st, growing tired of the constant
effort to catch him, he disappeared altogether. Nothing short of a
Mexican with his lasso could have caught him. Regulations would not
have warranted the expenditure of a dollar in hiring a man with a lasso
to catch that mule; but they did allow the expenditure "of the mule," on
a certificate that he had run away without any fault of the
quartermaster on whose returns he was borne, and also the purchase of
another to take his place. I am a competent witness, for I was
regimental quartermaster at the time.

While at Corpus Christi all the officers who had a fancy for riding kept
horses. The animals cost but little in the first instance, and when
picketed they would get their living without any cost. I had three not
long before the army moved, but a sad accident bereft me of them all at
one time. A colored boy who gave them all the attention they got
--besides looking after my tent and that of a class-mate and
fellow-lieutenant and cooking for us, all for about eight dollars per
month, was riding one to water and leading the other two. The led
horses pulled him from his seat and all three ran away. They never were
heard of afterwards. Shortly after that some one told Captain Bliss,
General Taylor's Adjutant-General, of my misfortune. "Yes; I heard
Grant lost five or six dollars' worth of horses the other day," he
replied. That was a slander; they were broken to the saddle when I got
them and cost nearly twenty dollars. I never suspected the colored boy
of malicious intent in letting them get away, because, if they had not
escaped, he could have had one of them to ride on the long march then in
prospect.

CHAPTER VI.

ADVANCE OF THE ARMY--CROSSING THE COLORADO--THE RIO GRANDE.

At last the preparations were complete and orders were issued for the
advance to begin on the 8th of March. General Taylor had an army of not
more than three thousand men. One battery, the siege guns and all the
convalescent troops were sent on by water to Brazos Santiago, at the
mouth of the Rio Grande. A guard was left back at Corpus Christi to
look after public property and to take care of those who were too sick
to be removed. The remainder of the army, probably not more than twenty
five hundred men, was divided into three brigades, with the cavalry
independent. Colonel Twiggs, with seven companies of dragoons and a
battery of light artillery, moved on the 8th. He was followed by the
t