"Lieutenant Samuel K. Thompson, formerly a Lieutenant and Brevet Major of the 54th US Infantry during the Civil War, kept this diary from 1870 while an officer of the 25th Regiment, US Infantry. In 1870, the regiment begins the year in Louisiana and then they are marched to San Antonio briefly and then Thompson’s company is marched on to Ft. Davis, Texas to control the Mexicans and the Indians in this remote outpost.

The diary, identified in ink on the inside cover, is 3” x 7” in size. Thompson writes long, very neat and detailed entries in ink There are also additional notes and cash account information written in the memorandum section at the back of the diary.

Thompson makes many mentions of other officers, enlisted men, and locations. The most important items are a signed photographs of him in his Civil War uniform, a warnings “Beware! The Ku, Klux Klan, Warning 1st” and has a drawing of a coffin with a skull and crossed bones and a knife on it. The lettering is in brown ink, and red ink is used to underline the word “Beware” and also is shown as blood dripping from the knife.