Chapter 1: early recollections of California. 1846-1848.
In the spring of 1846 I was a first-lieutenant of Company (, Third Artillery, stationed at
Fort Moultrie, South Carolina.
The company was commanded by
Captain Robert Anderson;
Henry B. Judd was the
senior first-lieutenant, and I was the
junior first-lieutenant, and
George B. Ayres the
second-lieutenant.
Colonel William Gates commanded the post and regiment, with
First-Lieutenant William Austine as his adjutant.
Two other companies were at the post, viz.,
Martin Burke's and
E. D. Keyes's, and among the officers were
T. W. Sherman,
Morris Miller,
H. B. Field,
William Churchill,
Joseph Stewart, and
Surgeon McLaren.
The country now known as
Texas had been recently acquired, and war with
Mexico was threatening.
One of our companies (
Bragg's), with
George H. Thomas,
John F. Reynolds, and
Frank Thomas, had gone the year previous and was at that time with
General Taylor's army at
Corpus Christi, Texas.
In that year (1846) I received the regular detail for recruiting service, with orders to report to the
general superintendent at
Governor's Island, New York; and accordingly left
Fort Moultrie in the latter part of April, and reported to the superintendent,
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Colonel R. B. Mason, First Dragoons, at New York, on the 1st day of May.
I was assigned to the
Pittsburg rendezvous, whither I proceeded and relieved
Lieutenant Scott.
Early in May I took up my quarters at the
St. Charles Hotel, and entered upon the discharge of my duties.
There was a regular recruiting-station already established, with a sergeant,
corporal, and two or three men, with a citizen physician,
Dr. McDowell, to examine the recruits.
The threatening war with
Mexico made a demand for recruits, and I received authority to open another sub-rendezvous at
Zanesville, Ohio, whither I took the sergeant and established him. This was very handy to me, as my home was at
Lancaster, Ohio, only thirty-six miles off, so that I was thus enabled to visit my friends there quite often.
In the latter part of May, when at
Wheeling, Virginia, on my way back from
Zanesville to
Pittsburg, I heard the first news of the
battle of Palo Alto and
Resaca de la Palma, which occurred on the 8th and 9th of May, and, in common with everybody else, felt intensely excited.
That I should be on recruiting service, when my comrades were actually fighting, was intolerable, and I hurried on to my post,
Pittsburg.
At that time the railroad did not extend west of
the Alleghanies, and all journeys were made by stage-coaches.
In this instance I traveled from
Zanesville to
Wheeling, thence to
Washington (Pennsylvania), and thence to
Pittsburg by stage-coach.
On reaching
Pittsburg I found many private letters; one from
Ord, then a first-lieutenant in Company F, Third Artillery, at
Fort McHenry,
Baltimore, saying that his company had just received orders for
California, and asking me to apply for it. Without committing myself to that project, I wrote to the
Adjutant-General,
R. Jones, at
Washington, D. C., asking him to consider me as an applicant for any active service, and saying that I would willingly forego the recruiting detail, which I well knew plenty of others would jump at. Impatient to approach the scene of active operations, without authority (and I suppose wrongfully), I left my corporal in charge of the rendezvous, and took all the recruits I had made, about twenty-five, in a steamboat to
Cincinnati, and turned them over to
Major N. C. McCrea, commanding
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at Newport Barracks.
I then reported in
Cincinnati, to the superintendent of the
Western recruiting service,
Colonel Fanning, an old officer with one arm, who inquired by what authority I had come away from my post.
I argued that I took it for granted he wanted all the recruits he could get to forward to the army at
Brownsville, Texas; and did not know but that he might want me to go along.
Instead of appreciating my volunteer zeal, he cursed and swore at me for leaving my post without orders, and told me to go back to
Pittsburg.
I then asked for an order that would entitle me to transportation back, which at first he emphatically refused, but at last he gave the order, and I returned to
Pittsburg, all the way by stage, stopping again at
Lancaster, where I attended the wedding of my schoolmate
Mike Effinger, and also visited my sub-rendezvous at
Zanesville.
R. S. Ewell, of my class, arrived to open a cavalry rendezvous, but, finding my depot there, he went on to
Columbus, Ohio.
Tom Jordan afterward was ordered to
Zanesville, to take charge of that rendezvous, under the general War Department orders increasing the number of recruiting-stations.
I reached
Pittsburg late in June, and found the order relieving me from recruiting service, and detailing my classmate
H. B. Field to my place.
I was assigned to Company F, then under orders for
California.
By private letters from
Lieutenant Ord, I heard that the company had already started from
Fort McHenry for
Governor's Island, New York Harbor, to take passage for
California in a naval transport.
I worked all that night, made up my accounts current, and turned over the balance of cash to the citizen physician,
Dr. McDowell; and also closed my clothing and property returns, leaving blank receipts with the same gentleman for
Field's signature, when he should get there, to be forwarded to the Department at
Washington, and the duplicates to me. These I did not receive for more than a year.
I remember that I got my orders about 8 P. M. one night, and took passage in the boat for
Brownsville, the next morning traveled by stage from
Brownsville to
Cumberland, Maryland, and thence by cars to
Baltimore,
Philadelphia, and New York, in a great hurry lest the ship might sail without me. I found
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Company F at