This Book and Balie Peyton xi 



and ability. Tyler asked him to become Secretary of 

 War, but the position was not to his liking. When war 

 came with Mexico, however, he did not wait to be asked 

 to go to the field of action. There he became Chief of 

 Staff of Gen. W. J. Worth, after his own regiment of 

 Louisiana and Alabama men had been recalled by Presi- 

 dent Polk. At Monterey it became necessary for Gen. 

 Worth to communicate with General Taylor on the opposite 

 side of the city, and Peyton was chosen for this errand. 

 Mounted on a thoroughbred by imp Fop, presented to 

 him by his friend, Lucius J. Polk, Peyton, though con- 

 tinually under fire, his horse bounding at the bursting of 

 each shell near him, performed the trip at a dead run and 

 in safety. For this and other acts showing his courage 

 and efficiency he was favorably mentioned in Gen. 

 Worth's reports and was voted a sword of honor by the 

 State of Louisiana. With modesty and true sportsman- 

 ship he always credited the success of his trip to his horse. 

 In March, 1837, after the adjournment of Congress, 

 Peyton came home by way of Richmond, Virginia, his 

 purpose in going there being to see Priam who had just 

 arrived from England. From Nut Bush, North Carolina, 

 he wrote The Spirit of the Times an account of this trip. 

 On the way out to the farm where he thought Priam was, 

 he met a stranger, whom he felt convinced was the man 

 he was on his way to see. He "inquired and it turned out 

 to be so, which proves that one thoroughbred horseman 

 will know another, as Falstaff knew the true Prince." 

 Peyton introduced himself, only to learn that Priam was 

 at the Half- Way House, between Richmond and Peters- 

 burg. Back to Richmond he went and in half an hour was 

 on his way to the Half-Way House. Upon reaching 

 Priam's stable, "I approached," he said, "and while the 

 door was unlocking felt that painful anxiety, arising from 

 the apprehension of disappointment, of not realizing 



