312 EAST PRUSSIA TO THE GOLDEN GATE 



December, 1860. 



Though Banning raised my salary again, I objected to 

 an edict that went forth from headquarters, prohibiting 

 every employee from smoking. This caused the breach 

 and the montli of May found me as storekeeper under 

 the U. S. quartermaster, Capt. W. S. Hancock, at a sal- 

 ary of forty-five dollars and rations or one-third of my 

 previous earnings. This really looked like an expensive 

 smoke. 



Two months after Bachman & Co. made me an offer 

 that approached my former position and here I intend to 

 remain, as both the employers and my duties are very 

 congenial. 



December, 1861. 

 All went well until September, when my employers 

 decided to retire from business. We parted very amica- 

 bly and I re-entered Banning 's service. The business 

 had increased so rapidly of late that I found myself soon 

 in the midst of work, earning my salary more than ever. 

 Banning has two steamers running between here and 

 San Francisco, the discharging and loading of which 

 often kept me up all night. The forwarding of pro- 

 visions for the barracks were likewise to be attended to 

 very promptly. There are times when I do not change 

 clothes once in three days, but gladly drop to sleep any- 

 where. I had to give up my nice quarters and move to 

 an old storage house with a rough board for a table, and 

 use a bottle for a candlestick and a barrel for a stool. 

 Thus ends the year in romantic Wilmington.* 



December, 1862. 

 Thos. Workman, our bookkeeper, two young assist- 

 ants and I partake of Banning 's private table. There 

 are also about twenty men under my supervision, whose 



*During this year, the author befriended one Herman W. Hell- 

 man, a bright German youth, who has since become the genial 

 millionaire-president of the Merchants' National Bank of Los 

 Angeles. — Translator, 



