around, with very little danger of discovery. He was, however, watched by the Spaniards, who dreaded him, his retreat was reported to Lieutenant Powell, and he himself was seized, whilst asleep, and conducted to Tampa Bay. He reported that there were a considerable number of Indians, besides Negroes, and a large quantity of ammunition, in the neighbourhood of Charlotte’s harbour, and declared his readiness to conduct a party to the spot, stipulating, that he should afterwards recover his freedom. General Smith, immediately volunteered the services of himself and Regiment; his offer was accepted, and on Sunday the 10th, we embarked in the brigantine Calvin and the Schooner Cumberland, for Charlotte’s harbour, distant seventy or eighty miles. We had light winds, and were not landed till the Sunday following. Five days’ rations of provisions were then issued, and orders given for a march on the following day. The men were much dissatisfied: their clothes and shoes were worn out, their feet blistered, and General Scott, having first expressed his perfect satisfaction at their conduct, had promised to them, home direct from Tampa Bay. A statement to this effect was sent in to General Smith, on the evening previous to our march; but was not noticed. Next morning (18th,) we started with five days’ provisions, and marched seven or eight miles. The day was very hot, and the men dropped behind in considerable numbers. We halted at 12 o’clock, and the General gave orders, that all who chose to go forward, should step on in front, and that the others should return to our camping ground, at the embouchure of the Maijaka river. About one hundred and twenty volunteers stepped out, making with the seamen from the Sloop of War Vandalia and the Revenue Cutter, one hundred and sixty men; too small a party to face the enemy; but General Smith was willing to expose his life on this, and indeed all other occasions, and it was our duty to follow. Those who remained behind had every reason to do so: some were unwell, some had no shoes or canteens: they had all undergone much fatigue, and the General told them, it was no disgrace to return. They shared their provisions with us, and wished us success. The bugle sounded forward, and we soon struck the river, where we found a fleet of canoes, waiting to receive our baggage. One half of the party ascended the stream in boats to a convenient camping ground, and the rest marched through the woods towards the same point, with the Indian for a guide; he was strictly watched, although he showed no desire to attempt an escape. The march was longer than we expected, and some of the officers were very impatient with and suspicious of the guide, his language was a mixture of Spanish and Indian, and no one of the party could understand him correctly: the road, too, winded circuitously through the hammocks and along the bayous, with which the banks of the river are indented, and we were forced to march several miles, to gain one in the right direction. About 10 o’clock at night, we came to a hammock which seemed scarce penetrable: the guide said that General Smith with the boats, lay half an hour’s march on the other side; but the officers suspected treachery, and determined to halt. We placed a strict guard over the prisoner, built our fires, and spent the night round them. We started early next morning, and in half an hour’s walk, came on the General’s camping ground, as the Indian had told us the previous night. The whole party here embarked in the canoes, the right under command of Lieutenant Lawson, the left under Captain Ross of the mariners. Our object was supposed to be the burning of an Indian village in the interior. The river was very beautiful, and for the most part deep; there is some excellent land on the banks, and plenty of timber. The Live Oak, Pine, Pickon and Cabbage Trees, are most numerous. It is no wonder that the red men are so unwilling to depart from the land of their fathers. It is a perfect Eden. The woods abound with game, the rivers with fish, and the soil produces almost spontaneously the few articles of food needed by the Indian.

We sailed and rowed many miles up the river, and halted at a pretty spot, called afterwards Live Oak Camp. Here we found evident signs of Indians; the ashes of fire recently extinguished, green hides, two live fowls, which were quickly smoking in the General’s quarters, and several razors and other articles supposed to have been the property of the murdered collector of customs.

20th—Again embarked and rowed a few miles up the stream, but were forced to return on account of the obstructions. We left the boats at Live Oak Camp, with a few men to guard them, shouldered our knapsacks and tramped through the woods. We expected to fall in with some live stock but were disappointed. We marched up the river through the best land we had yet seen, and observed the recent tracks of cattle, horses and dogs. Towards night we fell in with an old Indian encampment close to a brook of excellent water. We built ourselves huts of palmettoes and boughs and slept comfortably in spite of the rain. We called this spot Camp Cowpens, from a large cattle pen close by.

21st—Passed through several large prairies; near one of them we observed the figure of an Indian rudely carved in the bark of a tree. We soon after waded the river nearly four feet deep; the guide followed by the General, leading the way. A halt was called on the other side and the people amused themselves swimming.

A Dutchman who could not swim, contrived to get out of his depth and was seen struggling very hard. He sank several times and at length raised his head and shouted alligator. The river abounds with them. Captain Green of the revenue cutter, Lieutenant Powell and General Smith, who were ashore, jumped in and brought him out alive but nearly exhausted. We saw no Indians or village on that or the following day, and the provisions being out, returned to Live Oak Camp on the morning of the 23d. At a short distance from it the advance guard fired on a deer, while the rear were threading their way through a hammock. We all thought the Philistines were surely upon us, and rushed forward as fast as possible. The deer bounded along the whole line and offered a mark to almost every man, but escaped uninjured.

We had suffered not a little from hunger; our expectation was to return in a day at farthest, to Live Oak Camp; we therefore left most of our provisions with the boats, and felt the want of them severely as we were absent three days.

After breakfast we again embarked and descended the river to the camping ground of the regiment. We had every reason to congratulate ourselves on our return in safety. The expedition might have proved as disastrous as that of Major Dade: a small body of the enemy might have cut us off on the river, which is in some places not twenty yards wide. They might have fired on us with perfect security to themselves.

The summer, indeed, is scarcely the fit time for attacking them; the leaves are then so numerous that it is impossible to see them, and the weather is so hot that it is as impossible to carry the knapsack, provisions and accoutrements. The expedition has answered one good purpose; it has given some knowledge of a very interesting and before unknown section of the territory. The land is excellent and the river may be made navigable for steamboats at a very trifling expense; it is besides adjacent to the Orleans market.

We embarked on the 24th, and reached Tampa Bay on the 27th. On the following morning Colonel Chisme returned to the Fort with a party composed of the fourth Regular Infantry, commanded by Colonel Foster, and the Alabama volunteers. Colonel Chisme had been despatched to bring in the garrison and military stores from Fort Alabama, which was considered untenable.

The Colonel carried off or destroyed the stores and