affairs at our National capital. Buchanan, it seems, was shipping arms
and ordnance and supplies to all the posts in the South. Disaffection,
fomented by some secret, unknown cause, was spreading among the officers
of the Army. I was young; this was my first journey; yet none the less
these matters left my mind uneasy. I was eager to be back in Virginia,
for by every sign and token there certainly was trouble ahead for all
who dwelt near the Potomac.

Next I went on to Harrisburg, and thence took rail up the beautiful
Susquehanna valley, deep into and over the mountains. At Pittsburg I,
poor provincial, learned that all this country too was very old, and
that adventures must be sought more than a thousand miles to the
westward, yet a continual stir and bustle existed at this river point. A
great military party was embarking here for the West--two companies of
dragoons, their officers and mounts. I managed to get passage on this
boat to Louisville, and thence to the city of St. Louis. Thus, finally,
we pushed in at the vast busy levee of this western military capital.

At that time Jefferson Barracks made the central depot of Army
operations in the West. Here recruits and supplies were received and
readjusted to the needs of the scattered outposts in the Indian lands.
Still I was not in the West, for St. Louis also was old, almost as old
as our pleasant valley back in Virginia. I heard of lands still more
remote, a thousand miles still to the West, heard of great rivers
leading to the mountains, and of the vast, mysterious plains, of which
even yet men spoke in awe. Shall I admit it--in spite of grief and
trouble, my heart leaped at these thoughts. I wished nothing so much as
that I might properly and fitly join this eager, hurrying, keen-faced
throng of the west-bound Americans. It seemed to me I heard the voice of
youth and life beyond, and that youth was blotted out behind me in the