Price reached Santa Fé early in October, but the movement to Chihuahua had been, meanwhile, unexpectedly delayed. For Gen. Kearny, having learned on his way to California that the Navajos (a warlike tribe on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains) were committing grievous depredations on the Mexican settlements in their vicinity, had sent back orders to Doniphan to reduce these savages to submission before moving southward.

As winter was fast approaching, Doniphan set out at once with a part of his regiment for the Navajo country. His line of march lay over an unknown and trackless mountain range, deep covered with snow. His men had neither winter clothing nor sufficient food; his horses and mules, ill-fed and unused to the hardships of such a march, gave out by the way, and half of them perished. But, in spite of all these difficulties, he accomplished successfully the object of the expedition, and returning to the valley of the Rio Grande, hastened the preparations for the march toward Central Mexico, where dangers were to be sought and honors to be won.

By the 12th of December his force was all concentrated at Valverde, and on the 14th it began its memorable march. It consisted of Doniphan's regiment, and one hundred and three men of Price's regiment; and was subsequently re-enforced by two batteries-125 men with ten pieces of artillery.

They had to pass, almost at the very outset, through a dreary desert, throughout whose dreadful length of ninety miles, neither wood nor water was to be found. The weather, too, was bitter cold, and the men suffered terribly from hunger, thirst and frost. But fatigue and suffering were alike forgotten when, as the little column was about going into camp on Christmas Day, the cry ran through their ranks that the enemy was advancing.

Doniphan quickly formed his line of battle, and awaited the attack. At this moment a Mexican officer, bearing a black flag, approached and summoned him to appear instantly before the Mexican General. “If you do not obey this order without delay," said he, "we will charge forthwith and give no quarter." "Charge and be damned," was Doniphan's prompt response.

In a few minutes the enemy advanced, opening fire when within four hundred yards of the Missourians. Doniphan had ordered his men to lie down and reserve their fire till the Mexicans were within sixty paces. The latter had already delivered four volleys, when the Missourians rose with a yell, and poured a deadly fire into their ranks. In thirty minutes the Mexicans were put to flight, leaving sixty-three dead upon the field, and one hundred and fifty wounded. Not a single Missourian was killed. Seven were wounded.

In this battle of the Bracito (so called after the name of the stream on whose banks it was fought), about five hundred Missourians were engaged, the rest of them not reaching the field till the enemy had fled. The Mexicans were about twelve hundred strong, a part of them regulars.

This victory so completely demoralized the Mexicans that they made no further

opposition to the American advance, and on the 27th of December Doniphan entered El Paso.

The Missourians were now far in the enemy's country, three hundred and fifty miles from Santa Fé, and more than twelve hundred from Ft. Leavenworth. Chihuahua was still two hundred and fifty distant, and between them and that city lay a wild and desolate region, through whose arid deserts and precipitous cañons they would have to toil, only to confront a greater danger, when upon emerging from them they would find themselves, all of a sudden, in the midst of a rich and populous country, where an army, many times more numerous, was already gathering to meet and drive them back into the desert, or utterly destroy them.

Little, however, did Doniphan or his men fear dangers, or difficulties of any kind. He had been ordered to Chihuahua, and he meant to go there, despite the fact that he had now learned that Gen. Wool, to whom he had been ordered to report at that city, had turned southward with his army to reinforce Taylor, against whom Santa Anna was marching with an overwhelming force. If Wool was not in Chihuahua, Chihuahua was nevertheless on the way to the spot where fighting was to be done, and that was the spot which Doniphan and his Missourians were eager to reach.

He therefore hastened to make ready for an advance, while waiting for the artillery which Price had been ordered to push forward to him. On the 8th of February (1847) everything was in readiness, and on that day the Missourians954 officers and men-moved out of El Paso. On the 14th they entered a sandy desert through which they toiled sixty-five miles without finding a drop of water. A few days later they encountered another desert forty-five miles wide. Their sufferings were terrible, and many of their horses and mules and oxen died of exhaustion.

But all these difficulties were finally overcome, and on the 25th of February the little army saw before it the fertile fields in the midst of which the city of Chihuahua rose. After two days' rest it again advanced, but on Sunday (the 28th of February, 1847) Doniphan found himself, when within seventeen miles of the city, confronted by a largely superior force strongly posted and entrenched at the Pass of the Sacramento.

He attacked without delay, and, after three hours of the hardest fighting, routed the Mexicans completely. In this battle nine hundred and twenty-four Missourians whipped over four thousand Mexicans. The latter left three hundred and four dead upon the field, while their wounded amounted to nearly five hundred. They also lost all of their artillery and many wagons and large supplies of ammunition and subsistence. Only one Missourian was killed, and only eleven were wounded.

This brilliant victory of the Sacramento laid the whole State of Chihuahua at the feet of the conqueror, and on the next day (March 1, 1847) Doniphan entered and took possession of its capital, an opulent city with 30,000 inhabitants.

Here he was compelled to halt till he could obtain orders from Gen. Wool, to

whom he had been directed to report. To find that officer was his first duty. He accordingly dispatched fourteen volunteers, hardy and fearless men, in quest of Gen Wool. They left at once, and on the 2d of April found him at Saltillo, nearly seven hundred miles away. Wool ordered them to report to Gen. Taylor, and get their instructions from him. Taylor sent them back to Doniphan with orders to him to march forthwith to Saltillo. These orders Doniphan received on the 23d of April, and on the 25th the Missourians were on the march to Saltillo. On the 21st of May they bivouacked near the battle-field of Buena Vista, and were reviewed the next day by Gen. Wool.

Col. Doniphan reported straightway to Gen. Taylor, and said that, though the term of service of his men was about to expire, they greatly desired to serve under his command, and were ready to march anywhere that he might send them, no matter how arduous the duty, or how distant the field of operations.

Unfortunately for the Missourians' hopes of glory, Taylor's campaign was at an end, and there was nothing for his army to do but to hold the unresisting country which it had conquered, while awaiting the result of Scott's advance upon the City of Mexico. Gen. Taylor, therefore, ordered Doniphan to march his command to Brazos Santiago, where it would take shipping for New Orleans. There the Missourians were paid off, and honorably mustered out of the service, and thence they returned to their homes.

At St. Louis they were given a public reception, on which occasion Missouri's great Senator, Col. Benton, welcomed them back to the State in an eloquent speech, wherein, after recounting the chief incidents of their marvelous march, he said:

"You arrive here to-day, absent one year, marching and fighting all the time, bringing trophies of cannon and standards from fields whose very names were unknown to you when you set out. Nobly and manfully have you made one of the most remarkable expeditions in history, worthy to be studied by statesmen, and showing what volunteer soldiers can do-for the crowning glory is that you were all volunteers, not a regular officer among you. If there had been one, with power to control you, you could never have done what you did."

Even Benton, far-sighted as he was, did not then perceive that this conquest of New Mexico was about to add to the territory of the Union over 500,000 square miles of soil, embracing all of California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah, and a part of Colorado, with their countless treasures of gold and silver.

Laying aside his sword, Doniphan returned to Liberty, and resumed the practice of law. Though often urged to take an active part in politics, he still shunned. the cares of office, preferring the serene happiness of a home made dear to him by the presence of a wife to whom he was fondly attached, and of the two bright boys. that had been born to them, to all the glittering baubles which ambition bestows on her devotees.

Twice only has the gravity of public events drawn him out of his seclusion: once, as has been told, in 1854, when the struggle for Kansas was kindling the

flames of civil war, and again in 1861 when these flames were about to sweep over and desolate Missouri.

No man in the States strove more earnestly than he to avert that great calamity, and in the Peace Convention at Washington (to which he was sent by the General Assembly as one of the Missouri Commissioners) he labored with such zeal and eloquence and power as to command the respect and admiration of even that grave body of statesmen and patriots.

From that convention he returned to Missouri satisfied that war was inevitable. When it came, he retired to his home, unwilling to take part in the horrible strife, and awaited the result in the deepest sorrow.

He still lives (1884) in Western Missouri, a stately, manly figure, loved and honored by all who know him, for his vigorous intellect, his eloquence, his flashing wit, and genial humor, his splendid courage and kindly heart, his charming manners and his blameless life.

THOMAS L. SNEAD

A MEMENTO OF LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPEDITION

[The following advertisement by Charles Wilson Peale, appeared in the United States Gazette, printed at Philadelphia.]

Donation to Peale's Museum, in the State House, March 1st, 1809. Part of the articles collected by Messrs. Lewis & Clark, viz. a complete dress of the Soux Indians, chiefly composed of crow skins, singularly ornamented, one of the leggings belonging to this, is ornamented with stripes, indicating the number of scalps taken by the wearer. Hat, made by a Carsop woman near the Pacifick Ocean. Leggings, worn by the Pallotepallers, residing on Lewis's River, west of the rocky mountain -Cap, such as are worn by the women on the plains of Columbia. A curious Indian Pot, found in digging a well, at the Great Saline, near St. Gennevive, about seventeen feet below the surface of the earth. A large Buffaloe Mantle, worn by the Soux Indians—a smaller one, worn by the Crow Indians. Two very handsome Tobacco Pouches, made of otter skins, ornamented with porcupine quills, &c. of the Soux tribe. Another from the Ioway's. Do. from the Foxes. A handsome belt, from the Winnebagou's. A great variety of Wampum, some of which indicating peace or war-the choice of either-desire of retaliation for injuries received-a desire of accommodation, &c. Tobacco Pouch, of otter skin, sent to the party by the Socks. Moccosins, worn by the Otoe's. A piece of white Buffaloe's skin, from the Missouri. A great quantity of Arrows from the different tribes of Soux. A handsome Soux Garter. Two ornaments, worn round the neck, by the natives of the plains of Columbia. Amulets taken from the shields of the Blackfoot nation of Indians, and others, presented to the party by themselves. Roots, such as are

VOL. XIII.-No. 2.-13

eaten by the inhabitants of Columbia Plains, and some bread made with them. The first were received the 24th of June, 1806, Neeshneparcooh, the great chief of the Portolapallers, as an emblem of the poverty of his nation, which he described in a very pathetick manner. A Bag made of grass, by the Pishquilpahs's, on the Columbia river; another used as a Water Cup, of the same materials. A Cap of the same. A Spanish Dollar received from the Pallotepaller's, a nation inhabiting Lewis's river, who had never previously seen white men. Stone spear-points from the natives inhabiting the rocky mountains. Two silver medals of George the Third, received from the Foxe's, and one from the Sooks or Saukeys. A variety of Pipes, or Calumets, from the following nations: four from the Souxs, of the following tribes, Yankton, Peton, 1200 miles up the Missouri, Sharone, 1400 miles, and Dacoto's; one from the Puount, called Winebagou's-one of the Fox nation-three from the Saukes-two from the Ioways-one presented by White Pigeonone made by the Soux, besides a number of other articles, sent at various times by them and some minerals, &c.

All the above presented by Gov. Meriweather Lewis, and Gen. William Clark. PETERSFIELD

THE TORY POSTMASTER OF THE REVOLUTION

A short time prior to the dismissal of Dr. Franklin from the Colonial Postmaster-Generalship, while he was in England, in the winter of 1772-1773, Hugh Finlay, an Englishman, was sent to this country by the Right Honorable Henry Frederick Thynne, His Majesty's Postmaster-General, to inspect the American post-offices, and report to the English Government on their condition. This movement appears to have been without the knowledge of Dr. Franklin, and was undoubtedly the preliminary step toward his removal from office, as the inspector himself soon received the appointment as Franklin's successor. The journal of Inspector Finlay during his travels through the colonies sharply criticises the conduct of Postoffice affairs, and reflects constantly and seriously upon the management of Franklin, whose displacement, January 31, 1774, created intense excitement throughout America. The patriotic colonists regarded the act with dismay, predicting that if "creatures of the ministry" were to be made the postmasters of this country, there would be no longer any safety in trusting letters to the mails. Private arrangements were at once entered into for carrying letters, and continued until the Continental Congress took action in the matter, in 1775. It is interesting to note that from the hour of Dr. Franklin's dismissal, the American Post-office never again contributed a farthing to the British Treasury.

Hugh Finlay remained in the Postmastership, nominally, until 1782, and probably until the establishment of peace, although he was powerless to conduct postal affairs outside the British lines. His journal describes his visit to Canada in the summer of 1773, and his return.by way of New Hampshire to Boston, and thence