TRIP TO AUSTIN--PROMOTION TO FULL SECOND LIEUTENANT--ARMY OF OCCUPATION.
When our party left Corpus Christi it was quite large, including the
cavalry escort, Paymaster, Major Dix, his clerk and the officers who,
like myself, were simply on leave; but all the officers on leave, except
Lieutenant Benjamin--afterwards killed in the valley of Mexico
--Lieutenant, now General, Augur, and myself, concluded to spend their
allotted time at San Antonio and return from there. We were all to be
back at Corpus Christi by the end of the month. The paymaster was
detained in Austin so long that, if we had waited for him, we would have
exceeded our leave. We concluded, therefore, to start back at once with
the animals we had, and having to rely principally on grass for their
food, it was a good six days' journey. We had to sleep on the prairie
every night, except at Goliad, and possibly one night on the Colorado,
without shelter and with only such food as we carried with us, and
prepared ourselves. The journey was hazardous on account of Indians,
and there were white men in Texas whom I would not have cared to meet in
a secluded place. Lieutenant Augur was taken seriously sick before we
reached Goliad and at a distance from any habitation. To add to the
complication, his horse--a mustang that had probably been captured from
the band of wild horses before alluded to, and of undoubted longevity at
his capture--gave out. It was absolutely necessary to get for ward to
Goliad to find a shelter for our sick companion. By dint of patience
and exceedingly slow movements, Goliad was at last reached, and a
shelter and bed secured for our patient. We remained over a day, hoping
that Augur might recover sufficiently to resume his travels. He did
not, however, and knowing that Major Dix would be along in a few days,
with his wagon-train, now empty, and escort, we arranged with our
Louisiana friend to take the best of care of the sick lieutenant until
thus relieved, and went on.
I had never been a sportsman in my life; had scarcely ever gone in
search of game, and rarely seen any when looking for it. On this trip
there was no minute of time while travelling between San Patricio and
the settlements on the San Antonio River, from San Antonio to Austin,
and again from the Colorado River back to San Patricio, when deer or
antelope could not be seen in great numbers. Each officer carried a
shot-gun, and every evening, after going into camp, some would go out
and soon return with venison and wild turkeys enough for the entire
camp. I, however, never went out, and had no occasion to fire my gun;
except, being detained over a day at Goliad, Benjamin and I concluded to
go down to the creek--which was fringed with timber, much of it the
pecan--and bring back a few turkeys. We had scarcely reached the edge
of the timber when I heard the flutter of wings overhead, and in an
instant I saw two or three turkeys flying away. These were soon
followed by more, then more, and more, until a flock of twenty or thirty
had left from just over my head. All this time I stood watching the
turkeys to see where they flew--with my gun on my shoulder, and never
once thought of levelling it at the birds. When I had time to reflect
upon the matter, I came to the conclusion that as a sportsman I was a
failure, and went back to the house. Benjamin remained out, and got as
many turkeys as he wanted to carry back.
After the second night at Goliad, Benjamin and I started to make the
remainder of the journey alone. We reached Corpus Christi just in time
to avoid "absence without leave." We met no one not even an Indian
--during the remainder of our journey, except at San Patricio. A new
settlement had been started there in our absence of three weeks, induced
possibly by the fact that there were houses already built, while the
proximity of troops gave protection against the Indians. On the evening
of the first day out from Goliad we heard the most unearthly howling of
wolves, directly in our front. The prairie grass was tall and we could
not see the beasts, but the sound indicated that they were near. To my
ear it appeared that there must have been enough of them to devour our
party, horses and all, at a single meal. The part of Ohio that I hailed
from was not thickly settled, but wolves had been driven out long before
I left. Benjamin was from Indiana, still less populated, where the wolf
yet roamed over the prairies. He understood the nature of the animal
and the capacity of a few to make believe there was an unlimited number
of them. He kept on towards the noise, unmoved. I followed in his
trail, lacking moral courage to turn back and join our sick companion.
I have no doubt that if Benjamin had proposed returning to Goliad, I
would not only have "seconded the motion" but have suggested that it
was very hard-hearted in us to leave Augur sick there in the first
place; but Benjamin did not propose turning back. When he did speak it
was to ask: "Grant, how many wolves do you think there are in that
pack?" Knowing where he was from, and suspecting that he thought I would
over-estimate the number, I determined to show my acquaintance with the
animal by putting the estimate below what possibly could be correct, and
answered: "Oh, about twenty," very indifferently. He smiled and rode
on. In a minute we were close upon them, and before they saw us. There
were just TWO of them. Seated upon their haunches, with their mouths
close together, they had made all the noise we had been hearing for the
past ten minutes. I have often thought of this incident since when I
have heard the noise of a few disappointed politicians who had deserted
their associates. There are always more of them before they are
counted.
A week or two before leaving Corpus Christi on this trip, I had been
promoted from brevet second-lieutenant, 4th infantry, to full
second-lieutenant, 7th infantry. Frank Gardner,(*1) of the 7th, was
promoted to the 4th in the same orders. We immediately made application
to be transferred, so as to get back to our old regiments. On my
return, I found that our application had been approved at Washington.
While in the 7th infantry I was in the company of Captain Holmes,
afterwards a Lieutenant-general in the Confederate army. I never came in
contact with him in the war of the Rebellion, nor did he render any very
conspicuous service in his high rank. My transfer carried me to the
company of Captain McCall, who resigned from the army after the Mexican
war and settled in Philadelphia. He was prompt, however, to volunteer
when the rebellion broke out, and soon rose to the rank of major-general
in the Union army. I was not fortunate enough to meet him after he
resigned. In the old army he was esteemed very highly as a soldier and
gentleman. Our relations were always most pleasant.
The preparations at Corpus Christi for an advance progressed as rapidly
in the absence of some twenty or more lieutenants as if we had been
there. The principal business consisted in securing mules, and getting
them broken to harness. The process was slow but amusing. The animals
sold to the government were all young and unbroken, even to the saddle,
and were quite as wild as the wild horses of the prairie. Usually a
number would be brought in by a company of Mexicans, partners in the
delivery. The mules were first driven into a stockade, called a corral,
inclosing an acre or more of ground. The Mexicans,--who were all
experienced in throwing the lasso,--would go into the corral on
horseback, with their lassos attached to the pommels of their saddles.
Soldiers detailed as teamsters and black smiths would also enter the
corral, the former with ropes to serve as halters, the latter with
branding irons and a fire to keep the irons heated. A lasso was then
thrown over the neck of a mule, when he would immediately go to the
length of his tether, first one end, then the other in the air. While
he was thus plunging and gyrating, another lasso would be thrown by
another Mexican, catching the animal by a fore-foot. This would bring
the mule to the ground, when he was seized and held by the teamsters
while the blacksmith put upon him, with hot irons, the initials "U. S."
Ropes were then put about the neck, with a slipnoose which would tighten
around the throat if pulled. With a man on each side holding these
ropes, the mule was released from his other bindings and allowed to
rise. With more or less difficulty he would be conducted to a picket
rope outside and fastened there. The delivery of that mule was then
complete. This process was gone through with every mule and wild horse
with the army of occupation.
The method of breaking them was less cruel and much more amusing. It is
a well-known fact that where domestic animals are used for specific
purposes from generation to generation, the descendants are easily, as a
rule, subdued to the same uses. At that time in Northern Mexico the
mule, or his ancestors, the horse and the ass, was seldom used except
for the saddle or pack. At all events the Corpus Christi mule resisted
the new use to which he was being put. The treatment he was subjected
to in order to overcome his prejudices was summary and effective.
The soldiers were principally foreigners who had enlisted in our large
cities, and, with the exception of a chance drayman among them, it is
not probable that any of the men who reported themselves as competent
teamsters had ever driven a mule-team in their lives, or indeed that
many had had any previous experience in driving any animal whatever to
harness. Numbers together can accomplish what twice their number acting
individually could not perform. Five mules were allotted to each wagon.
A teamster would select at the picket rope five animals of nearly the
same color and general appearance for his team. With a full corps of
assistants, other teamsters, he would then proceed to get his mules
together. In two's the men would approach each animal selected,
avoiding as far as possible its heels. Two ropes would be put about the
neck of each animal, with a slip noose, so that he could be choked if
too unruly. They were then led out, harnessed by force and hitched to
the wagon in the position they had to keep ever after. Two men remained
on either side of the leader, with the lassos about its neck, and one
man retained the same restraining influence over each of the others.
All being ready, the hold would be slackened and the team started. The
first motion was generally five mules in the air at one time, backs
bowed, hind feet extended to the rear. After repeating this movement a
few times the leaders would start to run. This would bring the
breeching tight against the mules at the wheels, which these last seemed
to regard as a most unwarrantable attempt at coercion and would resist
by taking a seat, sometimes going so far as to lie down. In time all
were broken in to do their duty submissively if not cheerfully, but
there never was a time during the war when it was safe to let a Mexican
mule get entirely loose. Their drivers were all teamsters by the time
they got through.
I recollect one case of a mule that had worked in a team under the
saddle, not only for some time at Corpus Christi, where he was broken,
but all the way to the point opposite Matamoras, then to Camargo, where
he got loose from his fastenings during the night. He did not run away
at first, but staid in the neighborhood for a day or two, coming up
sometimes to the feed trough even; but on the approach of the teamster
he always got out of the way. At last, growing tired of the constant
effort to catch him, he disappeared altogether. Nothing short of a
Mexican with his lasso could have caught him. Regulations would not
have warranted the expenditure of a dollar in hiring a man with a lasso
to catch that mule; but they did allow the expenditure "of the mule," on
a certificate that he had run away without any fault of the
quartermaster on whose returns he was borne, and also the purchase of
another to take his place. I am a competent witness, for I was
regimental quartermaster at the time.
While at Corpus Christi all the officers who had a fancy for riding kept
horses. The animals cost but little in the first instance, and when
picketed they would get their living without any cost. I had three not
long before the army moved, but a sad accident bereft me of them all at
one time. A colored boy who gave them all the attention they got
--besides looking after my tent and that of a class-mate and
fellow-lieutenant and cooking for us, all for about eight dollars per
month, was riding one to water and leading the other two. The led
horses pulled him from his seat and all three ran away. They never were
heard of afterwards. Shortly after that some one told Captain Bliss,
General Taylor's Adjutant-General, of my misfortune. "Yes; I heard
Grant lost five or six dollars' worth of horses the other day," he
replied. That was a slander; they were broken to the saddle when I got
them and cost nearly twenty dollars. I never suspected the colored boy
of malicious intent in letting them get away, because, if they had not
escaped, he could have had one of them to ride on the long march then in
prospect.