The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-02-01

A4A
IA arrears N news that come iuday After day
from, our Utsh army are discoursgiug. COLONEL
ocoke,s repent TO the Adjstant General OF the
Utah army, of his march from the Missouri to the
valley Of the Salt Lake. IL fall of curious interest
He started In command of six companies "a ORA
goon,. from Fort Ieavenworth, on 18th Septeni-
her and his iournsl ends wish'his arrival at Fort
Br,arer ON the issh of November. lie says;
s.The regiment had been hastily recalled from
service In the field and allowed three or four days
only by my then commanding oncer 20 prepsIe
for a march Of eleven hundred miles, over an en-
inhabited and mountain wilderness. In that unie
the six aompanies of the regiment who were 70
compose the expedition were re-orgapiIeu' iiV
transfers necessarily made from and 70 otner CON-
pauies; horses to be condemned and many 10 oe oo-
tanned; the companies paid, and ABOUT hl'y u .h
lions occurred; the commanders OF four OF them
changed. 49, %
81 marched them on the Hth Then u was 70
be proved that three tour more days were 70 Dc
lost In waiting for the Quartermaster nepaa.
ment 10 suppiy the absolutely necessary transpoi'
tatiou On the 18th, 10I mnies were iutnisnou'
which the same day had arrived from o narGn Oh
perbaps. 1000 miles 10 and from Bridgers fass'
above one hundred OF the others "eio no ".nn
.~r,h,as. from want and age and requiring sever
nj hours tosharuess team. On tue morning. VI
the 18th. twenty-seven transfers were Wantins'
and men we're furnished utterly Ignorant oi the
business and without outhts. e,r
horses and mules, was the largest item OF trans
portation; three or four laundresses, WIN 'heH
children were with each company
The regular journal OF each Gay n Ala and
an how Il raiped and how the mules died, anu
az man complained. On October 9th ne arrived
ar Port Kearney; on the 18th crossed the south
platte-the thermometer was at Is, anu the ri'ei
full of ice. r., cooto 10 winter
at Fort Laramie or 10 post on to SAT- Lake. ne
preferred the latter course. Un Norehoei IN IN
bis command was at sweet water faoo' =" ~ -.
ROCKY Mountains; next day they gained Devils
Gate =, -. ,o-o
white. and the snow falling, hut then very mode
rately I marched as usual. On four mile hiil
tho north wind and drifting snow became severe;
the air seemed turned to a frozen fog; nothing
conld ba seen; we were struggling in u freezing
cloud The lofty wall at Three Crossings was
happy relief, but the guide, who had lately passed
there was relentless in pronouncing that there was
no grass: the idea of finding and feeding upon grass
in that wutry storm, upon the deep snow, was hard
to entertain, but he promised grass and other
shelter two miles further We marched on, crossing
twice more the rocky steam, half chOked with
suow aud ice; finally he led us behind great gran
ito rock, but all too small for the promised shell
ter only part of the regiment could huddle there,
in the deep snow; while, the long night through,
the storm continued. and in fea rful eddies from
above before, behind, drove the falling and drift
ing snow. Thus exposed, for the hope of grass the
poor animals driven with great devotion by
the men once mere across the stream, and three
quarters of a mile beyond, to the base of granite
ridge but which almost faced the storm; there the
furnished mules, crying piteously, did not seek to
eat but desperately gathered in mass, and some
horses escaping the guard, went back to the ford,
where the lofty precpce first gave us so pleasant
relief and shelter.
Thus morning light had nothing cheering to
reveal, the air still filled with driven sbow-the
animals soon came driven in aud mingled in con-
fusion with men, went crunchng the snow in the
confined and wretched camp, trampling all things
In their war. 1t was not a time to dwell on the
fact that from that mountain desert there was no
retreat, nor any shelter near, but time for &C
ton. But for six hours the frost frozen fog fell
thckly like snow, aud again We marched on as in
q cloud.
'sThe deep snow drifts impeded us much, and in
crossing Sweet Water the ice broke in the middle
Marching ten miles only, got a better camp, and
herded the horses Oh the hills; it was different
road, where few days before the bodies of three
frozen men were found"
On the Sth the Thermometer stood at 40 below
the freezing point The snow was deep; twenty
three mules gave out, and five wagons were aban-
doned.
"Nine trooper horses were left freezing and dy-
ing on the road, and a number of soldiers and
teamsters had been frost bitten. Ii was despe-
rateiy cold night; the thermometers were broken,
but by comparison must have marked 80 below
zero. 4 bottle of sherry wine froZe in a trunk
Having lost about fifty mules In thirtysiX hours,
the morning of the llth, the report of the Quar-
termaster, felt bound to leave a wagon in the
bushes filled with seventy.four extra saddles and
brides and some sabres"
Next day the corn gave out the mules were dy-
ing OF hunger.
"They gnawed and destroyed four wagon
tongues, number of wagon covers, ate their
ropes and getting loose, ate the sage fuel collec
ted at the tents. Some of these they attacked
Nine died.
''The fast growing company of dismounted men
were marched together as separate command by
day. the morning of the twelfth number OF them
were frost bitten from not being Ia motion, al
though standing by fires.
THAT day eight mules were marched to Big
Sandy where the guide found grass, aud fuel with
it; SO good that the 18th was made day of rest;
the animals were all herded at the grass. Fifty
horses had been lost since leaving Laramie"
He closed the report of his march with the fol-
lowing
81 have IA horses and have lost 1884, Most OF
the loss has occurred much this side of South
Pass, in comparatively moderate weather. 1t has
been of starvation. The earth has no more
lifeless treeless, CRASHES desert; it contains
scarcelya wolf to glut itself on the hundreds OF
dead and frozen animals, which for thirty miles
nearly block the road with abandoned aud shat
tered property. They mark, perhaps, beyond ex.
ample in history, the steps Of an advancing army
with the horrors of a disastrous retreat.