Susan Shelby Magoffin

Susan Shelby Magoffin (born July 30, 1827, Danville, Kentucky, U.S.—died October 26, 1855, St. Louis, Missouri) was an American diarist who was the first woman to write an account of traveling the Santa Fe Trail. Magoffin’s journal, written in 1846–47, describes trade on the trail at its high point and records important details of the Mexican-American War.

Susan Shelby was born into a wealthy Kentucky family. On November 25, 1845, she married a trader from Santa Fe, Samuel Magoffin. The couple departed Independence, Missouri, in June 1846 on a trip down the Santa Fe Trail and into Mexico. Their trip began soon after the United States declared war against Mexico over the border of Texas, which the U.S. had annexed in 1845.

In her journal, Magoffin made detailed records of the distances traveled each day, the conditions, and the people she encountered, along with descriptions of the landscape and wildlife. She traveled in relative comfort in a rockaway carriage with a personal maid and three other servants hired by her husband, but, even so, the journey was a taxing one, both physically and mentally. At Bent’s Fort in Colorado, she suffered a miscarriage, an event that she treated candidly in her journal. Her writings from that point show a shift in her character from naive enthusiasm toward religious piousness.

The party traveled on to Santa Fe and from there into Mexico, trailing behind U.S. Army troops under Col. Alexander Doniphan. Thus, Magoffin’s journal also provides a record of U.S. Army movements in the border areas. The trail took its toll on Magoffin, however, and her diary ended on September 8, 1847, her interest in recording her experiences having waned.

Magoffin subsequently contracted yellow fever in Matamoros. While she was sick, she gave birth to a second child, who died shortly after birth. She and her husband eventually returned to Kentucky, and they later moved to Missouri, where Magoffin died shortly after the birth of a fourth child. Her diary remained unpublished until 1926, when it appeared as Down the Santa Fé Trail and into Mexico.