American Caravan Author:Alice Anne Thompson "The tragic tale of the death and burial of 19 year old Mary Alfonsa Thompson, Sister of Loretto, on the Santa Fe Trail in present western Kansas in the summer of 1867 is one of the great mysteries as well as one of the most touching human interest stories in the six-decade history of that famous route of commerce and conqest between the Missour... more »i River valley and New Mexico. The young nun was recruited from her Kentucky mother house by Bishop Jean Batiste Lamy of Santa Fe, and she was one of 26 members of Lamy's caravan that traveled from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to Santa Fe, New Mexico, during one of the most dangerous years on the Santa Fe Road, a year when floods, Asiatic cholera, and Indian raiders created hazards and claimed the life of many victims. Exactly where Sister Mary Alphonsa died, the cause of her death, and the location of her grave(despite repeated attempts to locate the site) remain at the top of the list of unsolvrd mysteries in the long and dramatic history of the trail. This is a story that has waited nearly a century and a half for someone to present it to the public with all the components described." Coutesy of Leo Oliva, PHD« less