Between the Rio Grande and the Nueces there was at that time a large band of wild horses feeding; as numerous, probably, as the band of buffalo roaming further north was before its rapid extermination commenced.  The Mexicans used to capture these in large numbers and bring them into the American settlements and sell them.  A picked animal could be purchased at from eight to twelve dollars, but taken at wholesale, they could be bought for thirty-six dollars a dozen.  Some of these were purchased for the army, and answered a most useful purpose.  The horses were generally very strong, formed much like the Norman horse, and with very heavy manes and tails.  A number of officers supplied themselves with these, and they generally rendered as useful service as the northern animal in fact they were much better when grazing was the only means of supplying forage.

There was no need for haste, and some months were consumed in the necessary preparations for a move.  In the meantime the army was engaged in all the duties pertaining to the officer and the soldier.  Twice, that I remember, small trains were sent from Corpus Christi, with cavalry escorts, to San Antonio and Austin, with paymasters and funds to pay off small detachments of troops stationed at those places.  General Taylor encouraged officers to accompany these expeditions.  I accompanied one of them in December, 1845.  The distance from Corpus Christi to San Antonio was then computed at one hundred and fifty miles.  Now that roads exist it is probably less.  From San Antonio to Austin we computed the distance at one hundred and ten miles, and from the latter place back to Corpus Christi at over two hundred miles.  I know the distance now from San Antonio to Austin is but little over eighty miles, so that our computation was probably too high.

There was not at the time an individual living between Corpus Christi and San Antonio until within about thirty miles of the latter point, where there were a few scattering Mexican settlements along the San Antonio River.  The people in at least one of these hamlets lived underground for protection against the Indians.  The country abounded in game, such as deer and antelope, with abundance of wild turkeys along the streams and where there were nut-bearing woods.  On the Nueces, about twenty-five miles up from Corpus Christi, were a few log cabins, the remains of a town called San Patricio, but the inhabitants had all been massacred by the Indians, or driven away.

San Antonio was about equally divided in population between Americans and Mexicans.  From there to Austin there was not a single residence except at New Braunfels, on the Guadalupe River.  At that point was a settlement of Germans who had only that year come into the State.  At all events they were living in small huts, about such as soldiers would hastily construct for temporary occupation.  From Austin to Corpus Christi there was only a small settlement