We numbered a little over seven hundred persons, including the families of officers and soldiers.  Passage was secured for us on the old steamer Ohio, commanded at the time by Captain Schenck, of the navy.  It had not been determined, until a day or two before starting, that the 4th infantry should go by the Ohio; consequently, a complement of passengers had already been secured.  The addition of over seven hundred to this list crowded the steamer most uncomfortably, especially for the tropics in July.

In eight days Aspinwall was reached.  At that time the streets of the town were eight or ten inches under water, and foot passengers passed from place to place on raised foot-walks.  July is at the height of the wet season, on the Isthmus.  At intervals the rain would pour down in streams, followed in not many minutes by a blazing, tropical summer’s sun.  These alternate changes, from rain to sunshine, were continuous in the afternoons.  I wondered how any person could live many months in Aspinwall, and wondered still more why any one tried.

In the summer of 1852 the Panama railroad was completed only to the point where it now crosses the Chagres River.  From there passengers were carried by boats to Gorgona, at which place they took mules for Panama, some twenty-five miles further.  Those who travelled over the Isthmus in those days will remember that boats on the Chagres River were propelled by natives not inconveniently burdened with clothing.  These boats carried thirty to forty passengers each.  The crews consisted of six men to a boat, armed with long poles.  There were planks wide enough for a man to walk on conveniently, running along the sides of each boat from end to end.  The men would start from the bow, place one end of their poles against the river bottom, brace their shoulders against the other end, and then walk to the stern as rapidly as they could.  In this way from a mile to a mile and a half an hour could be made, against the current of the river.

I, as regimental quartermaster, had charge of the public property and had also to look after the transportation.  A contract had been entered into with the steamship company in New York for the transportation of the regiment to California, including the Isthmus transit.  A certain amount of baggage was allowed per man, and saddle animals were to be furnished to commissioned officers and to all disabled persons.  The regiment, with the exception of one company left as guards to the public property—­camp and garrison equipage principally—­and the soldiers with families, took boats, propelled as above described, for Gorgona.  From this place they marched to Panama, and were soon comfortably on the steamer anchored in the bay, some three or four miles from the town.  I, with one company of troops and all the soldiers with families, all the tents, mess chests and camp kettles, was sent to Cruces, a town a few miles higher up the Chagres