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escort a train of sixty wagons with provisions, to establish a depot on the route, some forty miles from here, about one-third the whole distance to the river.
When he left, the mess to which I belonged was broken up, and I was much complimented by being invited to join General Taylor's mess, and informed I should accompany the General on the march.
In fact, I believe the old man has taken something of a fancy to me, and I am considered as being in luck.
Captain Cram left here on sick leave, some weeks before I returned, and Lieutenant Wood has not yet got back from his sick leave.
This makes me the senior officer of Topographical Engineers with the army, though there is another one here, Lieutenant Blake, who came here, however, under some special instructions, and is not therefore considered regularly attached, though he accompanies General Worth's brigade, a subordinate position to mine.
March 5.
Everything here is hurry-scurry, preparatory for the march.
The orders are out. The dragoons and Major Ringgold's company of artillery move on the eighth (Sunday), and the First, Second and Third Brigades follow on each succeeding day. My position is not yet settled, as I thought it was, as it was intimated to me I would probably accompany the dragoons in the advance.
This is very agreeable to me, as my proper position is with the advance party.
Should that be the case, I will leave in two days, as they go on the eighth.
I will manage to send you a few more lines before I go, and then my next letter will be from the banks of the Rio Grande.
The letters of Lieutenant Meade written between March 5th and April 2d, the army then being settled opposite Matamoras, were never received, having been either lost in the mail or captured by some prowling band of the guerillas who infested the country.
As Lieutenant Meade states in his last letter that came to hand, the advance of General Taylor's army, consisting of the Second Dragoons and Ringgold's Battery, under command of Colonel D. N. Twiggs, Second Dragoons, began its march on the 8th of March for Matamoras, distant one hundred and eighty miles. He was assigned to this command, and was daily on duty with the advance guard, examining for the line of march, selecting and laying out positions for camps, and performing, in a word, the duty of a topographical engineer.
