New Information

Today, in my email, I found a nice surprise. It was an email from Donna Smith, the park ranger with whom I had a nice visit at Fort Davis.

If you remember, John O'Donnell was not listed on the rolls of Fort Davis, but his discharge papers clearly said Fort Davis. This was a bit of a mystery to me. She cleared this mystery up in her email:

"Our retired park historian stopped by the park recently, and I showed her your records. Even though the 8th U.S. Infantry was stationed at Fort Davis from 1854 to 1861, she said to tell you that JOHN O'DONNELL was never stationed at Fort Davis. She explained that the Regimental Commander was at Fort Davis when he signed O'Donnell's promotion papers, but neither O'Donnell nor his troop (Troop B) was stationed at Fort Davis.

The historical records show that in July 1857, Troop B of the 8th Infantry was stationed at Fort Bliss, Texas. In February 1858, Troop B was at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. (She consulted both the Regimental Returns and the Post Returns to find this information.)

We will, however, keep the records & photo of JOHN O'DONNELL in our library files. We appreciate you sharing them with us."

I wrote her back and I am eager to continue on with my research. I did send an email to my cousin, Sally Donovan, and asked if she could put me in contact with J.P. Knudsen who wrote the History of the John O'Donnell Family. I am thankful to be on vacation from school so that I have a little bit of time left in my day to get things done.