT: A private letter from a militiaman who participated in the Beaver Creek engagement of summer 1885 — one of the final violent episodes of Colorado’s Indian removal period. Addressed to his younger brother in Illinois. He does not name the location in the letter. He describes specific details: the morning they arrived, the camp, the order he was given, what he did with the order. He cannot explain what he saw in a child’s face. He asks his brother not to show the letter to their father. 500–700 words. Voice: plainspoken, working to process, no self-justification — more confusion than guilt, which is its own kind of indictment.]
[PARAGRAPH: The letter was never sent. It was found folded inside a Bible at an estate sale in Pueblo in 1962. The name of the writer has been partially redacted — only initials remain. The archive received it from the estate attorney with no further context.]