the coming of the dawn, and yielded nothing but disappointment.

little time my messenger returned with the information that the

family had reached that place the day before, and finding that we had

driven the hostiles off, continued their journey on foot toward my

camp, from which point they expected to go by steamer down the river

Their non-arrival aroused in me suspicions of foul play, so with all

the men I could spare, and accompanied by Lieutenant William T.

Welcker, of the Ordnance Corps--a warm and intimate friend--I went in

search of the family, deploying the men as skirmishers across the