force, until the others should be able to come up.

MARCH.

For these reasons, it was confidently expected that no movement
would be made previous to the arrival of the other brigades; but,
in our expectations of quiet, we were deceived. The deserters
who had come in, and accompanied us as guides, assured the
General that he had only to show himself, when the whole district
would submit. They repeated, that there were not five thousand
men in arms throughout the State: that of these, not more than
twelve hundred were regular soldiers, and that the whole force
was at present several miles on the opposite side of the town,
expecting an attack on that quarter, and apprehending no danger
on this. These arguments, together with the nature of the ground
on which we stood, so ill calculated for a proper distribution of
troops in case of attack, and so well calculated to hide the
movements of an army acquainted with all the passes and tracks
which, for aught we knew, intersected the morass, induced our
leader to push forward at once into the open country. As soon,
therefore, as the advance was formed, and the boats had departed,
we began our march, following an indistinct path along the edge
of the ditch or canal. But it was not without many checks that
we were able to proceed. Other ditches, similar to that whose
course we pursued, frequently stopped us by running in a cross
direction, and falling into it at right angles. These were too
wide to be leaped, and too deep to be forded; consequently, on
all such occasions, the troops were obliged to halt, till bridges
were hastily constructed of such materials as could be procured,
and thrown across.

Having advanced in this manner for several hours, we at length
found ourselves approaching a more cultivated region. The marsh
became gradually less and less continued, being intersected by
wider spots of firm ground; the reeds gave place, by degrees, to
wood, and the wood to inclosed fields. Upon these, however,
nothing grew, harvest having long ago ended. They accordingly
presented but a melancholy appearance, being covered with the
stubble of sugar-cane, which resembled the reeds which we had
just quitted, in everything except altitude. Nor as yet was any
house or cottage to be seen. Though we knew, therefore, that
human habitations could not be far off, it was impossible to
guess where they lay, or how numerous they might prove; and as
we could not tell whether our