from Jefferson Barracks to Louisiana, to go into camp in the neighborhood of Fort Jessup, and there await further orders.  The troops were embarked on steamers and were on their way down the Mississippi within a few days after the receipt of this order.  About the time they started I obtained a leave of absence for twenty days to go to Ohio to visit my parents.  I was obliged to go to St. Louis to take a steamer for Louisville or Cincinnati, or the first steamer going up the Ohio River to any point.  Before I left St. Louis orders were received at Jefferson Barracks for the 4th infantry to follow the 3d.  A messenger was sent after me to stop my leaving; but before he could reach me I was off, totally ignorant of these events.  A day or two after my arrival at Bethel I received a letter from a classmate and fellow lieutenant in the 4th, informing me of the circumstances related above, and advising me not to open any letter post marked St. Louis or Jefferson Barracks, until the expiration of my leave, and saying that he would pack up my things and take them along for me.  His advice was not necessary, for no other letter was sent to me.  I now discovered that I was exceedingly anxious to get back to Jefferson Barracks, and I understood the reason without explanation from any one.  My leave of absence required me to report for duty, at Jefferson Barracks, at the end of twenty days.  I knew my regiment had gone up the Red River, but I was not disposed to break the letter of my leave; besides, if I had proceeded to Louisiana direct, I could not have reached there until after the expiration of my leave.  Accordingly, at the end of the twenty days, I reported for duty to Lieutenant Ewell, commanding at Jefferson Barracks, handing him at the same time my leave of absence.  After noticing the phraseology of the order—­leaves of absence were generally worded, “at the end of which time he will report for duty with his proper command”—­he said he would give me an order to join my regiment in Louisiana.  I then asked for a few days’ leave before starting, which he readily granted.  This was the same Ewell who acquired considerable reputation as a Confederate general during the rebellion.  He was a man much esteemed, and deservedly so, in the old army, and proved himself a gallant and efficient officer in two wars —­both in my estimation unholy.

I immediately procured a horse and started for the country, taking no baggage with me, of course.  There is an insignificant creek—­the Gravois—­between Jefferson Barracks and the place to which I was going, and at that day there was not a bridge over it from its source to its mouth.  There is not water enough in the creek at ordinary stages to run a coffee mill, and at low water there is none running whatever.  On this occasion it had been raining heavily, and, when the creek was reached, I found the banks full to overflowing, and the current rapid.  I looked at it a moment to consider what to do.  One of