fort, occupied several years since by one Capt. Grant as a trading post.
The last of my course, being upon the side of the river, was much impeded by mud; and, although the surface was generally bare, travelling was even more tedious than it had been at any time hitherto.
After a series of suffering and deprivation so continued and severe, right gladly did I hail the Lone Star banner upon the opposite shore, as their point of present termination.
Fording the Arkansas about a mile above the Texan encampment, I found it nearly swimming deep, with a swift and muddy current over a bed of quicksand and gravel.
My appearance created no little surprise among all present, as they had several days since numbered me with those who had volunteered with great readiness, so far as promises were concerned; but, when PERFORMANCES were required, "came up missing."
I must confess, however, to great disappointment in the diminutive force that here met my view, which consisted of only twenty-four men, including officers — all told. But several accessions were expected, sufficient to swell the number to fifty-five or sixty. A party of eighty volunteers from the States were to meet us at the "Crossing " of the Arkansas, on the Santa Fe trail, together with a detachment of two hundred and fifty from Texas; and, with these reinforcements, it was confidently asserted we would be equal to the combined force of all New Mexico.
I immediately reported myself to the commanding officer, and was kindly welcomed, with the remark,
"Well, sir, you are just in time. Another day and you would have been too late. We move camp to-morrow morning."
(A pity it was I had not been too late!)
Withdrawing from the conference, the lapse of a few moments gave me an opportunity to look around and see among whom I had fallen.
It would have been hard to scare up a more motley group of humanity in any place this side of Mexico. Each individual presented a uniform as varied as the imagination could depict, though tallying well with the general appearance of the whole company—it was a uniform of rags!
Still from beneath the dusky visages, half obscured by beards to which the kindly operations of their razors had been for weeks and even months a stranger, I detected the frank expression indicating the generous-hearted mountaineer, and began to feel at home, notwithstanding the fast-rising feelings of regret that fortune had thrown me in their way.
Early in the morning of the following day we were drawn up in line and divided into two detachments, —one consisting of ten, and the other of fourteen men. The first of these, under the command of Colonel Warfield, were to proceed to the Crossing of the Arkansas, and await the arrival of the main army, or otherwise act as circumstances suggested, while the second, headed by a lieutenant, marched up the Rio de las Animas to the Taos trail, to perform the duties of a corps of observation until further orders.
It was my lot to accompany the latter, and we promptly commenced movement.
