word has been passed, we will wait. We will wait,
sir." And that was all I knew when I made my hurried preparations for
the longest journey I had at that time ever known.

CHAPTER VIII

BEGINNING ADVENTURES IN NEW LANDS

In those days travel was not so easy as it is now. I went by carriage to
Washington, and thence by stage to the village of York in Pennsylvania,
and again by stage thence to Carlisle Barracks, a good road offering
thence into the western countries. In spite of all my grief I was a
young man, and I was conscious of a keen exhilaration in these my
earliest travels. I was to go toward that great West, which then was on
the tongue of all the South, and indeed all the East. I found
Pennsylvania old for a hundred years. The men of Western Pennsylvania,
Ohio and New York were passing westward in swarms like feeding pigeons.
Illinois and Iowa were filling up, and men from Kentucky were passing
north across the Ohio. The great rivers of the West were then leading
out their thousands of settlers. Presently I was to see those great
trains of white-topped west-bound wagons which at that time made a
distinguishing feature of American life.

At this Army post, which then was used as a drilling ground for the
cavalry arm, one caught the full flavor of the Western lands, heard the
talk of officers who had been beyond the frontier, and saw troops
passing out for the Western service. Here I heard also, and to my
consternation, quiet conversation among some of the officers, regarding
affairs at our National capital. Buchanan, it seems, was shipping arms
and ordnance and supplies to all the posts in the South. Disaffection,
fomented by some secret, unknown cause, was spreading among the officers
of the Army. I was young; this was my first journey; yet none the less
these matters left my mind uneasy. I was eager to be back in Virginia,
for by every sign and token there certainly was trouble ahead for all
who dwelt near the Potomac.

Next I went on to Harrisburg, and thence took rail up the beautiful
Susquehanna valley, deep into and over the mountains. At Pittsburg I,
poor provincial, learned that all this country too was very old, and
that adventures must be sought more than a thousand miles to the
westward, yet a continual stir and bustle existed at this river point. A
great military party was embarking here for the West--two companies of
dragoons, their officers and mounts. I managed to get passage on this