DEPARTURE FROM FORT BELKNAP. 5 



(who, by-the-by, travelled six hundred miles with me upon tbe plains, 

 and whom I always found reliable,) pointed out to him breaks or bluffs 

 upon a stream to the south of the Canadian, near what we ascertained to 

 be the true position of the head of the north branch of Red river, and 

 where it approaches within twenty-five miles of the Canadian. These 

 bluffs he said were upon the "Rio Negro," which the Doctor supposed 

 to be the "Washita river ; but after having examined that section of 

 country I am satisfied that the north branch of Red river must have 

 been alluded to by the guide, as the "Washita rises further to the east. 

 It therefore seems probable that "Rio Negro" is the name which the 

 Mexicans have applied to Red river of Louisiana. 



Immediately on the receipt of the foregoing order I repaired to Fort 

 Smith, Arkansas, where the Quartermaster General had directed that 

 transportation should be furnished me, but on arriving there I learned 

 that nearly all the means of transportation had a short time before been 

 transferred to the depot at Preston, Texas. Captain Montgomery, the 

 quartermaster at Fort Smith, manifested every disposition to facilitate 

 my movements, and supplied me with ten most excellent horses, with 

 which I proceeded on to Preston. At this point I made a requisition 

 upon the quartermaster for a sufficient number of teams to transport 

 supplies of subsistence, and baggage for my command, for five months. 

 These were promptly furnished by Bvt. Major George Wood, to whom 

 I am under many obligations for his active and zealous co-operation in 

 supplying me with such articles as were necessary for the expedition. 

 With but few resources at his command, with animals that had been 

 worked down, and, in consequence of the scarcity of grain, very poor, 

 and with parts of old wagons much worn, he succeeded in a very few 

 days in fitting me out with twelve ox teams that performed very good 

 service. 



As my company was at Fort Belknap, upon the Brazos river, one 

 hundred and sixty miles from Preston, and as the route by way of Fort 

 Arbuckle to the mouth of Cache creek (the initial point of my recon- 

 noissance upon Red river) is much the shortest, I determined to leave 

 my supply train under the charge of a wagonmaster to bring forward 

 over this route, and to proceed myself to Fort Belknap and march my 

 company over the other trail, uniting with the train at the mouth of 

 Cache creek. 



I accordingly reached Fort Belknap on the 30th of April, and on the 

 2d of May left with my company, marching over the Fort Arbuckle 

 road as far as where it intersects Red river. As our road led us along 

 near the valley of the Little Witchita, I took occasion to examine it more 



