them to the command of
such regular troops as might be in the vicinity of New Orleans, all
to be held in readiness for a movement to Tampa Bay. The troops were
mustered into service on February 3d. General Gaines having arrived in
New Orleans on January 27th, chartered three steamers to convey the
troops and stores. The Legislature of Louisiana had appropriated
eighty-five thousand dollars for the equipment of her volunteers, and
on February 4th the chartered steamers, with the Louisiana volunteers
and one company of regulars, were under way, and on the same day
another steamer, with Colonel Twiggs and Companies B, E, G, H, I, and
K of the regulars, left New Orleans. The vessels arrived safely at
Hillsboro Bay, four miles distant from the garrison, on February 8th,
9th, and 10th, and the troops were immediately disembarked and camped
just outside of the fort.

The fort was a triangular work formed by pickets with blockhouses at
the apex, the base resting on the bay and flanked on the west by
Hillsboro River. It was found that there were at the fort about two
hundred regular troops, composed of Companies A, B, C, and H of the
Second Artillery, and Company A of the Fourth Infantry, with Majors
Francis S. Belton, Richard Augustus Zantzinger, and John Mountford,
Lieutenants John Breckenridge Grayson, Samuel McKenzie, John Charles
Casey, Thomas C. Legate, Edwin Wright Morgan, Augustus Porter Allen,
and Benjamin Alvord, and Surgeons Henry Lee Heiskell and Reynolds.
Major Belton was the commanding officer of the post.

General Gaines, having received instructions at Pensacola from the
Secretary of War to repair and take charge of the forces which were
assembling on the Mexican frontier, announced the fact to Colonel
Twiggs; but the troops, on hearing this, manifested great
dissatisfaction, and insisted that as they had volunteered to go under
the command of General Gaines, he in good faith should be their
leader. Following is the text of the letter of the Secretary of War to
General Gaines:

"WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, _January 23, 1835_.

"SIR: I am instructed by the President to request that you
will repair to some proper position near the western frontier of the
State of Louisiana, and there assume the personal command of all the
troops of the United States which are or may be employed in any part
of the region adjoining the Mexican boundary.

"It is not the intention of this order t