TO SAN ANTONIO. 
19 
beautiful grove of live oaks, on the banks of the river 
Colette, a tributary of the Guadalupe, six miles dis- 
tant. We were here away from the vices and mischief 
which invariably attend large parties without employ- 
ment, when encamped in or near a town. We here 
had fine running water, in which we could bathe, a 
practice which greatly tended to promote health. The 
trees afforded us a fine shade ; and, as the heat was still 
great, the mercury rising from 95° to 100° Fahrenheit, 
in the coolest places, we found it more comfortable 
beneath the trees than to remain in our tents. There 
was excellent grass in abundance all around us, where 
our animals could feed, and we quietly awaited the 
arrival of the train, to continue our journey. 
Before setting out from Indianola, it was deemed* 
advisable, for the safety of the party, in the long and 
dangerous march of more than eight hundred miles 
through a country infested by hostile Indians, to or- 
ganize the members of the Commission, not engaged 
on surveying or other duties, into two military com- 
panies. This would place them all under the more 
direct control of the officers, and hence lead to a better 
subordination. With this view, the engineers and their 
assistants were formed into a cavalry corps, under the 
command of Lieutenant J. G. Strain, U. S. Navy ; and 
the mechanics and laborers into a rifie corps, under the 
command of Captain Edmund Barry, an officer who 
had served in the army during the Mexican war. All 
were provided with rifles or carbines, and many of the 
cavalry with Colt’s revolvers, or six shooters. Lieu- 
tenant Strain, by means of careful drilling at India- 
nola, on the march, and during our stay at Victoria, 
